Students will describe the differences between Hoover's and FDR's views of the role of the federal government in times of crisis. Â
Step 1: Have students read the two letters. You may ask the students to read independently or ask for two volunteers to read the letters aloud.Â
Step 2: Ask students to answer the three focus questions at the end of the activity or use the Close Reading Worksheet. Students may work independently or in pairs. An alternative strategy is to ask students to make a Venn Diagram comparing the presidents' views about the role of government during times of crisis.Â
Step 3: Ask students to share their responses and focus on the differences between Hoover and FDR (conservative and liberal) views of the role of the federal government.
Students will be able to describe the goals of the Civilian Conservation Corps and explain how it fit into the broader goals of the New Deal.
Students analyze primary sources to determine to what extent joining the CCC was a turning point in the lives of young men.
Students will create posters that illustrate photographs from the CCC era with quotes from primary documents describing life in the CCC.
During the Great Depression an estimated 250,000 youths left home to search for work, to ease the burden on their families, to escape an abusive home life, or to find adventure. Opportunities for work were rare and many young Americans hitch-hiked or illegally rode freight trains, traveling from town to town. President Franklin Roosevelt sought to provide young men with another path by establishing the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1933. Part of Roosevelt’s New Deal relief programs, the CCC gave temporary employment to three million young men, who lived in military-style camps and worked on conservation and construction projects in national parks. Hard work was rewarded with three square meals, job training, and a $30 monthly paycheck—which is equivalent to about $432 today—$25 of which was sent directly to CCC enrollees' families. Beyond material comforts, many CCC workers found a renewed sense of purpose and hope in the camps.
Step 1: Introduce the activity with the following focus questions:
How did the CCC help build public support for FDR's New Deal?
To what extent was the CCC a personal turning point for enrollees?
Step 2: Show the brief presentation that includes the FDR quote and poster and discuss.
Step 3: Show the film FDR's Tree Army: The Civilian Conservation Corps. As students watch the film, ask them to think about both the national impact and the individual impact of the program, as well as who was NOT impacted by the CCC. (The teacher may want to assign different students or different groups different focus questions to think about as they watch the film.) After the film, lead students in a brief discussion of the national and individual impact of CCC projects; also discuss who, if anyone, was not impacted by the CCC.
Step 4: Divide students into five groups. Give each group a packet of the images and a different written primary source. Students should read the document and create a poster presentation on the theme of the CCC as a turning point. (The last slide of the presentation includes directions for students to view.) The posters should include:
One or more images
Captions for each image created from key quotes from the document.
An original title that summarizes the group's overall interpretation of the CCC
Step 5: Hang posters around the room and have students carousel to examine each poster. Discuss what quotes or images from the other groups was most surprising.
This worksheet aligns to Common Core Literacy Standards in History/Social Studies:
• RHSS.6-8.2. Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
Nashville,
Tenn.
8/15/36.
Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt,
Dear Lady
Will you please warn the people of what's going to happen to America if these property owners dont quit making industrial slaves out of their laborers, and working them on starvation wages, paying them a wage whereby they cannon obtain the desires of life, or else installing machinery and laying the common laborer off of his job to starve to death.
We dont want a revolution in this country where innocent men, women, and children will be shot down without mercy like they are doing in spain and also like they did in Russia. We want peace on earth good will toward men. You know mrs. Roosevelt with the majority of us poor people we desire good things as well as the higher class of society. For instance we desire a nice home to live in with sanitary surroundings. we desire a nice refrigadaire, electric stove, fan, nice furniture, radio, a nice car with money to take a vacation, but one cannot have these desires of life at a wage of 8.00 10.00 or $12.00 per week, and if we could, we could not accumulate no money and would have to go on being industrial slaves and our children would fall under the same yoke of bondage that we and our fore parents were under. And never be considered no more than ordinary slaves....
There would not be so many crimes committed if every man and boy were out from under bondage of hard labor and were getting the desires of life. we have plenty of young John Dillingers, pretty boy Floyds, Jessie James roaming all over our land today wanting jobs, desiring to marry and settle down and live a comfortable life and cannot get hold of enough money to buy a marriage license. and the next thing we know they strike back at the ones that are responsible for their being in that condition.
Mrs. Roosevelt this nation is hanging over a giant powder keg just waiting for someone to light a match. You see I am forced to mingle with the poorer classes and I hear what they have to say. As far as I am concerned I dont believe in taking the carnal weapon against my fellow man. Therefore all I can do is stand still and see the salvation of the lord. I am thirty four years old married and have one daughter. I have a eighth grade education. I got a job last week as a labourer on the new courthouse here, although I am a painter by trade....
I cannot see a very bright prospect in life. Although my wife slaves in a cotton mill but I want a job so as I can get her out of it, for I am afraid she has contracted tuberculosis. hoping an answer I remain
Yours,
Sincerely,
D.B.P. [male]