The 1920s depicted a period when the American society would break away from the past and head toward the future. Before the commencement of the First World War, American used to serve as a country whose roots and culture featured the nineteenth century way of life, although in the 1920s, the country appeared to break from the contemplative attachments associated with its recent past to focus on welcoming an era characterized by modernization. The clear impressions affiliated with the period comprise of dance halls, flappers, radio empires, movie palaces, and speakeasies as well as Prohibition. Science facilitates in shattering the boundaries that existed between space as well as time, women entered the workplace, while aviators provided men with the ability to fly. America emerged as a confident and wealthy country (Crawford-Franklin & Robinson, 2013) .
In the 1990s, numerous contradictions also existed, such as where the consummate advancement of culture and prosperity contributed to extreme social reaction and unrest. During the same decade, which contributed to the emergence of modernization and urbanization, other elements also became apparent, such as nativism, Prohibition, Ku Klux Klan, as well as religious fundamentalism. America was at crossways between tradition and innovation. Most Americans looked forward with hope while others looked at the past, to cherish the remarkable countrywide innocence (Talen, 2012) .
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
During March 1921, when Warren Harding took office oath to serve as 29 th American president, he managed to win the elections by making promises that the country would "return to normalcy." He stipulated that the primary task of his government would be to resume the normal way of progressing forward. After two months in office, Harding said that the present needs of America were not heroics, but rather healing; restoration, not revolution; normalcy, but not nostrums. The country was still witnessing the shocks of the First World War, racial violence eruption, and 1919 political suppression, and reinforced by Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution, which was a persistent ‘Red Scare (Zeitz, 2016) .”
Approximately 115,000 American troops died while fighting in Europe for less than a year. From 1918 to 1920, around 700,000 lost their lives after a flu epidemic affected more than 20 percent of the population in America. When the war ended, the country witnessed strike waves and extremists bellowed. During May 1919, rebels sent at least thirty bombs, resulting in war controls failure thereby leading the economy of the country to deteriorate while the level of unemployment in the country rose to around 20 percent. The rates of egregious bankruptcy among farmers were skyrocketing. Harding was incapable of delivering the promised peace, even though the message he gave reverberated throughout the country despite the prevailing instability (Zeitz, 2016) .
Based on the usual state of affairs in America, the 1920s would emerge as anything else rather than ‘normal.' The decade also played a significant role regarding shaping life in America to an extent that it received many names, including Jazz Age, New Era, Prosperity Decade, Age of the Flapper, or the Roaring Twenties. Household appliances, automobiles, radio, and mass film production led to fueling the growth of the new economy as well as living standards (Crawford-Franklin & Robinson, 2013) . Mass entertainment also resulted in the introduction of jazz and talking films, while social and sexual restraints became lost. However, during the same time, a considerable number of Americans failed to support reform initiatives, condemned the shifting demographics in America, subdued immigration, withdrew toward traditional religion, and millions of individuals joined the Ku Klux Klan. Other persons embarked on fighting harder to realize equal rights, while Americans also witnessed the emergence of the "New Negro" and the "New Roman." The past immigrant societies associated with predating new immigration shares stuck to their native beliefs and cultures. The activities taking place at the time led the 1920s decade to serve as one characterized by tension and conflict rather than "normalcy (Zeitz, 2016) ."
Various historians argue that Progressive crusade advanced to the 1920s, although the decade primarily appears as marked by paradoxes and contradictions. Even though a large number of Americans celebrated prosperity, others lived in abject poverty. Outright corruption and untroubled living prevailed in line with burgeoning puritanism, supported war against liberalism and liquor (Talen, 2012) . Immature idealism concerning technology, business, and science witnessed disillusionment and cynicism and materialism splurges. Apart from Jazz, new experiences emerged, including hero worship and new leisure experiences, which awaited the future. African Americans lacked the freedoms and privileges that other individuals enjoyed. Some of them opted to call for racial separation under the 1920s Universal Negro Improvement Association based on their disillusionment with their American prospects (Zeitz, 2016) .
Traditional Protectionism also prevailed particularly concerning enforcing prohibition, which aimed at limiting immigration from Central and Eastern Europe. Teachings concerning evolution halted in schools while the industry was taking control of the economy. Here, the American myth as an affluent agrarian society became mythical while farmers struggled during the entire decade (Crawford-Franklin & Robinson, 2013) . The automobile portrayed the significant technological impact during the 1920a as millions of cars were already patrolling the streets by 1929. The relationship individuals developed with cars stimulated the emergence of planned obsolescence, trade-ins, installment plans, and programs for constructing highways. In line with automobiles, sound movies, vacuum cleaners, radios, washing machines, as well as other forms of conveniences emerged as indicators of the times, which have also progressed into the present society (Zeitz, 2016) .
Reference
Crawford-Franklin, C., & Robinson, L. (2013). Even in an age of wonders: radio as an information resource in 1920s America. Journal of Documentation, 69 (3), 417-434.
Talen, E. (2012). Connecting New Urbanism and American planning: an historical interpretation. Urban Design International, 11 (2), 83-98.
Zeitz, J. (2016). The Roaring Twenties. Retrieved from http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/roaring-twenties/essays/roaring-twenties
