US History - Standards of Learning - USII.12
http://www.wheaton.edu/learnres/ARCSC/gallery/grange/grange2.html
Red Grange was one of the nations first football stars. In this image he is pictured with one of Americas great sportswriters. The usefulness of this source as the three that follow would be to show the birth of America fascination with cultural figures such as athletes and the salaries they commanded Grange, Babe Ruth and Seabiscuit were all the predecessors of later sports stars. By the time Mickey Mantle and Joe Dimaggio were defining American heroism for many Grange’s memory would become somewhat distant.
-Chris Garth
Source IDTag: USII.12.001
2. Red Grange
http://www.wheaton.edu/learnres/ARCSC/gallery/grange/grange2.html
Red Grange was one of the nations first football stars. In this image he is pictured with one of Americas great sportswriters. The usefulness of this source as the three that follow would be to show the birth of America fascination with cultural figures such as athletes and the salaries they commanded Grange, Babe Ruth and Seabiscuit were all the predecessors of later sports stars. By the time Mickey Mantle and Joe Dimaggio were defining American heroism for many Grange’s memory would become somewhat distant.
-Chris Garth
Source IDTag: USII.12.002
3. Seabiscuit defeats War Admiral
http://www.preakness.com/RacingInfo/Seabiscuit.htm
In the midst of the Worldwide Depression America’s attention was briefly turned to a race horse. If the 1980 Olympics were the spiritual end of the Cold War, then perhaps Seabiscuit is the spirit which ended the Depression. By the time that Seabiscuit and War Admiral faced off in a match race at Baltimore’s Pimlico Park, newspapers across the country had been waging a war of words over which horse was better. War Admiral represented the powerful upper class of those still financially viable, while despite being a race horse and owned by a wealthy member of society himself Seabiscuit managed to become identified with the less fortunate of society.
-Chris Garth
Source IDTag: USII.12.003
4. Herbert Hoover
http://www.ecommcode.com/hoover/eBooks/browse.cfm
This link is part of the Herbert Hoover Library and Presidential Museum, administered by The National Archives and Records Administration. It is one of 11 such presidential libraries. This particular link brings us to the entire text of Hoover’s Memoirs Copy Writed and Published in 1951 by The Macmillan Company. It is divided into three volumes, Years of Adventure, The Cabinet and the Presidency, and The Great Depression. Students can be directed to any part of the memoirs, but the most value could be had in having students read about the Great Depression from Hoover’s perspective.
http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/
5. FDR
This link is part of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Presidential Museum, administered by The National Archives and Records Administration.
Following is the text of one of the more famous of Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats. This can be used with students to envision what Roosevelt was trying to do with the American public at the time. Students can be assigned tasks to analyze and see how Roosevelt addressed the concerns of the people.
On the Bank Crisis
March 12, 1933
Address of President Roosevelt by radio, delivered from the President's Study in the White House at 10 PM today.
I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking -- with the comparatively few who understand the mechanics of banking but more particularly with the overwhelming majority who use banks for the making of deposits and the drawing of checks. I want to tell you what has been done in the last few days, why it was done, and what the next steps are going to be. I recognize that the many proclamations from State Capitols and from Washington, the legislation, the Treasury regulations, etc., couched for the most part in banking and legal terms should be explained for the benefit of the average citizen. I owe this in particular because of the fortitude and good temper with which everybody has accepted the inconvenience and hardships of the banking holiday. I know that when you understand what we in Washington have been about I shall continue to have your cooperation as fully as I have had your sympathy and help during the past week.
First of all let me state the simple fact that when you deposit money in a bank the bank does not put the money into a safe deposit vault. It invests your money in many different forms of credit-bonds, commercial paper, mortgages and many other kinds of loans. In other words, the bank puts your money to work to keep the wheels of industry and of agriculture turning around. A comparatively small part of the money you put into the bank is kept in currency -- an amount which in normal times is wholly sufficient to cover the cash needs of the average citizen. In other words the total amount of all the currency in the country is only a small fraction of the total deposits in all of the banks.
What, then, happened during the last few days of February and the first few days of March? Because of undermined confidence on the part of the public, there was a general rush by a large portion of our population to turn bank deposits into currency or gold. -- A rush so great that the soundest banks could not get enough currency to meet the demand. The reason for this was that on the spur of the moment it was, of course, impossible to sell perfectly sound assets of a bank and convert them into cash except at panic prices far below their real value.
By the afternoon of March 3 scarcely a bank in the country was open to do business. Proclamations temporarily closing them in whole or in part had been issued by the Governors in almost all the states.
