Unit: Great Depression & New Deal
Big Ideas:The continued growth of large-scale industrialization and urbanization transformed American society and economy, promoted increasingly severe business cycle fluctuations.
During the 1930s, policymakers responded to the mass unemployment and social upheavals of the Great Depression by transforming the U.S. into a limited welfare state, redefining the goals and ideas of modern American liberalism.
Unit Description
The unit begins with the underlying long term causes of the Great Depression and moves to the stock market crash of 1929. Herbert Hoover’s attempts at relieving the strains of the Great Depression are examined in reference to the timing of their implementation and effectiveness.
The unit moves then concentrates on the history of the New Deal era, examining legislation,
protest movements, and the impact of the New Deal on minorities. Roosevelt’s New Deal accomplishedsignificant achievements, but also had many limitations. In his firesidechats, President Roosevelt spoke directly to Americans in their homes and mobilized support for New Deal programs. The unit explores the economic recoveryprograms of the first New Deal and the subsequent wave of protests from menlike Upton Sinclair, Huey Long, Father Charles Coughlin, and Dr. FrancisTownsend. Pressured by these voices of protest, Roosevelt’s Second New Deal
focused more on economic security. Labor made remarkable gains during theNew Deal, as seen with the establishment of the Congress of IndustrialOrganizations (CIO). Led by John Lewis, the CIO had a clear vision of whatdemocracy and freedom meant for labor. The limits of the New Deal are thenexplored, examining the hardships faced by women, Indians, Mexicans, and
African-Americans. Finally, the unit looks at the appeal of the Communist Party during the New
Deal and the conservative congressional response to the Popular Front with theestablishment of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and theSmith Act.
Key Questions
How did the Great Depression’s credit and market instability led to calls for the creation of a stronger financial regulatory system?
To what extent did Roosevelt’s New Deal draw on earlier progressive ideas and represent a multifaceted approach to both the causes and effects of the Great Depression, using government power to provide relief to the poor, stimulate recovery, and reform the American economy?
Summarize the legislative efforts and reforms pushed through during the first Hundred Days.
How did the First New Deal and Second New Deal differ from each other?
How and why did radical, union and populist movements push Roosevelt toward more extensive reforms, even as conservatives in Congress and the Supreme Court sought to limit the New Deal’s scope?
What were (are) the major conservative criticisms of the New Deal? What were (are) the major liberal criticisms of it?
Although the New Deal did not end the Depression, it left a legacy of reforms and regulatory agencies and fostered a long-term political realignment in which many ethnic groups, African Americans, and working-class communities identified with the Democratic Party. Support, modify or refute this statement.
Key Terms by Historical Theme:
(WXT)
stock market crash Federal Reserve John L Lewis
Black Tuesday Gross National Product sit-down strikes
Dow Jones index, Congress of Industrial Organization Fair Labor Standards Act
(POL)
Herbert Hoover Farm Board New deal
self-reliance Reconstruction Finance Corporation Relief, Recovery, Reform
Hawley-Smoot Tariff (1930) Bonus March (1932) Brain Trust
debt moratorium Twentieth-Amendment Francis Perkins
Franklin Roosevelt Eleanor Roosevelt Hundred Days
bank holiday fireside chat Harold Ickes
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Civilian Conservation Corps
Public Works AdministrationSchechter v US Tennessee Valley Authority
National Recovery Administration Securities and Exchange Commission
Federal Housing Administration Works Progress Administration
Harry Hopkins National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act (1935)
Social Security Act (1935) election of 1936 New Deal coalition
John Maynard Keynes recession of 1937 Father Charles Coughlin
Francis Townsend Huey Long Supreme Court reorganization plan
conservative coalition
(POE)
Depression mentality Dust Bowl Okies John Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath Marian Anderson Mary McLeod Bethune Fair Employment Practices Committee A. Philip Randolph Indian Reorganization (Wheeler-Howard) Act (1934) Mexican deportation