[Phil Masters]

I'm not sure that the '20s was a time of general social unity. Actually, you could as easily call it an age of uncertainty and fragmentation, with multiple radical and revolutionary movements in almost every country, the rise of Communism and Fascism, and the psychological effects of the Great War still percolating down through societies.

What you did have was, perhaps, a greater sense of reflexive unity within the social and political establishment, with the mass media still mostly seeing themselves as being inside the fortress and on the same side as the ruling classes - along with a persistent habit of Victorian-style deference among some parts of society. The idea that "they" surely knew best wasn't universal, but nor was it seen as automatically risible.

Which your proto-Sandmen can definitely exploit.