Although the 1928 [presidential] election was a portent for the future, its contemporary significance for labor lay in the fact that [presidential candidate Herbert]Hoover and the Republican Party scored a signal victory. This could not have occurred unless many workers had voted for Hoover, and their willingness to do so is suggestive of their social outlook at the end of the twenties.
Observers were struck with the materialism that permeated all levels of American society, including labor; workers shared with their bosses a devout reverence for the almighty dollar. In Middletown [Ohio] workmen derived little satisfaction from their work. “There isn’t twenty five per cent of me paying attention to the job,” a bench molder stated. Since this frustration was linked to a dim prospect for advancement as workers, the more energetic strove to enter the middle class. The acquisition of money was the main objective of life, and people were measured by the externals money bought – where they live, how they lived, the make of car they drove. In the shops, workers were more concerned with maximizing income than with learning skills or gaining leisure by shorter hours.
From Irving Bernstein, The Lean Years: A History of the American Worker 1920 to 1933, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1960), page 80-81.