6. Decades of Turbulence

The first half of the twentieth century was an era of turbulence for the United States.Racial and ethnic discrimination were widespread. Between 1914 and 1918, much of Europe was engaged in World War I, a conflict that the United States entered in 1917. U. S. troops played a very significant role in bringing the war to an end in 1918, but not before the country lost an estimated 110 000 to 120 000 service personnel. Soon after the war was over, in 1919, Congress passed the Volstead Act （Prohibition）, which prohibited the manufacture, distribution, sale, or consumption of alcoholic beverages. By the time the act was repealed in 1933, organized crime had gained a strong foothold in the country, providing “bootleg” liquor and engaging in other illegal activities.

During the 1930s, the United States reached what many believe to have been its all-time low point. On October 24, 1929, the New York stock market crashed. Within one week, investors lost 40 percent of their capital. By 1932, the market had lost 89 percent of its value, and the U.S. economy entered the Great Depression. The economic hard times would last for nearly two decades and affect nearly all Americans. The 1930s also brought environmental devastation to much of the Great Plains region from Texas to the Canadian border and westward to the Rocky Mountains. Year after year, rain was scarce, and moisture-starved crops and livestock herds suffered. Soils were stripped from the land, creating violent dust storms that turned day into night. During this “dust bowl” era, nearly half a million people left their land and migrated. Most of them moved westward to California or elsewhere. It would take decades before the region—America’s wheat-and-livestock-producing agricultural heartland—would return to its former level of productivity.

No sooner had the country begun a slow recovery from the Great Depression and dust bowl era than storm clouds once again started to form. In 1939, war began in Europe and soon spread like wildfire as it engaged Allied （friendly） or Axis （hostile） forces. It even spread to eastern Asia. For a time, the United States watched from the sidelines. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed the U.S. military base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The American response was swift and decisive. By the war’s end in 1945, U. S. military forces had played a leading role in securing the victory for itself and its allies. An estimated 72 million people died in the war, including perhaps 420 000 Americans.