Depression
Papers of Herbert Hoover: A large collection of primary documents
concerning President Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression. Subjects
covered include Tariffs and Agriculture, Economic Stability Program,
Relief, Unemployment and Public Works, The Dust Bowl, Banks &
Finance, The Federal Budget, Economic Recovery Measures and the Bonus
March.
Bonus
Marchers: In 1924 Congress voted $3,500,000,000 to the American
veterans of the First World War. In order to prevent an immediate
strain on its funds, the Government decided to pay the money over
a 20 year period. During the Great Depression, many of these veterans
found it difficult to find work. An increasing number came to the
conclusion that the money would be more useful to them in this time
of need than when the bonus was due. In 1932 John Patman of Texas,
introduced the Veteran's Bonus Bill which mandated the immediate cash
payment of the endowment promised to the men who fought in the war.
This website explains what happened when 10,000 of these ex-soldiers
marched on Washington in an attempt to persuade Congress to pass the
Patman Bill.
New
Deal Network:
In October, 1996, the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute (FERI),
in collaboration with the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library,
Marist College, and IBM, launched the New Deal Network (NDN), a research
and teaching resource on the World Wide Web devoted to the public
works and arts projects of the New Deal. At the core of the NDN is
a database of photographs, political cartoons, and texts (speeches,
letters, and other historic documents from the New Deal period). Currently
there are over 20,000 items in this database, many of them previously
accessible only to scholars. Unlike many databases on the Web, which
represent the holdings of a particular institution, NDN is drawing
from a wide variety of sources around the country to create a theme-based
archive.
Franklin
D. Roosevelt: Fireside Chats:A
week after his Inauguration, Franklin D. Roosevelt gave the first
of what became known as his fireside chats. On 12th March 1933 an
estimated 60 million people sat round their radio sets to listen to
Roosevelt's talk on the Bank Crisis. This website is devoted to these
fireside chats and includes the transcripts of 30 talks including
those on the New Deal Program (7th May 1933), Purposes and Foundations
of the Recovery Program (24th July 1933), Works Relief Program (28th
April 1935), Reorganization of the Judiciary (9th March 1937), the
European War (3rd September 1939) and Declaration of War With Japan
(9th December 1941).
Roosevelt
and the New Deal:
A comprehensive encyclopedia of Roosevelt and the New Deal. Each
entry contains a narrative, illustrations and primary sources. The
text within each entry is hypertexted to other relevant pages in the
encyclopedia. In this way it is possible to research individual people
and events in great detail. The sources are also hypertexted so the
student is able to find out about the writer, artist, newspaper, organization,
etc., that produced the material. So far there are sections on New
Deal Personalities
(22), New Deal Legislation (18) and New Deal Photographers (18).
Franklin
D. Roosevelt Library:
The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Museum, and Digital Archives, is
an on-line resource devoted to fulfilling Franklin Roosevelt’s
dream of making the records of the past available "for the use
of men and women in the future." Through this site, scholars,
teachers, students and members of the general public can now gain
access to a portion of the rich collection of documents, photographs,
sound and video recordings, finding aids, and other primary source
materials found at the library in Hyde Park, New York.
Debunking
the Roosevelt Myth: The home page of this website states: "Urban
myths abound in modern culture. One of those myths surrounds the life
and presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, America's 32nd President.
To this day, he is credited with pulling America out of the Great
Depression. Yet, nothing could be further from the truth. Roosevelt
was hardly a learned man. He knew little about economics either in
theory or practice. He was indeed a great orator, but that was the
extent of his gifts." The website provides links to online e-books
hostile to Roosevelt including The Roosevelt Myth (John T. Flynn),
Communism at Pearl Harbor (Anthony Kubek), Roosevelt's Road to Russia
(George N. Crocker) and The Yalta Betrayal (Felix Wittmer).
Roosevelt
and the New Deal: A directory of the best websites on Roosevelt
and the New Deal. It provides links to over 50 websites including
the New Deal Network, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, FDR Cartoon Archive,
Anticommunism and the New Deal Federal Art, The Four Freedoms, Roosevelt's
Administration, New Deal Cultural Programs, Franklin & Eleanor
Roosevelt Institute and the Federal Writers' Project.
