The Arts in New York City

The Roaring Twenties

Mention one new detail that you learned from the documentary segment that none of your classmates have commented on in previous responses.

19 thoughts on “The Roaring Twenties”

  1. Watching the documentary, one event really hit home: the red scare. I feel like the documentary is a bit outdated. In it they say that “The revelation [discovering TNT sent to politicans] set in motion the Red Scare. A wave of political reaction and xenophobia, unlike anything seen in the country before or since.” I want to challenge that. Trump. Well not just Trump but with the warm reception that he’s been given, there are many who believe the things he does. And what does Trump believe in? A lot of things, he believes in outlawing all Muslims, deporting many Muslims who are here, and uses events to propagate an “us v.s. them” mentality. He, in my humble opinion, is pushing the country to a darker place than it was during the Red Scare. For example, the Red Scare had no real leader. Imagine how Nazi Germany would have been without Hitler. A leader makes the difference between a sucesful movement and a flop btu int his case, this leader is speading enophobia and bigotry. Perhaps Ric Burns needs to update his documentary.

  2. The documentary discusses New York City’s importance in what is referred to as the second industrial revolution in America. The time was known for a huge boost in the production of consumer goods. Products from automobiles to telephones to vacuums were growing in popularity as their availability increased. Besides the market it provided, New York City became a center for advertising. Many billboards, signs and fliers popped up as well as advertising companies themselves. New York City can be seen as the Financial Capital of the world and possibly as the advertising capital too of the time. I was surprised by the importance one city can have on the whole economy of a country. The second industrial revolution, which was heavily influenced by New York City, lead to one of the biggest booms in America’s history: The Roaring 20’s. It would be hard to imagine the United States without New York City. One might even ask if the second industrial revolution would even happen if not for New York City’s existence.

  3. F. Scott Fitzgerald from St. Paul Minnesota felt home at New York. New York for him had the essence of the beginning. He was a Midwestern boy moving out to New York on a cultural adventure. His stories at first were rejected when he worked at an advertising agent. He struggled to make a living as a writer. After being dumped by his fiancé, he started drinking and sobered his mind and cleared his thoughts. He rewrote one of his old stories that was rejected. In 1920 his novel, “The Side of Paradise” was published. Fitzgerald had so much hope and faith within New York City. He stated, “America was going on the greatest, goddiest spree in history. And there was going to be plenty to tell about it.” It is hard to imagine American Literature without F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is interesting to think that his spark of brainstorming for his bestsellers happened in New York because of his break-up.

  4. In the Roaring Twenties, while many raced to obtain as much money and goods as possible, business owners and architects fought to construct the tallest building possible. Architects had become more confident in their work, believing that buildings a mile-and-a-half tall were safe. Additionally, elevator companies were advancing. It was likely that they could also handle this height. In the spring of 1929, the race to reach the heavens peaked. Accompanied by architect William Van Alen, Walter Chrysler aimed to construct the tallest building in the world. Van Alen, however, found himself entangled in a bitter rivalry with H. Craig Severance, his former partner. Severance had begun work on a building for the Manhattan Company. The two builders constantly changed their plans, trying to outdo the other. By fall, the Manhattan Company building was complete. Initially, it was assumed to be the victor of this battle, but Van Alen had one last trick. Van Alen was creating a spike within the building, pushing it out later on. This spike made the Chrysler building 128 feet taller than the Manhattan Company building. For the time being, it was even considered to be the tallest building in the world. Overall, I find this competition to be interesting and a little humorous. I believe that the goal of owning the world’s tallest building was a way of each business owner and architect to display their grandeur and superiority. This sort of confidence and extravagance is characteristic of the decade. The secret planning that went into the Chrysler building stood out to me as amusing. Van Alen certainly managed to outwit his rival. One thing I do wonder about was the legality of this secret spire. I suppose that in the 1920s, restrictions upon planning and construction were far more lenient than they are today.

