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United States Cultural History
1930-1939

Facts About This Decade

• 123,202,624 people in the United States in 1930
  

• In 1930 14.2% of the population was foreign born.
  

• In 1935 the approximate percentage of persons 25 and older with a high school degree or higher was 22%.
  

• Harvard College Tuition 1935 $4,500.
  

• In 1930 there were 4.7 million veterans in civilian life.
  

• Between 1930-1939 there were approximately 1,525 executions under civil authority.
  

• In 1930 there were 98 state and federal prisoners per every 100,000 people.
  

• Approximately 10,000 new books were published in 1930.
  

• Teenage slang from the thirties:

  • Cigarettes were called "coffin nails" which were purchased with "jack"
  • Something funny was a "hoot" or "scream"
  • "Cheese it" meant to run away
  • You had "the eagers" for someone if you were really interested
  • If someone was talking nonsense, you said, "booshwash!," and if someone was just not paying attention, they were simply "fog-bound."

References

Caplow, Theodore, Louis Hicks and Ben J. Wattenberg.  The First Measured Century: An Illustrated Guide to Trends in America, 1900-2000.  Washington, D.C.: AEI Press, 2001.

Rollin, Lucy.  Twentieth-Century Teen Culture by the Decades: A Reference Guide.  Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1999.

World Almanac and Book of Facts 2002. New York: World Almanac Books, 2002.