1. One historian has said: “Without the new automobile industry the
prosperity in the 1920s would scarcely have been possible”
Explain whether you agree or disagree with this statement.
Some people think that the new automobile industry was essential for the
prosperity of the 1920s while, other people, as the historian, think that it was not.
Other people, as me, think that it was partly essential.
By 1920, the USA did not need to import, neither to export. She had a large internal
market which was growing. In source 10 the main natural resources and the main
centres of population are shown. She had a growing population. By 1914 the USA
had a lot of steel, coal and textile industries, she developed new technology, the
USA was the leading oil producer, she had newer industries which were growing
fast. In fact her industry led the world. Her agriculture was the best one in the
world.
In the WW1 the USA had lent money to the Allies, sold arms and munitions to
Britain and France and she sold massive amounts of foodstuffs. Moreover, while
European countries were fighting in France, the USA took control of European’s
trade around the world. Furthermore, before the WW1, Germany had had the best
chemical industry in the world. As the war started Germany stopped producing so,
by the end of the war the USA had the best chemical industry, she had taken
Germany a huge advantage. New American industries were created In order to
produce new materials as plastics. In 1917 the USA joined the war. This did not
help the growth of her economy but, by 1922 her economy started growing again.
The First World War helped the USA to grow, when she was out of the fighting. But
did not help her when she was involved in it.
From 1920 up to the year 1932 all the presidents of the USA were Republican. Also,
the Republicans dominated the congress. Some of their beliefs were the following,
laissez-faire, tariffs, low taxation and trusts.
Laissez-faire was the attitude which Republicans thought. It consisted in the
government interfering as little as possible in the everyday lives of the people.
In source 13 it is clearly shown that the USA had more exports than imports. The
Republicans thought about tariffs, which made more expensive to import foreign
goods. The tariffs protected businesses against foreign competition.

2. The Republicans kept the taxes as low as possible. “The Republican thinking was
that if people kept their own money they would spend it on American goods and
wealthy people would reinvest their money in industries.”(page 187)
The trusts were corporations which dominated industry. The Democrats were
against trusts because they thought that it was unhealthy to a person to have the
complete control of one sector of industry. On the other hand, Republicans thought
that the people who had the control of one sector of the industry knew what was
good for the USA.
During the 1920s new industries and new methods of production were developed
in the USA. Steel, chemicals, glass and machinery became the foundation of an
enormous boom in consumer goods. Telephones, radios, vacumn cleaners and
washing machines were produced in a massive way so as all could buy them.
Industries also used sales and marketing techniques to get people to buy their
goods. The motor-car industry was the most important. Before 1913, cars took a
long time to be made and they were very expensive. Car production was
revolutionised by Henry Ford. In 1913 he set a factory where a person had one or
two jobs to do as the skeleton of the car past him. In source 15 it is shown how the
two workers were doing their job and when they finished they had to start with
another car. The model T was the most important. In source 16 there is a street
with the model T. It was very cheap. The motor industry employed thousands of
workers directly and also, it employed it employed workers in other industries as
glass, leather, etc. Petrol was needed to run them, and a lot of labourers where
needed to construct roads where he cars drive on. Road construction was the
biggest employer. Owning a car was not of a rich person’s privilege, as in Europe.
Buying a house in the suburbs was made possible by the car. It also helped with the
growth of other business as holiday resorts.
In the 1920s the way of thinking was changed. People in the 1920s thought that
spending money was a good quality. Spending more and more money was seen as
part of being American. People started to think that they had a right to have a nice
house, a good job, etc. In fact a good life.
In conclusion, the historian who said that without the new automobile industry, the
prosperity in the 1920s would scarcely have been possible was partly wrong and
partly correct. The new automobile industry was partly essential for the prosperity
in the 1920s for all the reasons I stated before.
By Tadeo Helou.