  5. One thing I learned in the documentary was how the African American population in New York City never really had their own established neighborhood. They were only located in small, street-sized concentrations and were easily relocated to different areas such as Lower Manhattan, Greenwich Village, San Juan Hill, and the Tenderloin as mentioned in the documentary. Today we know Harlem as the neighborhood with a large concentration of African Americans and as the origin of the cultural explosion, the Harlem Renaissance, but we never really know why or how Harlem got its reputation. It was thanks to the subway system that gave African Americans an escape route to finally establish their community in a new territory. In less than decade from 1917-1925, nearly 200,000 African Americans poured into their new “home” and Harlem became a welcoming place for African Americans everywhere. With this new welcoming black community and the already well established media central that is New York City, New York attracted the black population with some of the most talented artists of the century. Thus the black culture was able to thrive in the 1920s and culturally change New York for the better.

  6. The documentary brought up an interesting fact which is not often advertised about the time period of such extravagant growth of wealth and prosperity in New York City – the failure of young people to contribute anything to society. At this time society had changed drastically, with 95% of the population then living in cities as opposed to rural areas. New York City, among the most popular of those cities, was experiencing such new changes which emitted a “shiny” quality and a certain attractiveness which was broadcasted across the country. Yet even with all of the transformations that began in New York and the extravagant wealth which some showed off, the young people became restless. As Fitzgerald stated, many of his friends would go out and drink in order to keep up with the times. Such a behavior occupied young people but pulled them away from any useful ways they could help the city and country continue to grow. The young people in 1927 became worn out as Fitzgerald described, and made no contribution to society.

  7. Interestingly, the documentary analyzes the emergence of radio advertising, which is a topic I had not known much about before viewing this section. According to the video, the first radio advertisement that ever went out was for housing in Jackson Heights. This was an incredible success because that single advertisement resulted in $150,000 worth of housing, which back then was worth even more. This then begins the American system of broadcasting, which focus on “manufacturing desire” for particular items, thus igniting the advertising industry. This results in an entirely new area of study, the psychology of advertising, which concentrates on analyzing what exactly causes someone change their behavior and buy an experience or item. Each radio advertisement had the power of reaching into a household and communicating directly with a captive audience. Since then, advertising has spread from radio to television and grown into an industry with an estimated revenue of over $500 billion per year.

  8. Upon the completion of World War 1, there were great parades in the spring and summer of 1919 to celebrate the United States’ involvement and eventual victory in “The Great War.” These parades, which were extremely popular in New York City, praised soldiers who risked their lives to fight for their country. An interesting detail about these parades was that, out of all regiments that walked past 5th avenue, the first and most highly praised regiment was the 369th regiment. In an era that was rooted in deep racism, the 369th Infantry Regiment was an all-black regiment from Harlem that broke down the shackles of racism and received the praised it deserved. Their efforts in the war were also praised by the French as they received the highest French Military Honor. Nicknamed “The Hellfighters” for their “legendary valor under fire”, the 369th regiment had extreme toughness and they never let a man behind, lost a man through capture, or lost a trench or a foot of ground to the enemy. In all, the 369th Regiment was of vital importance that helped break down the barriers of the public opinions of African-American soldiers and of African-Americans in general.

  9. Something in the documentary that greatly interested me was how John Jacob Raskob was able to spark a culture of depending on credit that would eventually lead to the Great Depression. Raskob believed that everyone should be able to be rich or at least have the perception that they were. So he took the idea of Americans purchasing cars on credit and believed that it could be applied to stocks. Raskob ruled out the possibility that if the stock market crashed, investors will take a huge loss from it. He argued that the market was growing too rapidly to even have that occur. Eventually, as much as $8.5 billion dollars was out on loan. Having the America have more than the country’s own currency out on loan was a sure sign of a dramatic collapse bound to happen. I found it very interesting that Raskob’s simple idea was what started a chain of events that would eventually lead up to one of the worst financial crisis’s America would ever experience.

