America in the 1920s In the first three decades of the 20th century, America became the richest and most powerful country in the world. Its population, wealth and industry were growing rapidly. It had many natural resources (oil, coal, iron ore, etc.). The average American worker earned 5 times more than in Europe. Many Americans owned their own cars. America was so rich that it could lend money to Europe. At the end of World War I, America turned its back on Europe. It did not join the League of Nations in 1922. Also in 1922, the McCumber Tariff was introduced, which imposed heavy taxes on cheap foreign imports. This made goods from other countries seem very expensive to buy in America, so Americans bought American-made goods and American companies made large profits. However, foreign countries responded by imposing high taxes on American goods sold in their countries. By the late 1920s this became a major problem for America and Europe. Isolationism raged for American companies who made huge profits, but the American people also lost out because Europe could not export goods to America, which is a very large country. So tariffs helped the industry thrive for most of the 1920s because Americans only bought American-made goods, which meant American companies made huge profits. However, in the late 1920s, American companies found it difficult to sell their products in America because Americans already had their goods and other countries did not buy them due to high taxes. The Ku Klux Klan wanted to foment hatred and prejudice against blacks, Jews, foreigners and Catholics. The Klan was founded by Southern whites... middle of paper... his feet sent the rest of the world into depression by not being able to export and import goods to or from America. I think whoever benefited from the Great Depression, the people who were better off were wealthy people who weren't dragged into the depression. But thanks to the fact that America isolated itself from the rest of the world, it dragged the rest of the world with it, so the whole world suffered. Companies lost out because they couldn't export or import things to and from America. Businesses in America had to close due to lack of funds, so owners and workers lost their vitality. Average American citizens lost out because they lost their jobs and couldn't afford to pay for clothing, food, or housing. The Wall Street crash caused a chain reaction that led to the Great Depression.