It was then that I issued
the proclamation providing for the nation-wide bank holiday, and this was
the first step in the Government's reconstruction of our financial and
economic fabric.
The second step was the legislation promptly and patriotically passed by the
Congress confirming my proclamation and broadening my powers so that it
became possible in view of the requirement of time to entend (sic) the
holiday and lift the ban of that holiday gradually. This law also gave
authority to develop a program of rehabilitation of our banking facilities.
I want to tell our citizens in every part of the Nation that the national
Congress -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- showed by this action a
devotion to public welfare and a realization of the emergency and the
necessity for speed that it is difficult to match in our history.
The third stage has been the series of regulations permitting the banks to continue their functions to take care of the distribution of food and household necessities and the payment of payrolls.
This bank holiday while resulting in many cases in great inconvenience is affording us the opportunity to supply the currency necessary to meet the situation. No sound bank is a dollar worse off than it was when it closed its doors last Monday. Neither is any bank which may turn out not to be in a position for immediate opening. The new law allows the twelve Federal Reserve banks to issue additional currency on good assets and thus the banks that reopen will be able to meet every legitimate call. The new currency is being sent out by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in large volume to every part of the country. It is sound currency because it is backed by actual, good assets.
A question you will ask is this - why are all the banks not to be reopened at the same time? The answer is simple. Your Government does not intend that the history of the past few years shall be repeated. WE do not want and will not have another epidemic of bank failures.
As a result we start tomorrow, Monday, with the opening of banks in the twelve Federal Reserve Bank cities -- those banks which on first examination by the Treasury have already been found to be all right. This will be followed on Tuesday by the resumption of all their functions by banks already found to be sound in cities where there are recognized clearinghouses. That means about 250 cities of the United States.
On Wednesday and succeeding days banks in smaller places all through the country will resume business, subject, of course, to the Government's physical ability to complete its survey. It is necessary that the reopening of banks be extended over a period in order to permit the banks to make applications for necessary loans, to obtain currency needed to meet their requirements and to enable the Government to make common sense checkups.
Let me make it clear to you that if your bank does not open the first day you are by no means justified in believing that it will not open. A bank that opens on one of the subsequent days is in exactly the same status as the bank that opens tomorrow.
I know that many people are worrying about State banks not members of the Federal Reserve System. These banks can and will receive assistance from member banks and from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. These state banks are following the same course as the national banks except that they get their licenses to resume business from the state authorities, and these authorities have been asked by the Secretary of the Treasury to permit their good banks to open up on the same schedule as the national banks. I am confident that the state banking departments will be as careful as the National Government in the policy relating to the opening of banks and will follow the same broad policy.
It is possible that when the banks resume a very few people who have not recovered from their fear may again begin withdrawals. Let me make it clear that the banks will take care of all needs -- and it is my belief that hoarding during the past week has become an exceedingly unfashionable pastime. It needs no prophet to tell you that when the people find that they can get their money -- that they can get it when they want it for all legitimate purposes -- the phantom of fear will soon be laid. People will again be glad to have their money where it will be safely taken care of and where they can use it conveniently at any time. I can assure you that it is safer to keep your money in a reopened bank than under the mattress.
The success of our whole great national program depends, of course, upon the cooperation of the public -- on its intelligent support and use of a reliable system.
Remember that the essential accomplishment of the new legislation is that it makes it possible for banks more readily to convert their assets into cash than was the case before. More liberal provision has been made for banks to borrow on these assets at the Reserve Banks and more liberal provision has also been made for issuing currency on the security of those good assets. This currency is not fiat currency. It is issued only on adequate security -- and every good bank has an abundance of such security.
One more point before I close. There will be, of course, some banks unable to reopen without being reorganized. The new law allows the Government to assist in making these reorganizations quickly and effectively and even allows the Government to subscribe to at least a part of new capital which may be required.
I hope you can see from this elemental recital of what your government is doing that there is nothing complex, or radical in the process.
We had a bad banking situation. Some of our bankers had shown themselves either incompetent or dishonest in their handling of the people's funds. They had used the money entrusted to them in speculations and unwise loans. This was of course not true in the vast majority of our banks but it was true in enough of them to shock the people for a time into a sense of insecurity and to put them into a frame of mind where they did not differentiate, but seemed to assume that the acts of a comparative few had tainted them all. It was the Government's job to straighten out this situation and do it as quickly as possible -- and the job is being performed.
I do not promise you that every bank will be reopened or that individual losses will not be suffered, but there will be no losses that possibly could be avoided; and there would have been more and greater losses had we continued to drift. I can even promise you salvation for some at least of the sorely pressed banks. We shall be engaged not merely in reopening sound banks but in the creation of sound banks through reorganization. It has been wonderful to me to catch the note of confidence from all over the country. I can never be sufficiently grateful to the people for the loyal support they have given me in their acceptance of the judgment that has dictated our course, even though all of our processes may not have seemed clear to them.
