Page 61 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - USA

HIST OR Y OF THE USA  59

Cartoon of Uncle Sam welcoming immigrants into the “US Ark of Refuge”
steps toward protecting the natural drug-and alcohol-fuelled lifestyles of
environment from the ravages of the Roaring Twenties.
unrestrained industrial development.
The early 20th century also saw the The Great Depression &
growth of labor unions, which staged the “New Deal”
successful and sometimes violent strikes The Wall Street Crash of 1929 shattered
to improve pay and conditions, and helped millions of dreams and left many Americans
protect children from working in factories. destitute. Farmers and black people in
cities and rural areas were particularly
Boom & Bust hard hit, as banks withdrew funding.
Involvement in World War I confirmed Unemployment and the gross domestic
America’s position as a world power, product dropped to half of what it was in
drawing the nation away from its long- the 1920s. Extended drought and sustained
cherished isolationism. But, after the war, winds caused such destruction that the
soldiers returned home from Europe to Great Plains was dubbed the “Dust Bowl,”
severe unrest, with labor strikes and race forcing some 200,000 Great Plains farmers
riots. This economic depression caused to migrate west to California.
enormous suffering and changed the The Republican government, which had
domestic role of the government forever. promoted the boom and was blamed for
The 1920s, known as the “Jazz Age,” saw an the crash, was rejected by the electorate,
explosion of artistic creativity, especially in leading to the 1932 election of Democrat
popular music. Architectural and engineering Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In his first 100
landmarks were constructed, and the rising days in office, Roosevelt established federal
popularity of the automobile government relief programs
encouraged the building of (the “New Deal”) to revitalize
the first transcontinental the economy, provide jobs, and
highways, which linked aid those who were hurt by the
the nation and gave rise economic downturn. Roosevelt
to the first suburbs. also set up regulatory bodies to
This creativity coincided help prevent economic turmoil
with Prohibition (1920–33), in the future. Although millions
when the sale of alcohol of dollars of federal funding
was made illegal. Ironically, were spent on relief, 20 percent
it was Prohibition itself Duke Ellington, celebrated icon of of Americans still continued
that led to the freewheeling, the Jazz Age to be unemployed in 1939.

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