Essays

The New Deal

The essays in this section have been written by leading scholars of American history. They provide additional depth on events and ideas referred to in the introductory essay and, in some cases, different interpretations by historians looking at the same events. These essays are particularly useful in introducing your students to one of the most exciting aspects of studying history—understanding the past from a variety of perspectives.

Coit Tower murals, San Francisco, CA (Carol Highsmith Archive, Lib. of Congress)

Are Artists “Workers”? Art and the New Deal

Author: Elizabeth Broun Curriculum Subjects: Art Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Photograph of Eleanor Roosevelt, July 20, 1933. (Library of Congress Prints and

Eleanor Roosevelt as First Lady

Author: Maurine Beasley Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels:
Supreme Court Justices, ca. 1940. Photograph by Harris & Ewing. (GLC)

FDR’s Court-Packing Plan: A Study in Irony

Author: Richard G. Menaker Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Franklin D. Roosevelt to Henry T. Rainey, June 10, 1933. (GLC)

The Hundred Days and Beyond: What Did the New Deal Accomplish?

Author: Anthony J. Badger Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Restaurant display supporting National Recovery Administration, ca. 1934. (NARA)

The New Deal, Then and Now

Author: Alan Brinkley Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Poster for an exhibition in Chicago, detail. (Library of Congress P&P)

The WPA: Antidote to the Great Depression?

Author: Nick Taylor Curriculum Subjects: Art, Economics, Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Essays from Other Sub-Eras

Cover of Puck, November 25, 1903. (Library of Congress)

A History of the Thanksgiving Holiday

Author: Catherine Clinton Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Born Modern: An Overview of the West

Author: Richard White Curriculum Subjects: Geography, Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Adolf Hitler, n.d. (LOC) and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (GLC)

FDR and Hitler: A Study in Contrasts

Author: David M. Kennedy Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Franklin Roosevelt addressing Congress, March 1, 1945. (NARA 196081)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt—Four-Term President—and the Election of 1944

Author: Matthew Dallek Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels:
Boulder (later, Hoover) Dam on the Colorado River, 1941. (Library of Congress)

The Great Depression, the New Deal, and World War II in the American West

Author: Elliott West Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Grade Levels:
Breadline in New York, ca. 1930. (Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Div.)

The Great Depression: An Overview

Author: David M. Kennedy Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Note of 1 shilling, 6 pence, printed in the colony of New Jersey, 1776. (GLC)

The US Banking System: Origin, Development, and Regulation

Author: Richard Sylla Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
An Oklahoma migrant family in California, 1935, by Dorothea Lange. (LOC)

Women and the Great Depression

Author: Susan Ware Curriculum Subjects: Economics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Conference of Republican National Committee Women, 1927. (LOC, P&P)

Women in American Politics in the Twentieth Century

Author: Sara Evans Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+