Father
Coughlin: On
11th November, 1934, Father Charles E. Coughlin announced the formation
of the National Union of Social Justice and began his bid to oust
President Franklin D. Roosevelt from power. At this time some observers
claimed that Coughlin was the second most important political figure
in the United States. It was estimated that Coughlin's radio broadcasts
were getting an audience of 30 million people. He was also apparently
receiving 400,000 letters a week from his listeners. According
to Wallace
Stegner "Father Coughlin had a voice of such mellow richness,
such manly, heart-warming,
confidential intimacy, such emotional and ingratiating charm, that
anyone tuning past it on the radio dial almost automatically returned
to hear it again." This
website traces the rise and fall of America's first radio star.
Munitions
Investigating Committee: On 4th September, 1934, Gerald Nye and
his Munitions Investigating Committee began interviewing witnesses
and examining government documents. In the reports published by the
committee over the next two years it was claimed that there was
a strong link between the American government's decision to enter
the First World War and the lobbying of the the munitions industry.
This website looks
at the impact that the Munitions Investigating Committee had on America's
foreign policy before the outbreak of the Second World War.
Frances
Perkins: In 1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Frances
Perkins as his Secretary of Labor. Perkins, America's first woman
cabinet member, was a controversial choice. The former chairman of
the New York State Industrial Board (1926-29) was a well-known radical
and campaigner for women's rights, unemployment insurance, child welfare
and better working conditions. This website, produced by the Social
Security Administration, is dedicated to the achievements of this
remarkable woman.
Wall
Street Crash: On
3rd September 1929 the stock market reached an all-time high. In the
weeks that followed prices began to decline. Then on 24th October,
over 12,894,650 shares were sold. Prices fell dramatically as sellers
tried to find people willing their shares. That evening, five of the
country's bankers, led by Charles E. Mitchell, chairman of the National
City Bank, issued a statement saying that due to the heavy selling
of shares, many were now under-priced. This statement failed to halt
the reduction in demand for shares. On 29th October, over 16 million
shares were sold. The
market had lost 47 per cent of its value in twenty-six days. This
website provides an overview of the Wall Street Crash, the personal
accounts of several people who experienced these dramatic events and
a good collection of links.
Wall
Street Crash Simulation: The Wall Street Crash led to a World
Depression which was partly responsible for the rise of aggressive
dictatorships in Europe. In this interactive simulation, lasting about
30 minutes, students are invited to "play the stock market"
and in this way learn about how a crash can occur. Students are presented
with a variety of situations and have to decide whether each one will
lead to share prices rising or to share prices falling.
Franklin
D. Roosevelt Presidential Library: This website proudly quotes
Franklin D. Roosevelt's comments on 27th September, 1938, that "the
real safeguard of democracy is education". The Franklin D. Roosevelt
Presidential Library and Museum Educational Program website includes
biographies of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt, a Roosevelt
Timeline, Online Documents and Photographs, a Research Guide and Puzzles
and Activities.
Huey
P. Long: In February, 1934, Huey P. Long launched
his Share Our Wealth Society. He told the Senate: "Unless
we provide for redistribution
of wealth in this country, the country is doomed." He added the
nation faced a choice, it could limit large fortunes and provide a
decent standard of life for its citizens, or it could wait for the
inevitable revolution. Long's plan involved taxing all incomes over
a million dollars. On the second million the capital levy tax would
be one per cent. On the third, two per cent, on the fourth, four per
cent; and so on. Once a personal fortune exceeded $8 million, the
tax would become 100 per cent. James Farley, they man who ran Franklin
D. Roosevelt's presidential campaign in 1932, estimated that Long,
running as a third-party candidate in 1936, would win between 3,000,000
to 4,000,000 votes. Long looked like he would prevent Roosevelt from
winning a second-term until his assassination in 1935. This website
looks at the life and career of one
of the most interesting political figures of the 20th century.
Charles
A. Lindbergh: In 1927 Charles A. Lindbergh became the first man
to fly across the Atlantic. Over 4 million people lined the parade
route in New York and the mayor, Jimmy Walker, pined the city's Medal
of Valor upon him. Lindbergh became the most popular man in the United
States. On 1st March 1932 Lindbergh's baby son was kidnapped from
his home in Hopewell, New Jersey. He was later found dead and Bruno
Hauptmann, a German-born carpenter, was executed for the crime on
3rd April, 1936. Lindbergh returned to the country's front pages when
he became one of the leaders of the America First Committee, a lobbying
group that was determined to keep America out of the war with Germany.
Lindbergh's views were highly popular until the Japanese Air Force
attacked Pearl Harbor on 7th December, 1941. This website by PBS provides
a detailed account of the rise and fall of Charles A. Lindbergh.
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