‘Snarling Roughhouse’: The 1924 Democratic Convention
A 17-day political dogfight at the 1924 Democratic National Convention revealed the faultlines in American society, from prohibition to Protestantism to the shadow of the Ku Klux Klan.
The 1920s in America have attracted a large number of epithets – the Jazz Age, the Era of Wonderful Nonsense, the Age of the Flapper, the Dry Decade, the Lawless Decade, the Golden Age of Sport, the Great Spree, the Automobile Age and most frequently the Roaring Twenties. This was the age of crossword puzzles, modern dances with strange animal names, radio, the movies and then the talkies, even flagpole sitting. It was also the decade of new sporting and entertainment stars like 'Red' Grange, 'Big Bill' Tilden, 'Babe' Ruth, Bobby Jones, Jack Dempsey, Rudolph Valentino, Rudy Vallee, Mary Pickford, Theda Bara and Clara Bow. These images and names demonstrate the variety and vitality of a decade noted for its materialism, speculation and self-indulgence.
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