When given the opportunity to choose, using only one's personal opinion, which decade in America's history has truly been the most influential, the obvious answer is the 1920's. The decade of 1920-1939 was a time of great change and reform, of improvement, adjustment and alteration of everything Americans had come to rely on. Not one element of common life was left unaffected; new boundaries were reached in sports, entertainment, science, politics, communication, transportation...only to touch on a few.

In sports, athletes were being identified as heroes for the first time in history. Babe Ruth -the "Sultan of Swat"- was purchased from the Boston Red Sox by the New York Yankees in 1922 for $125,000. This was proven to be a good move as Babe went on to hit 60 homers during the Yankees' regular season (and two more in the world series against the Pittsburgh Pirates) in 1927. He set batting records not broken until current day steroids and mass training were abused by modern athletes. American Football reached the professional leagues and Illinois superstar recruit Harold "Red" Grange attracted huge crowds to the new leagues. In fact, Americans held dominance in most profes

http://www.msu.edu/course/mc/112/1920s/

Other forms of entertainment included that of improvements in theater: both Movie and Stage. On stage, Eugene O'Neill's "Beyond The Horizon" opened at New York's Morasco Theater and won the Pulitzer Prize. Also on stage: Enrico Caruso died in 1921, a year after making his last public appearance at the New York Metropolitan Opera's production of "La Juive" and in 1921 the first Miss America pageant was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

http://oneonta.k12.ny.us/ms/the20s.htm

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