1928 was the last deep breath before the storm for America, though most Americans did not yet realize the specter of the Great Depression was on the horizon. Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine is set during this year in an idyllic, small Midwestern town. There are aspects of modernity that creep in but largely it is a place of comfort and tradition. We will briefly look at the year 1928 to contextualize Bradbury’s work.
President Herbert Hoover was at the country’s helm, elected in 1928 in a landslide over Democratic nominee Al Smith. Hoover was popular for his business and bureaucratic acumen, and seemed the perfect person to lead the country through four more years of prosperity. Indeed, after WWI the country had experienced an economic boom and an increased standard of living, though said boom was actually built on a precarious foundation.
In terms of foreign policy America was starkly isolationist, not wanting to be pulled into any conflict that resembled the devastating and traumatic First World War. America took the lead in advocating arms reduction and signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact with other nations, which essentially said war was no longer a means of deciding disputes. Additionally, the country never joined the League of Nations and ignored the simmering unrest in Germany, Spain, and Italy.
For most Americans, the decade seemed to be one of promise. The radio was an immensely popular device that aired exciting programs, including the news, sports games, and advertisements. Those advertisements featured innovative new appliances and luxury items, and if the Americans they were marketed towards couldn’t pay for such things outright there was always the convenient new option of credit. Credit was not dissimilar to the stock market, which became a thrilling game for Americans of all socioeconomic strata; clearly, investing was no longer just for the rich.
Leisure seemed to be paramount. Baseball and boxing became popular sports with wide audiences. Jazz skyrocketed in its appeal and many Americans frequented nightclubs and dance halls, but music was also easily brought into one’s home with the phonograph. The earliest films introduced America to a new form of celebrity – the movie star – and the concomitant new trends in fashion. Hemlines rose, sleeves vanished, hair was bobbed, cheeks rouged, and eyes were outlined in kohl by the young women who became known as “flappers.” Flappers, or the “New Woman,” were more adventurous, more willing to push the boundaries of what was acceptable. She may have drank or smoked or experimented with birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger’s advice on how to prevent unwanted pregnancy.
Both young women and young men were the most enthusiastic advocates of the automobile, which became financially accessible to a large swath of Americans for the first time. The automobile contributed immensely to the economic boom of the twenties and revolutionized travel, transport, and culture.
Dandelion Wine isn’t set in a place like New York City where these changes would be most apparent, but various aspects of 1920s modernity are visible in the new trolley, the films, the radio, consumer goods like the lawnmower, and, more subtly, the slightly unnerving sense that the world is changing very quickly and try as one might, it is not possible to hold onto the past.