  10. Every US History class has gone over this historic event: the most well known example of new technology shaping the future is undoubtably the role of television in the 1960 election. We’ve all heard about it: the debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon was the first televised presidential debate in US History. JFK catered to this new form of technology; wearing make up, shaving, and donning a well-contrasting, tailored suit; whereas Nixon did quite the opposite. The results of that debate were nothing short of fascinating; those who heard the debate on the radio thought Nixon had won, whereas those who saw the debate on television thought JFK was the clear winner. We hear of this example all the time, and yet the first presidential debate on radio seems to be forgotten.

    According to the segment, the 1828 campaign was “one of the first ones in which radio played a real part.” In this campaign, Herbert Hoover, the Republican incumbent, ran against the New York Governor and social reformer, Al Smith. The country had seen good times under Hoover’s first term, therefore Al Smith had a tough battle against him for the Oval Office. The unexpected unravelling of the campaign revealed that Smith was disliked throughout most of the country with the exception of major cities. To the countrymen and women, Al’s voice, with his raspiness and strong classic New York accent, reinforced the notion that he was, above all, a cityman. To rural America, Al was a stranger, and as Daniel Czitron describes it, Smith’s voice was “jarring,” and soon “Al became a cartoon caricature of what New York was.” Instead of extending the scope which his message could reach, the radio emphasized Al Smith’s differences rather than his similarities, thus playing a role in his presidential defeat – akin to television playing a role in Nixon’s defeat.

  11. I found it extremely ironic how the Roaring Twenties was preceded by an explosion on September 16, 1920 that had gone off in front of the House of Morgan. Approximately 40 people were killed and many others were injured. The Stock Exchange continued with a steady upward trend the next morning despite the tragic occurrence that had happened just the day before. The Roaring Twenties is known as a time period of great economic stability and as “happy times” with lots of new cultural innovations and entertainment. One would think that an optimistic event would precede this time period but actually the explosion had preceded the Roaring Twenties. It would seem that this explosion would hint at ominous times to come but it was anything but. Despite the irony, this seemed like the ending of bad times and the beginning of new ones, especially with the Roaring Twenties rising on the horizon.

  12. As I was watching the documentary, I was surprised to hear the phrase, “the city of desires” being repeated over and over again. One of the historians said that it was the people who came from outside of Manhattan, that ironically made Manhattan such a wonderful island of desires and ambitions. It was those people who came to Manhattan, looking for opportunity and were willing to put everything out on the line. The historian went out to say that although he lived in Brooklyn, there was a different glow about Manhattan. It glowed as he walked on the Brooklyn Bridge and he saw that Manhattan is the real definition of New York City. Another definition could be (as Henry Ford said) “the sky is the limit” and in the ’20s they discovered that maybe the sky isn’t the limit. Poets wrote about airplane flights where they could literally go into the sky. New Yorkers began to realize that their city, especially Manhattan, incorporates all cultures and gives everyone a chance for them to strive to their best ability.

  13. One thing I learned in this documentary that I found interesting the campaign of Al Smith, the Mayor of New York, for the government. I found his rise and fall from success interesting because the things that worked for him to rise up to power in New York City ultimately ended up being the things that ended in his demise. Al Smith was an extremely successful politician in New York City where he served as a mayor for an unprecedented four terms. He was so successful in New York city that he won 20 out 21 campaigns that he had launched, and during his term as the mayor of New York city he brought unprecedented levels of success to New York city financially and socially. He was popular in New York for his energetic, brash, and unapologetic nature and he defined the New York success story with his rise to power from a poor catholic boy on the lower east side to a well-respected mayor of New York city.
    However, all the qualities that worked for him as a charismatic leader in New York worked against him when he decided to campaign for national office in 1928. His brash, charismatic New York “talk” was displeasing to people in the South and the midwest. They did not like manner of speaking and his joking attitude that made him so popular in New York; instead they viewed him as a strange man and disapproved of every New York characteristic about him. In fact, people in the midwest and the southern states viewed New York as “the foreign city of New York” and held everything related to New York in contempt. I found this fact to be surprising because I had always thought that people in other parts of the country viewed New York as a desirable place but instead they did not like New York city and viewed it as greedy capitalistic city.

