Blog # 4- Alphabet Soup

TASK:  You are to investigate the programs that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)implemented in the 1930s to help lift the United States out of the Great Depression by viewing the provided web sites which deal with the topic.

Note: It is important to remember the following: FDR’s administration created so many programs (i.e. the AAA, WPA, TVA, CCC…) that people referred to programs by their initials.  Hence the term, “Alphabet Soup” programs. 

FDR's programs can be broken into 3 categories - relief, recovery, reform (The 3 R's)

• Relief - provided instant relief for those who needed (short term). Think of it like “putting out a fire.”
• Recovery - put the United States' on sound economic footing, and strong again (like it was in the 1920’s).  (Recovery means that it gets back to a previous state.)  Think of it like healing a sick person and making him healthy again.
• Reform -fix the economy and prevent future failures in the economic system (i.e. banking)

 ***Some of the 'Alphabet Soup' programs spanned one or more of the 3 R's***

YOUR ASSIGNMENT:

Look up the purpose of each New Deal “Alphabet Soup” programs. Use your textbook or the following links:

1) New Deal Programs - 'Alphabet Soup" 

2) Alphabet Soup Programs 

Print out the New Deal chart:  New Deal Chart

Fill it out the New Deal Chart by using your textbook and the above links (make sure you include dates, and attempt to determine which of the 3 r's each program would fit - remember that there might be more than one!)

What did the letters in all those Alphabet Agencies stand for?  Bare bones -- provides the meaning of the acronym and the date.

Analyze the impact of the New Deal programs on the Great Depression.  Did the particular program accomplish Relief, Recovery, or Reform?  Did the New Deal end the depression?  (i.e. Did it help farmers?  Did it help workers?)  Was it a failure?  What impacts last today (hint: think about Reforms like ‘FDIC’)?  Be sure to use the helpful outside “resource” web links at the bottom of our blog page, as well as your textbook and class notes to help you draw your conclusions.  And, as always, appropriately cite your work!

You will hand in your completed New Deal Chart, in class, next Thursday, April 21^st.

GRADING:  How will you be graded??  Use the following chart to help guide you!

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4	Score
Historical Accuracy (worth 3 x's more)	A series of random thoughts with no string tying it together.	Historical information is present, but either are not accurate or go contrary to the justification.	History is accurate, but don't always help the justification.	Careful attention is paid to the historical accuracy and the history strongly supports the justification.
Sound Justification (worth 2 x's more)	Answer is not justified.	Justification is present, but needs some work.	Justification is present and is thoughtful and insightful, backed w/ sound historical information, but could dig deeper.	Justification is sound and covers all bases.
Writing Skills	Handwritten, sloppy, and full of errors.	Handwritten or typed, but should have been proof-read more carefully.	Typed and organized writing with a few errors which do not inhibit the reader.	Typed and organized with virtually no errors.
Originality	Work is not original to the student.	Some of the work is original, but a little too much copying and pasting.	Work is mostly original to the student.	Completely original thoughts. Student has done a nice job of conveying their own analysis of FDR's New Deal.
Requirements	None of the requirements were met.	Some of the requirements were met.	Most of the requirements were met.	All of the requirements were met.

*Grading rubric taken from Engellclasses.net

Blog #3 - NYS Regents Review Questions. Unit: Prosperity, Depression, and War

These are actual NYS Regents Exam questions, taken from past exams.  Throughout the year, we will prepare for the state exam by practicing with "real" questions.  When it is time for you to take "the test" it will be "a piece of cake!"

1.     One characteristic New Dealers shared with Roosevelt was their:

a.     pragmatic approach to problems

b.     belief in command economies

c.      socialistic philosophies

d.     escapist attitude

2.     Social Security symbolized reform, because it established

a.     insurance bank deposits

b.     pensions and unemployment insurance

c.      a federal minimum wage

d.     guaranteed employment for the jobless

3.     The Wagner Act symbolized reform because it

a.     created a national old-age pension system

b.     focused on reclaiming the “Dust Bowl”

c.      established collective bargaining rights

d.     provided for unemployment insurance

Please write your responses on a piece of paper and bring to class.  We will review the answers in class together.  Due Tuesday, April 18th.

Blog # 2- FDR proposes a SECOND Bill of Rights!

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, as part of his State of the Union Address on January 11, 1944, presented the nation with a second Bill of Rights.  As WWII was coming to an end, FDR felt strongly that the country needed economic security and stability.  These were 8 new "economic rights" that the government would have to guarantee for Americans once (and IF) the laws were passed.  Take a look at the following video:

FDR Second Bill of Rights Speech Footage

Key passages from FDR's speech:

"It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure."

"We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence...People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made."

"In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed."

FDR PROPOSED 8 NEW RIGHTS IN HIS "SECOND"BILL OF RIGHTS:

I. The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation (since only 2-3% of the nation are farmers and less than 20% are in industry, this would have to change if this Bill of Rights was implemented);

II. The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

III. The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living (since so few of us are farmers now, this might change);

IV. The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

V. The right of every family to a decent home;

VI. The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health (did we just achieve this last week?);

VII. The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

VIII. The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being...For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.

FDR listed 8 things that would bring economic security to our nation and hopefully to the rest of the world.  At the point that he gave this address in history, America was NOT planning on a Cold War with the Soviet Union or stockpiling tens of thousands of nuclear missiles or spending billions on a military budget every year.  None of the 46 years of futility vs. the Soviet Union was set in stone, nor the explosion and entrenchment of the military-industrial complex in our national economy like it is today. 

However, America was coming out of the war with its biggest national debt in its history (having borrowed $200 billion from the American people in war bonds - $170 billion held by U.S. taxpayers - and from American banks).  Congressmen were wary of spending huge amounts of money on peace time programs, especially for FDR, because his New Deal programs had had such a mixed track record of success and failure. 

The reason I bring this issue up is because I think that the country has spent the next 67 years (and may continue) to try to achieve FDR's goals.  As we finish out the year, we'll return to these eight core principles and examine how we have failed and / or succeeded.  (Groves U.S. History Blog)

Please answer the following questions:

1.  Why wasn’t the second Bill of Rights passed?  Why were the critics (and many members of Congress) against passing the ‘second’ Bill of Rights?   What were the "reasons" for voting against the bill?  (Hint: What was the economic condition of the country in 1944 (and before WWII)?? 

2.  Out of the 8 new rights listed above, which of them do you believe have been addressed in some way or another since 1944?  (Please keep in mind that this “second Bill of Rights was never adopted.)   Pick and explain at least 2 rights.  How have they been addressed?  (Do some outside research. Try to use reliable outside sources. You may use some of the useful (and reliable) resource sites at the bottom of this blog site.)

3. Of the 8 rights, which one could or should be addressed today by our Congress and President.  What do you feel needs fixing today?  Please explain why? (Back up your reasoning with facts!)   

500 words minimum.  Due Monday, April 25th.

Blog # 1 - FDR's New Deal - A change in the role of government...

Study the political cartoon, and then answer the following questions. 

1.  Who is handing FDR the broom?

2.  What is the cartoonist saying the country needs?

3.  What does the title "president-elect" mean?





Answers Due on Friday, April 15th
(Please feel free to comment on fellow student responses...or email me (before Thursday night!) if you have any questions.)

FDR and the New Deal (Good responses will help score you some extra credit points!)

FDR addressed the nation and said: "The ONLY THING TO FEAR, IS FEAR ITSELF"

What did he mean by this?  Please Comment.

How did FDR usually address and "talk to" the people?