From Hoover to Roosevelt The Presidents of the Great Depression By Amber Schofield www.theboxofcrayons.com

President Herbert Hoover President when the stock market crashed. He believed that the government should not assist the people, because the economy would straighten itself out.

Hoovervilles When President Hoover did nothing to fix the economic situation of the country, people got angry. Many people went directly to Washington, D.C. and set up a little shanty town outside the Whitehouse in protest. The people made their shacks out of old/abandoned crates, car parts, tent materials, etc.

Hoovervilles The people named the shanty towns “Hoovervilles” in after of President Hoover. The name was not a compliment. Soon, “Hoovervilles” were all over the country. These were created so the people would have a place to live, but they named their little towns “Hoovervilles,” too.

Hoovervilles

Hoovervilles Many of the Okies who fled the Dust bowl took Route 66. This sign looks like the signs that signaled Route 66 until the 1940’s. Today, a great deal of Route 66 is not useable. However, Route 66 is now a historic landmark.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

President Roosevelt Became President when the Great Depression peaked. He believed that the government should assist the people. He believed that the government should try something; if whatever that something was did not work, the government could try something else. President Roosevelt was respected for his assistance by many Americans, but not all.

Fun Facts about President Roosevelt President Roosevelt contracted a disease before his presidency called polio. Polio attacks one part of a person’s body, usually the legs, and weakens that part. Polio weakened his legs so much that President Roosevelt had to use a wheelchair the rest of his life. However, when President Roosevelt spoke to the public, he did not want the people to see him a weak man in a wheelchair, but a man standing tall. For this reason, any time you see the President speaking (with the exception of fireside chats) he is usually standing behind a lectern so that his legs are hidden and he can hold on to the lectern.

Fun Facts about President Roosevelt President Roosevelt had a little Scottish terrier named Fala. You will see Fala with the President in many pictures of him. Fala was such a wonderful friend and companion to the President that at his memorial, a statue of Fala is beside his own!

Fun Facts about President Roosevelt President Roosevelt liked to talk to the American people over the radio. He called his radio talks Fireside Chats. President Roosevelt often used his Fireside Chats to convince the American people that his New Deal would work so that they would vote for the programs. He also talked to the people about what he was doing to bring America out of the Depression and tried to give hope.

Anna “Eleanor” Roosevelt Mrs. Roosevelt was actually the niece of former President Theodore Roosevelt. He even gave her away on her and President Franklin Roosevelt’s wedding day! Mrs. Roosevelt was one of the most active First Ladies in American history. She made helping the poor and the helpless her mission. She traveled all over the country to help Americans during the Great Depression.

Letters to Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt Eleanor Roosevelt had spoken often of her concern for the country's children. "I have moments of real terror when I think we might be losing this generation. We have got to bring these young people into the active life of the community and make them feel that they are necessary." --New York Times, 5/34 Thousands of children and young adults wrote letters to her, asking for help. They talked to her as a confidant with whom they could share the details of their lives, no matter how painful or even embarrassing to them. In their letters, they seem certain that the First Lady will come to their aid.

Letters to Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt During her first year in the White House, Mrs. Roosevelt received 300,000 pieces of mail from adults and children. She continued to receive hundreds of thousands of letters in the years that followed. The First Lady had a secretary who was in charge of the mail. Her secretary would read the mail and either reply to it or send it to another department for action. She would also select about 50 letters a day for Mrs. Roosevelt to read. The First Lady would sometime dictate replies to those letters. None of the children in the letters you are about to read received personal replies from Eleanor Roosevelt. She gave her support to them in a different way: by working to establish government programs for young people. The National Youth Administration (NYA) and the youth-oriented programs of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) are two examples. From America's History Through Young Voices: Using Primary Sources in the K-12 Social Studies Classroom by Richard M. Wyman, Jr.

Letters to Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt Eleanor Roosevelt helped establish the National Youth Administration in June 1935. The NYA helped more than 2 million high school and college students stay in school by giving them grants in exchange for work. They worked in libraries and college labs, and on farms. The NYA also found work for 2.5 million young people who were not in school and not working. As World War II approached, NYA youths worked in defense industries where they gained useful job skills. The NYA was an equal opportunity agency, providing aid to women and minorities. This feature of the program was very important to Mrs. Roosevelt. "It is a question of the right to work," she said, "and the right to work should know no color lines." From America's History Through Young Voices: Using Primary Sources in the K-12 Social Studies Classroom by Richard M. Wyman, Jr.

Letters to Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt The First Lady supported other New Deal programs that brought relief to young people: Nursery schools for the children of working mothers Nutrition programs in schools Surplus stores which distributed clothing, food, toys, and other goods to families in need of help Recreational and educational programs geared towards disadvantaged children. From America's History Through Young Voices: Using Primary Sources in the K-12 Social Studies Classroom by Richard M. Wyman, Jr.

Letters to Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt Today you will be given the opportunity to read several letters that were written to Mrs. Roosevelt by children and teens. Think about the following questions as you read, and record the answers to the questions on your answer sheet for each letter. What specifically does the writer want? How does he/she describe himself/herself (Smart? Young? Teen? White? Black? What does he/she like to do?, etc.)? How has the Depression affected the writer’s family? How old do you think the writer is? What grade do you think he/she is in? Why? Some of these letters will be quite pitiful. I think they will give you a better understanding of what life was like for kids during the great depression and will make you thankful for what you have today.