4.3

Standard 5-4: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the economic boom-and-bust in America in the 1920s and 1930s, its resultant political instability, and the subsequent worldwide response.
5.4.3 Explain the immediate and lasting effect on American workers caused by innovations of the New Deal, including the Social Security Act, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Civilian Conservation Corps. (P, E, H)

It is essential for students to know:

President Franklin Roosevelt proposed a wide range of programs, called the NewDeal, which focused on three goals: relief, recovery, and reform.
Relief programs set out to assist with the feeding and housing of the poorest American citizens.
While these programs offered relief to some in the short term, they had little lasting impact on the economy.
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a relief program designed to provide young men who were roaming the countryside in search of work the opportunity to build parks and plant trees. The CCC could also be considered a recovery program because its purpose was also to put money into the hands of consumers and thus help businesses to recover.
Recovery programs had little immediate effect and the depression did not end until military spending for World War II put people back to work.
Reform programs, such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, attempted to reform the system and prevent the conditions that caused the Great Depression. The FDIC helped to restore and maintain confidence in the banking system and prevent runs on the banks because the government insured the deposits of investors.
Social Security was also designed to reform the system to ensure that the disabled and the elderly would have some income and that the unemployed were protected against lay-offs.
Workers in agriculture and domestic service, which employed many African Americans, were not covered. Social Security had no immediate impact in ending the Depression and offering relief to those who suffered as a result of it.
However it has provided a secure retirement for many citizens and significantly reduced poverty among the elderly since that time.
Students should be able to describe how the role of the federal government greatly increased as a result of the New Deal response to the Great Depression.
It is important for students to recognize that some of the New Deal programs, such as Social Security and the FDIC, are still in use today.

It Is Not Essential For Students to Know:

This indicator does not require students to recall New Deal programs not specifically listed in the indicator such as the TVA, AAA, WPA, etc.
It is also not necessary for students to understand how the Social Security program works or some of the controversies that surround it today.