  14. A detail I found interesting from this video is the deportation of Emma Goldman as part of the Red Scare. Its not surprising given her anarchists beliefs and the anti government rhetoric she uses which were evident in Ragtime. I wonder if she perhaps allowed herself to be deported. If she was as good at hiding from the authorities as the book made her seem I believe she could have avoided being caught.
    I think her deportation is symbolic of the loss freedom of speech and expression for all immigrants during the Red Scare. She was in fact exactly the type of immigrants the country was trying to rid themselves of; the ones with radical views and demands of change of te government. Unfortunately many other immigrants who simply wanted to continue living as they were, regardless of how horrible their living conditions were, got lumped into the entire group and were deported as well.

  15. One detail that I found to be particularly interesting from this segment of the documentary is that the modern American culture as we know it today was established and heavily exploited throughout the Roaring Twenties. With the American economy growing faster than ever, the trend among companies and producers was to take the emphasis out of modeling how products will be made, and implement it into the making of customers. Essentially, the Roaring Twenties was an era which fostered a cultural context revolved around glamour and extravagance. Brand names became very popular in this era, and the documentary explains how these companies were really selling what we know today as the American Dream. Business marketing became heavily geared toward psychological trends. This coincided nicely with the power of mass media, which took off around the same time. More consumers were able to be reached through various platforms, which allowed companies to sell their products, and to shape their customers in the process. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the desire for the American Dream as a theme for several of his works of literature, such as “The Great Gatsby.”

  16. What I found particularly interesting in the documentary was the segment about the race to be the tallest building in New York City between the Chrysler building and the Bank of the Manhattan building. For one, I was not even aware that the Chrysler building was once the tallest building in the world or that the Bank of Manhattan building even existed. With so many taller and more important buildings in New York at the present time, the Chrysler building never struck as being one of particular importance to me. I also thought it was cool how the documentary mentioned that on clear days, the workers could clearly see the workers constructing the opposite building which was just four miles away. The fact that construction for the buildings were being updated mid-construction shows just how competitive they fight for being the tallest really was. Finally, I could only imagine how the Bank of Manhattan felt when they thought they had won the battle only to find out suddenly that a giant spike come out of the top of the Chrysler building and beats them.

  17. One interesting fact I learned by watching this video was the difference of interests between urban and rural populations, and the long-lasting effects it had on our nation’s future. Years ago, the Civil War was fought to settle economic differences and the issue of slavery, which had a dividing effect on the United States. At the time, the North had many large cities and an industrial economy, whereas the South had a more rural population that depended on agriculture as opposed to industrialization. The 1928 Presidential Election showed that while the war ended, these differences remained. Candidate Al Smith served as governor of New York prior to running; naturally, he had no trouble garnering the vote of his home state, including the voters of New York City. However, he failed to present any appeal to rural populations at the time, who made a direct connection between Smith’s campaign and Wall Street. Because Smith’s agenda was considered to be one-sided, he lost the election to Herbert Hoover, and remains a lesson for politicians today – you can’t win an election by winning a single group of voters.

  18. The presidential campaign of 1928 was a particularly interesting part of the video because of the current election season. It is interesting to learn about the political climate of the country because of the way in which he was protested. His liberal ideals and Catholicism went against the overwhelming Protestant population. The presence of the KKK and the cross burnings on the campaign trail also spoke volumes about the bigotry and recoil he felt from the country, which was primarily because of his religion. The country was definitely at a time where conservatism, in its historical and arguably apolitical sense, was the nature of this country. I personally did not realize this type of recoil would be faced by Smith. His anti-prohibition stance was also unpopular, but to me, this is rather weird. The Prohibition itself was anti-conservative at its core in my view. True conservatism favors small government, but The Prohibition was a nationwide ban on the consumption, production, and selling of alcohol. Such a federal ban is against true conservatism. It only follows religious and social conservatism, none of which should be concerned with political conservatism. In any case, this further shows us the political climate of the country.

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