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The Crash of 1929 | Image Gallery

The Roaring 20s

Many Americans spent the 1920s in a great mood. Investors flocked to a rising stock market. Companies launched brand-new, cutting-edge products, like radios and washing machines. Exuberant Americans kicked up their heels to jazz music, tried crazy stunts, and supported a black market in liquor after Prohibition. A popular expression of the time asked, “What will they think of next?”

Browse some photographs from “the age of permanent prosperity.”

1 of 11

  • Grauman’s Chinese Theater radiates glamour at the premiere of a Hollywood movie in 1927. Silent movie stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks were investors in the theater.

     Credit: California Historical Society/Chamber of Commerce

  • As people look on, a policeman measures the distance between a woman’s knee and her bathing suit.

     Credit: Library of Congress

  • Charles Lindbergh, a celebrity after his solo, non-stop transatlantic flight in May 1927, stands before his famous plane, the Spirit of St. Louis.

     Credit: Lindbergh Foundation

  • Louis Armstrong, one of the greatest musicians of the Jazz Age, poses with his band, the Hot Five.

     Credit: Courtesy of the Louis Armstrong House and Archives at Queens College

  • Americans went car-crazy in the Twenties. Henry Ford poses with the first Ford model and the ten millionth automobile his factory produced.

     Credit: Library of Congress

  • Wing walking was one of the Twenties’ ultimate stunts. Eddie Herzog and Bennie Thrash perform over Fresno, California in 1923.

     Credit: Courtesy Fresno County Public Library Collection

  • Joe Kennedy, patriarch of the famous political family, relaxes in style. Kennedy famously made a fortune in the 1920s and cleverly cashed out before the Crash

     Credit: John F. Kennedy Memorial Library

  • Moviegoers in front of Warners’ Theater pose for a photo at the premier of “Don Juan,” starring John Barrymore, in 1926.

     Credit: National Archives

  • A woman demonstrates her garter flask, developed in response to Prohibition.

     Credit: Library of Congress

  • Crowds pack the stands to watch Yankee slugger Babe Ruth play the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park.

     Credit: SDN-068149, Chicago Daily News Negatives Collection, Chicago Historical Society

  • A mob of bathers enjoys the beach at Lake Michigan.

     Credit: National Archives
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