1917-1933

Question 1

Statistics that suggested that the USA prospered until 1929 (2)

Answer 1

-Inflation was always below 1%

-Production of industrial goods rose by 50%

Question 2

Influence of the 1920s economic boom (7)

Answer 2

• Federal government was helpful
• Technological advances
• Management science ideas that increased productivity
• Car industry stimulated other industries, e.g steel, glass, leather etc.
• Advertisement fuelled consumerism
• Easy to obtain credit
• Americans made profitable investments in other countries

Question 3

How was the federal government helpful in the 1920 economy (3)

Answer 3

• Supported high tarrifs, e.g Fordney-McCumber tariff (1922)
• Decreased taxes in 1924, 1926 and 1928
• Didn’t impose regulations

Question 4

How many goods were sold on credit in 1929

Answer 4

$7 million

Question 5

How did the number of cars grow

Answer 5

1919- 9 million

1929- 26 million (nearly one per family)

Question 6

How did the number of radios grow

Answer 6

1920- 60,000

1929- 10 million

Question 7

Counters to living standard improving (3)

Answer 7

• Nearly 30 million Americans didn’t have electricity (farms + rural areas)
• Only 10% of farms had piped water
• Most BA and NA continued to live in poverty

Question 8

Reasons for ‘bust’ (3)

Answer 8

• Many people bought on credit, that they couldn’t pay back
• Industry was suffering from over-production
• Around 30,000 banks, mostly small and couldn’t cope with difficult times

Question 9

How many homeless were there

Answer 9

By 1932, between 1-2 million, living in shanty towns

Question 10

How many were unemployed in Detroit

Answer 10

250,000

Question 11

Money spent on leisure time

Answer 11

1929- over $4 billion
(a figure not reached again until the 1950s)

Question 12

Growth of spectator sports

Answer 12

-20 million attended ball games in 1927

Question 13

Influence of car-owning culture (5)

Answer 13

• Car changed residential patters, increased suburbs e.g. Los Angeles
• Decreased rural isolation
• Increased travel and holidays- in 1920, 1 million americans went camping
• Remote parts of the population were now accessible- national cultural unification
• Production of cars employed millions

Question 14

Disadvantages to car owning culture

Answer 14

-over 1000 people were killed in car accidents in NYC in 1927 alone

Question 15

What caused the development of air travel (3)

Answer 15

-potential market for passenger services
-federal government subsidies and support
-Charles Lindbergh

Question 16

Charles Lindenberg

Answer 16

Became a national hero when he made the first solo transatlantic flight in 1927