Fasttrack to America's Past
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Page 184


Page 185

 		 Page 184 & 185 - FDR Attacks the Great Depression

The reading selections

   The selections on these pages are from two of the best known speeches by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

   The first is his 1932 inaugural address, famous for the line "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
 
   The second speech, from 1937, is perhaps even more important in American history.  In it, FDR declares that the federal government should take on much greater responsibility for the welfare of individual citizens.  The speech has shaped the nation's policies and politics right up to the present day.

The pictures

1.  Franklin Delano Roosevelt, first elected president in 1932.  He was elected four times, but died shortly after he began his fourth term near the end of World War Two.

2.  A classroom scene of the 1930s.  FDR called on the American government to become much more active in helping citizens improve their lives.
 
3.  A working man of the 1930s on a bridge construction project.  Many of the New Deal projects were designed to create jobs for people thrown out of work by the Great Depression.
 

Group discussion questions

1.  In the first speech, Franklin Roosevelt says the primary task of the nation is to get people jobs.  He describes the country's situation in 1932 in grim terms.  Many factories had gone out of business, many farmers could not sell their products, and the savings of many families had been wiped out.
   Roosevelt calls for "direct recruiting by the government," meaning the direct hiring of unemployed people and the creation of jobs by the government.  He justifies such strong action by comparing the situation to "the emergency of war."  He points out that the people hired by the government would be doing useful work.
   FDR also mentions several other steps as well.  He calls for improving relief (welfare) programs.  He says something needs to be done to help people from losing their homes to foreclosure when they can't keep up their home loan payments.  He also calls for help for farmers, and better supervision by the government of banking and the stock market.

2.  In the second speech, Roosevelt sets a broad new goal for the American government.  He says he is "determined to make every American the subject of his country's interest and concern."  He wants the government to take on the responsibility for helping individual citizens improve their lives. 
   FDR justifies such a bold expansion by noting that millions of Americans were living in poverty, and "denied education, recreation, and the opportunity to better their lot and the lot of their children."  One third of the people of the nation, he says, are "ill-housed, ill-clad, and ill-nourished."
   FDR declares that the American government should consider such conditions an "injustice" and "paint it out."







Copyright Notice

   Copyright 2018 by David Burns.  All rights reserved.  Illustrations and reading selections appearing in this work are taken from sources in the public domain and from private collections used by permission.  Sources include: the Dover Pictorial Archive, the Library of Congress, The National Archives, The Hart Publishing Co., Corel Corporation and its licensors, Nova Development Corporation and its licensors, and others.  Maps were created or adapted by the author using reference maps from the United States Geological Survey and Cartesia Software.  Please see the home page for this title for more information.