Starr Chp 8: Liberal Turn of the Twenties

The nineteen twenties in United States history were a time of liberalism after WWI. Also known as the roaring twenties, this decade saw the "breakdown of Victorian conventions in manners, morals, the arts, and the growing dominance of modern, liberal ideas in intellectual life and urban culture." (Starr 286) At this time the government did little to extend economic regulation and other social programs, but this was the time when Congress and the courts started to develop the legal framework for free speech. Culturally, in society there were three main changes occuring. The first was the battle over censorship. As seen in the picture to the left these skirts were the new fashion statement as women started to go to beauty saloons and strip off their layers of traditional clothing. Second was the openness about sexual retience. For the first time this was a topic that could be discussed out in the open. Last, music and the arts grew like never before. The twenties were also known as the Jazz Age and people filled dance halls with new and open ideas of promiscuity. Ultimately, the traditional Victorian ways and ideas of old censorhip were "not able to withstand the onslaught" of changing cultural ideas and institutions.(Starr 289)