The Roaring Twenties: Prosperity and Prohibition

The immediate postwar years were a time of adjustment and upheaval. The American economy, which had been mobilized for wartime production, faced a difficult transition back to peacetime industry. Factories that had been focused on military goods had to retool for civilian markets, and soldiers returning from Europe flooded the labor force, competing for jobs in an economy that was struggling to stabilize. These challenges were compounded by inflation, strikes, and widespread labor unrest, including major walkouts by steelworkers and coal miners.

Socially, the end of the war exposed deep tensions within American society. The Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South to northern cities during the war had intensified racial competition for jobs and housing. In the summer of 1919, known as the Red Summer, racial violence erupted in cities across the country, with Chicago witnessing one of the worst race riots in American history. Meanwhile, fear of communist revolution—fueled by the 1917 Bolshevik takeover in Russia—ignited the first Red Scare in the United States. Suspicion of immigrants and radicals led to arrests, deportations, and increased support for restrictive immigration policies.