After all there is an element in the readjustment of our financial system more important than currency, more important than gold, and that is the confidence of the people. Confidence and courage are the essentials of success in carrying out our plan. You people must have faith; you must not be stampeded by rumors or guesses. Let us unite in banishing fear. We have provided the machinery to restore our financial system; it is up to you to support and make it work.
It is your problem no less than it is mine. Together we cannot fail.
6. Eleanor Roosevelt
http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/eleanor.html
This particular link takes us to Time 100, The Most Important People of the Century. It is produced by Time, Inc., Copy Write 2003. The main link gives some biographical information about Eleanor Roosevelt, and the covers provide a good view of what the magazine looked like at the time. One cannot read the cover story in its entirety without paying a subscription fee; however , looking at the cover is free. I would use it to show students an example of a typical periodical of the era, one that is still familiar for them today. I would also like to focus on the NRA Eagle that is at the top of the cover and lead into a discussion of national symbols.
7. Huey Long
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/volong.htm
As we deal with personalities of the Depression Era, we come to one of the most interesting in Huey P. Long. This site is called Voices of the Twentieth Century and is part of Eyewitness to History.com, Copy Writed by Ibis Communications. The link gives us the basic biographical material on Long along with an audio link where students can listen to part of the actual broadcast. Students can look at Long on his own or compare his auditory skills to others of the famous people of the Depression Era.
8. Charles Coughlin
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005516
Students do not often see religious figures as political commentators, so many will be surprised to look at and listen to Father Coughlin’s speech. They should be especially surprised at his anti-Semitic leanings. This website is part of the Holocaust Encyclopedia, and is Copy Writed by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. On the site, students will learn the history of Father Coughlin, and will also be able to view him in action at the podium.9. WPA Mural of Fall River Civil War Recruitment by John Mann
http://www.sailsinc.org/durfee/cdpictures/manncivilwar.jpg
Many mural artists hired by the WPA outlived their work, as many murals were painted over as time passed. A series of Fall River history murals were painted by John Mann at the Technical Building at the old campus of B.M.C. Durfee High School. These murals did survive and are now viewed daily by the students of Kuss Middle School—the building’s present incarnation. The bold, optimistic colors of the murals are a contrast to their subject matter of the Battle of Fall River (American Revolution), and Civil War recruitment rallies and the nature of 1930s America economic conditions.
10. Audio “Four Freedoms” FDR 1941
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_dUl2hs8P0
Audio of FDR addressing Congress in January 1941, the speech outlines what
FDR believes to be the Four Freedoms guaranteed to all peoples everywhere,
not just the United States. The Freedoms go above and beyond the freedoms
found in the Bill of Rights and creates the modern liberal political
platform. Students can use the speech as the basis for a discussion of these
rights, what is missing or what should be removed.
-Christopher Borden
11. “On the Bank Crisis” – Fireside Chat
http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/031233.html
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrfirstfiresidechat.html
http://history.sandiego.edu/GEN/20th/fc/01.html
On March 12, 1933 Americans sat down and tuned in to their radios to hear President Franklin Delano Roosevelt address a troubled nation. Those informal evening chats became known as the “fireside chats” and March 12 marked the beginning of a series of fireside chats where Roosevelt would address the American people to try and inform them of the status of the country and the goals of his legislative agenda.
During his “fireside chats,” Roosevelt made sure his message was clear to all Americans and to ensure this, he prepared each speech with language that ordinary Americans could understand. In addition they would be relatively short, and at 10 pm so most Americans would be able to tune in and listen. By often referring to Americans as “my friends” Roosevelt made the average American feel as if he personally cared about their troubles.
“On the Bank Crisis,” the first “fireside chat” was historic because over 60 million Americans tuned in to hear Roosevelt explain the banking holiday. Very calmly and reassuringly, Roosevelt explained to the American people what had happened to their money and savings seemingly overnight. He goes on to explain the legislative steps taken to try and rectify the situation, and his view of the role of government in all of this. But he is also honest with the people explaining that to eliminate all losses would be impossible.
In the classroom, this source addresses standard USII.12 Analyze the important policies, institutions, and personalities of the New Deal era. Students will listen to the source and in their own words explain the necessity of the banking holiday and what the intended result would have been and how the entire process worked. An extension of the assignment would be to look at a more current address by a president who is attempting to explain a proposed solution to a current problem.
- Alexandra Friedman
