The Great Depression and the New Deal 1929 -1939

This lecture looks at the the causes of the Great Depression and life under the Great Depression. The lecture continues with President Hoover’s efforts to solve the problems and the growing displeasure of his leadership culmination in the Election of 1932 and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s (FDR) victory. It looks at FDR’s First Hundred Days, opposition to the New Deal from the left and the Supreme Court, and the legacy of the New Deal. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s role and her heroic efforts to help the poor, minorities, and refugees. The Second New Deal sought to expand the federal government even further and included the Works Progress Administration, Social Security, and the Wagner Act. The lecture ends with the strengths and failures of the New Deal and World War II on the horizon.