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Conservatism In The 1920s Essay

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Many innovations throughout history have been met with backlash from people who felt that innovations hurt society as a whole. The 1920s were no exception since it was one of the biggest decades of innovation in the United States’ history. Although conservatism gained a little ground during the 1920s, it was greatly overshadowed by the innovations of technology, social norms, and entertainment that still affect America today.

Some have argued that the 1920s as a time of the rise of conservatism, the presidents during this era were considered very conservative with an Laissez Faire view of the market and Herbert Hoover's decision to promote volunteerism at the end of the decade to combat the depression compared to direct government involvement. Conservatism can also be seen in the new Ku Klux Klan that arose during this time. The new clan was reignited because many people felt traditional american values were being thrown away by the new innovations of the decade. The Klan had 5 million members by 1925 which shows that many people felt America was changing for the worst. The Klan practiced many of its original ideals and added …show more content…

The use of credit to buy entertainment created an speculative bubble which finally burst in 1929 with the stock market crash and people “running on banks” desperate to get the money in their savings. This caused over 600 banks to close 6 days before the end of 1929. The banks only had so much money and once the money ran out, it was gone forever. One man, a janitor had $1000 saved up over 40 years and lost it all when he could not get to the bank in time. By 1933 some states had no banks open, 1000s of homes were foreclosed and 34% of americans had no source of income. The innovation of technology caused many people to buy on credit and when the people could not pay it back since all the banks were closed the economy was brought to a

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