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The Panic of 1893 was one of the most severe financial crises in the history of the United States. The crisis started with banks in the interior of the country. Instability arose around the nation https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/banking-panics-of-the-gilded-age -
"Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 24, 1896. He is the namesake and second cousin three times removed of the author of the National Anthem." https://rb.gy/7mitt (https://sc.edu.com) -
The canal was opened, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and it had a significant impact on international trade and transportation. Although U.S. control of the canal eventually became an irritant to U.S.-Panamanian relations, at the time it was heralded as a major foreign policy achievement. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1899-1913/panama-canal -
World War I, also known as the Great War, began in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. His murder catapulted into a war across Europe that lasted until 1918. During the conflict, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Canada, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers). https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/world-war-i-history -
Fitzgerald joined the army in 1917, promting him to write his first novel. "Convinced that he would die in the war, he rapidly wrote a novel, “The Romantic Egotist”; the letter of rejection from Charles Scribner’s Sons praised the novel’s originality and asked that it be resubmitted when revised." http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/biography.html
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The British gave President Wilson the Zimmermann telegram on February 24, and on March 1 the American press reported on its existence. The American public was outraged by the news of the Zimmermann telegram and it, along with Germany’s resumption of submarine attacks, helped lead to the United States joining the war. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/u-s-entry-into-world-war-i-1 -
The Treaty of Versailles, signed in 1919 at the Palace of Versailles in Paris at the end of World War I, codified peace terms between Germany and the victorious Allies. The Treaty of Versailles held Germany responsible for starting the war and imposed harsh penalties on the Germans, including loss of territory, massive reparations payments and demilitarization. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/treaty-of-versailles-1 -
Fitzgerald quit his job in July 1919 and returned to St. Paul to rewrite his novel as This Side of Paradise. It was accepted by editor Maxwell Perkins of Scribners in September. Set mainly at Princeton and described by its author as “a quest novel,” -
"The Prohibition Era began in 1920 with the 18th Amendment, banning the manufacture, and sale of intoxicating liquors. Prohibition was difficult to enforce. The increase of the illegal production and sale of liquor, the proliferation of speakeasies and the accompanying rise in gang violence and organized crime led to waning support for Prohibition by the end of the 1920s." https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/prohibition -
The Roaring Twenties was a period of great social and cultural change in the United States during the 1920s. It was characterized by a rise in consumerism, urbanization, and the emergence of new forms of popular culture such as jazz music, dance, and fashion. https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties -
"The publication of This Side of Paradise on March 26, 1920 made the 24-year-old Fitzgerald famous almost overnight, and a week later he married Zelda Sayre in New York. They embarked on an extravagant life as young celebrities. Fitzgerald endeavored to earn a solid literary reputation, but his playboy image impeded the proper assessment of his work." http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/biography.html -
The 19th amendment legally guarantees American women the right to vote. Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle—victory took decades of agitation and protest. https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/19th-amendment#:~:text=Passed%20by%20Congress%20June%204,decades%20of%20agitation%20and%20protest. -
Zelda Fitzgerald became pregnant they took their first trip to Europe in 1921 and then settled in St. Paul for the birth of their only child, Frances Scott (Scottie) Fitzgerald, who was born in October 1921. http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/biography.html -
"In the fall of 1922 they moved to Great Neck, Long Island, in order to be near Broadway.The distractions of Great Neck and New York prevented Fitzgerald from making progress on his third novel. During this time his drinking increased. He was an alcoholic, but he wrote sober." http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/biography.html -
Seeking tranquility for his work, the Fitzgeralds went to France in the spring of 1924 . He wrote The Great Gatsby during the summer and fall in Valescure near St. Raphael, but the marriage was damaged by Zelda’s involvement with a French naval aviator http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/biography.html -
"The Great Gatsby, third novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, published in 1925 by Charles Scribner’s Sons. Unsuccessful upon publication, the book is now considered a classic of American fiction and has often been called the Great American Novel." https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Great-Gatsby -
"On May 21, 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh completed the first solo, nonstop transatlantic flight in history, flying his Spirit of St. Louis from Long Island, New York, to Paris, France." This is a large deal due to the implications it provides about the future as a whole, forming the baseline for transportation forever. https://pioneersofflight.si.edu/content/first-solo-nonstop-transatlantic-flight -
(1929-1939): A severe worldwide economic depression that began in the United States and had a profound impact on the global economy. The depression had far-reaching social and cultural consequences, including increased poverty, unemployment, and social unrest. -
The Stock Market Crash of 1929 occurred on October 29, 1929, when Wall Street investors traded some 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day. Billions of dollars were lost, wiping out thousands of investors https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/1929-stock-market-crash -
During the 1920s his income from all sources averaged under $25,000 a year, good money at a time when a schoolteacher’s average annual salary was $1,299, but not a fortune. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald did spend money faster than he earned it; the author who wrote so eloquently about the effects of money on character was unable to manage his own finances. -
With the country mired in the Great Depression by 1932, creating jobs and revenue by legalizing the liquor industry had an undeniable appeal. Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for president that year on a platform calling for Prohibition’s repeal, and easily won victory over the incumbent President Herbert Hoover. https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/prohibition -
F. Scott Fitzgerald died believing himself a failure. The obituaries were condescending, and he seemed destined for literary obscurity. The first phase of the Fitzgerald resurrection “revival” does not properly describe the process that occurred between 1945 and 1950. -
"When Japanese bombers appeared in the skies over Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941, the U.S. military was completely unprepared for the devastating surprise attack, which dramatically altered the course of World War II, especially in the Pacific theater" https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii -
When the Japanese did not immediately surrender, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb three days later on the city of Nagasaki. The “Fat Man” killed an estimated 40,000 people on impact. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/atomic-bomb-history -
The Cold War (1947-1991): A period of political and military tension between the Western powers (led by the United States) and the Eastern powers (led by the Soviet Union), which had far-reaching consequences for international relations and the global balance of power. https://www.thoughtco.com/important-events-in-american-history-1774068