America's economy boomed in the early 20th century. The Republican presidents adopted a laissez-faire policy but not everyone benefited from the prosperity.
The industrial growth of the USA doubled in the 1920s. The biggest increase was in new industries such as chemicals, electrical goods and cars. The introduction of electricity in the home triggered a huge expansion in the household electrical goods industry. In 1919, 60,000 radio sets had been sold, but in 1929, 10 million were sold. There was a similar growth in sales of telephone equipment, from 10 million in 1915 to 20 million in 1930.
America's building industry was busier than it had ever been during the 1920s. This was partly due to the demand for new factories and new office buildings for banking, insurance and advertising companies. This was the age of the skyscraper – companies wanted to demonstrate their power and importance by building the tallest and grandest offices.
The influence of the car industry
It was Henry Ford's idea to build a car on an electrical assembly lineA series of workers and machines in a factory by which a succession of identical items are progressively assembled.. The car would move slowly along the line with each worker only doing one specific task. In this way, it would be possible to build a Ford Model T car in an hour and a half instead of 13.5 hours. By the mid-1920s, 7,500 cars were being produced daily - one car every 10 seconds!
The car changed America in every way. It led to the construction of new roads and suburbs. People's way of life was changing in a big way. The development of the car industry sparked a growth in other industries, eg cars used 90 per cent of America's petrol, as well as 80 per cent of the country's rubber and 75 per cent of its glass.