c. 1920-1941:
The Great Depression
Essential Questions
- How did prosperity of the 1920s give way to the Great Depression?
- How did the Great Depression affect the lives of urban and rural Americans?
- Why did Herbert Hoover's policies fail to solve the country's economic crisis?
- How did the New Deal attempt to address the problems of the depression?
- What major issues did the second New Deal address?
- How did the New Deal change the social, economic, and political landscape of the US for future generations?
- How did the men and women of the depression find relief from their hardships in the popular culture?
Learning Objectives
You will learn:
- How and why the Great Depression occurred in the United States and the extent to which it affected the livelihood and fortunes of various Americans
- How the economic circumstances of the Great Depression influenced patterns of migration and settlement.
- How the onset of the Dust Bowl influenced the displacement and migration of “Okies” during the Great Depression and how that migration impacted those groups and the United States
- How Herbert Hoover became a scapegoat for what ailed the economy at the beginning of the Great Depression and why his “rugged individualism” failed to work.
- How Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered a “New Deal” to the American people that aimed to ease the effects of the depression through government programs and agencies that provided direct government relief, recovery and reform
- To what extent the New Deal fundamentally changed the nation’s political and economic systems
- How and why the New Deal and some of its agencies and programs were opposed by a variety of individuals and groups
- How and to what extent Franklin D. Roosevelt and his “New Deal” could be seen as a success or failure in easing the economic effects of the depression through direct government relief, recovery efforts and reform
- How national political leaders have expressed their perceptions of the “American Dream” during times of prosperity or crisis
- The extent to which American culture continued to flourish during the Great Depression.
Key Terms
Assignments and Readings
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Old Time Radio
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Let America Be America Again
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Court Packing 2020
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Slideshows
Videos
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Digital History Textbook
1930s
This section examines why the seemingly boundless prosperity of the 1920s ended so suddenly and why the Depression lasted as long as it did. It assesses the human toll and the policies adopted to combat the crisis of the Great Depression. It devotes particular attention to the impact on African Americans, the elderly, Mexican Americans, labor, and women. In addition to assessing the ideas that informed the New Deal policies, this section examines the critics and evaluates the impact of the New Deal.
Charles Ponzi
The Market Crashes
Why It Happened
The Great Depression in Global Perspective
The Human Toll
The Dispossessed
President Hoover
Franklin D. Roosevelt
The Bonus Army
The First 100 Days
The New Dealers
The Farmers' Plight
The National Recovery Administration
Jobs Programs
Roosevelt's Critics
The Wagner Act
Social Security
African Americans and the New Deal
Mexican Americans
Native Americans
The New Deal in Decline
The Depression of 1937
Popular Culture During the Great Depression
Hollywood during the Great Depression
Legacy of the New Deal
This section examines why the seemingly boundless prosperity of the 1920s ended so suddenly and why the Depression lasted as long as it did. It assesses the human toll and the policies adopted to combat the crisis of the Great Depression. It devotes particular attention to the impact on African Americans, the elderly, Mexican Americans, labor, and women. In addition to assessing the ideas that informed the New Deal policies, this section examines the critics and evaluates the impact of the New Deal.
Charles Ponzi
The Market Crashes
Why It Happened
The Great Depression in Global Perspective
The Human Toll
The Dispossessed
President Hoover
Franklin D. Roosevelt
The Bonus Army
The First 100 Days
The New Dealers
The Farmers' Plight
The National Recovery Administration
Jobs Programs
Roosevelt's Critics
The Wagner Act
Social Security
African Americans and the New Deal
Mexican Americans
Native Americans
The New Deal in Decline
The Depression of 1937
Popular Culture During the Great Depression
Hollywood during the Great Depression
Legacy of the New Deal