1. Prosperity, Depression, & The New Deal
American History II - Unit 4
Ms. Brown

2. Review
Why was FDR cautious when approaching civil rights for African Americans?
Didn’t want to upset and lose Southern Democrat support
In what ways did labor unions support FDR?
Donated money for campaign funds during elections
Official and undivided support in elections
Why, in 1939, did the New Deal end?
Increased focus on Europe and Hitler in Germany
What were the 2 legacies left by the New Deal?
Expanded role of federal gov’t
Increase in deficit spending and national debt

3. 4.11 – 1930s Culture

4. Entertainment in the 1930s
Americans longed for an escape from the reality of their lives.
Movies
Radio
Art
Music
Literature
The Depression also served as a muse for writers and artists.

5. Movies 65% of Americans – 1 movie/week  25 cents
15,000 theaters nationwide
“Talking” pictures – Clark Gable, Marlene Dietrich, James Cagney  new era of glam and sophistication in Hollywood

6. Movies Gone With The Wind (civil war)
Flying With Rio (romantic comedy, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers – dance partners)
Wizard of Oz
Snow White and Seven Dwarves (Walt Disney)
Money Business and Duck Soup (Marx Brothers Comedies)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (New Deal in a positive light)

7. Radio 1930s – sales of radios doubled
90% of American homes owned a radio
Promoted family time
FDR’s “fireside chats”
Most direct way to reach Americans

8. Radio
Programs – dramas, news, variety shows, soap operas, kids’ shows, comedy
Orson Welles – “The War of the Worlds” – fake news broadcast about an alien invasion (based on H.G. Wells’ novel)
announced before and during the broadcast that it was fake, but many Americans panicked.
Citizen Kane and Touch of Evil
Lone Ranger – aired when children got home school
Breaking news – Hindenburg crash in 1937

9. Art
Movies and radio functioned more as entertainment, while art and literature were more somber and serious with some uplifting tones
The New Deal sponsored many art projects and artists (WPA posters, murals) – “They’ve got to eat just like everybody else.” (Head of WPA)
Portrayed the New Deal in a positive light and showed Americans values of democracy and nationalism

10. Art
Federal Art Project – under the WPA, employed unemployed artists to provide art for non-federal gov’t buildings – positive images of American society
Schools
Hospitals
Libraries
Theaters

11. Art Grant Wood – American painter, American Gothic
Employed by the Federal Art Project
SNL American Gothic Skit

12. Music
Woody Guthrie
Traveled the country in search of better opportunities, told his troubles in song
Appealed to those who suffered similar hardships
“Yes we ramble and we roam,
And the highway, that’s our home.
It’s a never ending highway
For a dust bowl refugee.
Yes, we wander and we work,
In your crops and in your fruit,
Like the whirlwinds on the desert
That’s the dust bowl refugees.”
- Woody Guthrie, “Dust Bowl Refugees”

13. Literature
John Steinbeck – Grapes of Wrath – 1939, Dust Bowl Okies who do not find relief in California
Richard Wright – African American writer, Native Son, 1940, young black man living in poverty in Chicago