Title: The American Dream in the 1920s & 30s - Cultural History of the United States
Headings: Cultural History of the United States
The American Dream in the 1920s & 30s
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Content: 4] Artists like George Bellows painted scenes to move the American public to do something about the condition of the urban poor. [ 5] Bellows’ and Riis’ plight soon became the plight of the American public as well, fostering an environment for economic, political, and social reform. The goals of the Progressive Era were centered on taming the beast that created this urban mess: capitalism. People like Jane Addams believed that “The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.” [ 6] Americans were experiencing a need to ensure a good life not only for the individual, but for the entirety of the American population. Even in Washington the Progressive movement challenged political corruption and implored the government to take steps to regulate things like food and drugs, control corporate power, and create a strong system to manage the difficulties of this new urban environment. [ 7] However, all this reform and progress would come to an end with the onset of the First Great War. World War I, according to President Woodrow Wilson, was a selfless cause and would be “a war to end all wars” making the world “safe for democracy.” [ 8] The American public, after the U.S. entry into the war, got behind the cause in many ways.