The Coolidge era was a time of great prosperity for the United States, and the standard of living rose for most Americans. Tax reductions and high protective tariffs favored American industry. Mass production, technological innovations, and better distribution methods made consumer items more generally available and increased individual earnings. Americans were able to consume more than ever before, and consume they did. Many Americans now owned cars and radios and took advantage of consumer credit. Vacuum cleaners and washing machines practically flew out of stores. The fields of public relations and advertising, as a 1924 piece of farcical fiction by Richard Connell illustrated, came into their own and flourished.
Nevertheless, many remained excluded from this prosperity. Farmers, African Americans, and immigrants continued to endure poverty during the 1920s. America's agricultural economy was in the midst of a long-lived depression. Many African Americans joined the Great Migration north, seeking opportunity and hoping to escape the greater discrimination of the South. In the North Black people developed organizations for support and self-improvement, and magazines, like The Messenger, highlighted their literary and artistic achievements. Immigrants continued to suffer the hostilities of prejudice.
The meteoric rise in consumption sparked activism and criticism. Widespread excess and indulgence concerned many Americans, who looked to Coolidge as a paradigm of New England simplicity and frugality. Although not as visible as the Progressive Era reformers, activists of the 1920s continued to mount consumer campaigns and organize groups dedicated to the support of education and ethical behavior, the exposure of unsafe working conditions and products, and the reduction of exploitation and unfair marketing practices. The Thrift Movement sought to educate Americans, teaching the importance of saving and of spending wisely. Critic Samuel Strauss decried the public's fixation on consumer goods, calling it an "empire of things."
Learn more about Calvin Coolidge and his era:
- See Prosperity and Thrift: The Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy, 1921-1929 for a wide variety of materials related to the Coolidge presidency and the decade's consumer culture. These include a letter to Coolidge from Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor, a study of Credit Unions, and the Americanization [of Mexican Immigrant Women] through Homemaking.
