On 11 November 1918 the First World War ended and in the immediate aftermath of the war the USA recoiled from further involvement in world affairs. There was also a brief economic downturn, race riots and a wave of strikes and bombings. A ‘Red Scare’ saw deportations of suspected anarchists and Communists. Support for the Democrat Party collapsed. In 1920 Warren Harding, a Republican senator, won a landslide victory and the keys to the White House. The Republicans would rule the USA for the next decade.
While many missed out on the ‘Age of Gold’ for others the decade would bring massive wealth and a sense that this would be the ‘American’ century. The Empire State building became a symbol of the optimism and opportunity in the new world. While skyscrapers transformed the urban landscape in cities like Chicago and New York new consumer products like the car transformed Americans’ domestic lives.
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