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Article: DRIVER'S SEAT: BILLY DURANT STEERS GM TOWARD THE ROARING '20S.(The Deal Maker: How William C. Durant Made General Motors)
- Article from:
- Automotive News
- Article date:
- September 13, 1999
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Crain Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Editor's note: From The Deal Maker: How William C. Durant Made General Motors, John Wiley & Sons Inc. Copyright 1999 by Axel Madsen. Printed by permission.
This chapter, ``Into the Roaring Twenties,'' examines some of the turmoil that led up to William Durant being deposed as GM president in November 1920.
The automobile transformed everything - the economy, courtship habits, family living. It was the most desired possession, striking deep roots in the 1920s psyche.
``To George Babbitt,'' wrote Sinclair Lewis in his 1922 novel, Babbitt, ``as to most prosperous citizens of Zenith, his motorcar was poetry and tragedy, love and heroism ... a ...