3. The Radio The 1920s were years of rapid technological growth. In 1920, the first regular radio broadcasting station, KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, went on the air. I was joined by other stations, and the radio industry began to boom. In 1926, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) became the first radio network, followed in 1927 by the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). Later, NBC was divided, and became the American Broadcasting Company (ABC).
4. The Airplane Aviation advanced rapidly. The first coast-to-coast airmail service was introduced in 1920. The Air Commerce Act of 1926 provided federal aid for the development of airports and air transportation. Also in 1926, Robert H. Goddard opened the age of modern rocketry (the study of rockets) when he launched the first successful liquid-fuel rocket.
5. Airplanes (Continued) On May 22, 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr., made the first nonstop flight from New York to Paris, France. A year later Amelia Earhart, a member of a three-person crew, became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic. In 1932, she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.
7. How it Happened. In the three years following the downfall, the national situation became desperate and human suffering grew. Between 1929 and 1932, farm income shrank by 50 percent. Industry was operating at half of its former rate. In 1932 alone, 32,000 businesses failed, and so did nearly 1,500 banks, wiping out the life savings of millions of Americans.
8. (Continued) The number of unemployed Americans reached over 12 million—fully one-quarter of the workforce. One million Americans took to the road, trying to find work, and local and state charities could not deal with the widespread impoverished.
9. Hoover’s Plan Hoover opposed measures for direct federal relief on various political and moral grounds, but he launched a huge program of public works in 1930 to try to stem unemployment. In 1932 he secured passage of the bill for the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which lent $2 billion to banks, railroads, and other industries, Because the Great Depression was worldwide, nothing short of world recovery could stem the economic disaster.
