Mr. Roosevelt Comes to Champaign County:
An Examination of the New Deal

Marshall Schacht (St. Joseph-Ogden High School)
Fellowship Summer 2009
Champaign County Historical Archives

Abstract: This unit will consider the background of the New Deal from a national perspective and focus upon the practical applications of its programs in Central Illinois. Resources in this unit include newspaper articles, photographs and editorials from the Urbana Courier, The Daily Illini and The News Gazette as well as period political cartoons. Also included are photographs of various sites that still stand today as a testimony to the legacy of the New Deal.

Assessment: Students will create several short essays describing the New Deal programs by drawing inferences from a variety of primary sources from the depression era.

Essential Questions:

· Why did America as a whole accept FDR’s vision for a new direction for America?

· What problems did the New Deal seek to address?

· What New Deal programs had an impact on life in Champaign County during the depression?

· What types of jobs did people in Champaign County do for the Works Progress Administration?

· How were projects proposed, approved and executed?

· How did the public criticize FDR’s programs?

· What lasting impression did the WPA and other programs have on Central Illinois?

· How does FDR’s New Deal compare to Obama’s national recovery plans today?

Setting the Purpose: Students will appreciate the relevance of this unit to what is happening around them right now. Concerns about rising unemployment and the ever growing-federal deficit and debt will create fertile ground for heart-felt reactions to many of these questions. Many students fear the role of a larger, socialistic government with numerous programs and a budget beyond belief, while others fear the consequences of having no safety-net to catch us if we fall. While times may appear desperate today, it will interest students to consider how lives were impacted by government programs of the past. If Champaign County and the country as a whole can “endure as it has endured”, then there is always hope. But, why did the country turn to FDR in the first place?

Lesson 1: Election of 1932

After learning about the causes of the stock market crash and life during the early depression, students will consider the political choice before them.

Lesson 2: Let’s Make a Deal

Now that the students have a concept of why FDR was chosen and how the public perceived him, students will work collectively to design a “New Deal”.

Lesson 3: The Buildings of the PWA

In this lesson students will examine several buildings that stand as lasting and functional symbols of the contributions of the New Deal (specifically the Public Works Administration) to life in Champaign-Urbana.

Lesson 4: The New Deal in Action

Now that the students have an understanding of the concept of the New Deal and the names of several employment programs, students will consider the impact of specific programs on life in Central Illinois.

Note: This lesson involving period newspaper articles can be done as separate lessons over the course of several days or as a single lesson where focus groups create presentations to the class as a whole explaining the role, function, impact and significance of each specific agency.

Lesson 5: December 28, 1935

In this lesson, students get into pairs and examine a photograph taken by a photographer from the Urbana Courier on a single day in December 1935. Each photograph captures the image of workers for the Works Progress Administration.

Lesson 6: Critics of FDR

FDR’s New Deal changed the functions and purpose of government dramatically. The introduction of the welfare state did not sit well with Americans that believed that government should play a much smaller role socially and economically. In this lesson, students will examine five political cartoons from various publications during the 1930s to assess the political mood of the times.

Lesson 7: Proposing a New “New Deal”

After studying the rationale behind the New Deal, the practical applications of FDR’s many agencies in Central Illinois and the criticisms of the creation of a welfare state, students are now prepared to consider what programs are necessary today to stimulate the economy. Students will work in small groups to come up with their own local projects to be funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Resources