TEACHING GUIDE TO

www.HarperAcademic.com

www.AmityShlaes.com

THE FORGOTTEN MAN

A New History of the Great Depression

Graphic Editioni

AMITY SHLAES Illustrated by Paul Rivoche • Adapted by Chuck Dixon

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LESSON ONE: The 20s: Champagne and Euphoria or

a True Powerhouse Decade? ...................................................................... 1

LESSON TWO: The Crash of 1929: What Made It Unusual? ........................... 4

LESSON THREE: The New Deal, The Alphabet Agencies,

and Their Goals ........................................................................................... 6

LESSON FOUR: The Schechter Chicken Case, National Industrial

Recovery Act, Abuse of Power ..................................................................... 8

LESSON FIVE: The Economic Theories of the New Deal ............................... 11

LESSON SIX: An Evaluation of the New Deal ................................................ 13

A NOTE FROM AMITY SHLAES The best way to educate students is with primary sources. The best source for these, hands down, is Mortimer J. Adler, ed., “Annals of America,” Volumes 14 and 15, the two collections for the 1920s and the 1930s. Here is a link for purchase, but most students will find these anthologies of primary sources in libraries. This teaching guide was written by Mike Koren.

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LESSON ONE

The 20s: Champagne and Euphoria or a True Powerhouse Decade?

Timing: Three to four 40- to 45-minute class periods

Objectives:

1. Students will review different views of the economy of the 1920s.

2. Students will decide and debate how prosperous the decade of the 1920s was and how it impacted the Great Depression.

LESSON PLAN There has been much discussion about the prosperity of the 1920s. Review the resources below to gather information on the economic prosperity of the 1920s.

ONLINE SOURCES Library of Congress: For primary documents, search for Coolidge, 1920s, Roaring Twenties, Great Depression The U.S. Economy in the 1920s by Gene Smiley

America in the 1920s US Economy of the 1920s

BOOKS OF INTEREST Coolidge by Amity Shlaes 2014: Harper Perennial Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt Available as a pdf from the Ludwig von Mises Institute The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes 2008: Harper Perennial

Once in Golconda: A True Drama of Wall Street by John Brooks

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Middletown by Robert and Helen Lynd

An exhaustive portrait of one American town in the 1920s

The Great Crash 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith 2009: Mariner Books Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s by Frederick L. Allen 1931: Harper Perennial

Out of Work: Unemployment and Government in Twentieth-Century America by Richard Vedder 1997: NYU Press

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 1925: Scribner

Taxation, the People’s Business, by Andrew Mellon

FILMS OF INTEREST

The Great Gatsby

2013: Directed by Baz Luhrmann

1. After viewing numerous sources, students will write a one-page

summary explaining if they believe the decade was truly a decade of prosperity or a false illusion of a prosperous decade.

2. Students will prepare for and conduct a debate presenting their side of

the issue. Based on the responses of the students from their one-page summary, divide students with similar opinions into groups of three or four. Students will then begin to prepare the defense of their viewpoint in the upcoming debate. (Based on the number of students, there will be several debates to be held in order to involve all students in a debate.)

3. The teacher, students not involved in the debate, staff or department

members, or adult volunteers will judge the debate and determine which side was more convincing in their argument. The rubric below could be used to score each side’s presentation of the debate. (A caution should be made about student judges voting for their friends or voting for the side they will present later or have already presented.)

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4. The teacher may choose to use the sample rubric below or create one of his or her own.

SAMPLE DEBATE SCORING RUBRIC

A score of one is poor, two is below average, three is above average, and four is excellent. Clarity of the position taken 1 2 3 4 Logic of the points being made 1 2 3 4 Consistent argument throughout 1 2 3 4 Ability to saw audience to your view 1 2 3 4 5. Summarize the main ideas from the lessons and debates.

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LESSON TWO

The Crash of 1929: What Made It Unusual?

Timing: Two or three 40- to 45-minute class periods Objectives:

1. Students will learn the basics of the stock market. 2. Students will review different views about the crash of 1929.

LESSON PLAN Procedures:

1. Students will view the resources below as well as other sources. Working in groups of three, students will create a one- to two-page handout titled “A Beginners Guide to the Stock Market.” This guide will explain basic terms of the market and basic concepts of how the stock market operates.

2. After completing their research, students, working in groups of three, will

develop a flow chart showing events that led to the Great Depression. Students will provide a one- to three- page summary that explains how each component of the flowchart led to the Great Depression.

3. Students will be told they are going to lobby their Congressional

representatives about preventing another Great Depression from occurring. Students will create a list of talking points to present to members of Congress explaining what steps the government should take to prevent a depression, similar to the Great Depression, from occurring again. (This list should also include specific points about how government should correct its own mistakes related to the beginning of the Great Depression as well as addressing the other factors involved.)

4. Review the main ideas of the lesson.

ONLINE SOURCES

The American Experience: The Crash of 1929 (Video)

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TIME Magazine-The Crash of 1929

Wall Street Whiz: Stock Market Simulation (Students can invest in the 1929 stock market.)

National Bureau of Economic Research: Annual Estimates of Unemployment in the United States, 1900 to 1954 Causes of the Great Depression, Econlib.org

Causes of the Great Depression by Sarah Carroll

What Social Classes Owe Each Other by William Graham Sumner

Please see “Forgotten Man” section

Cost of Living (for discussing Inflation, Deflation)

The Stock Market Crash of 1929 by Jesse Colombo

BOOKS OF INTEREST

Coolidge by Amity Shlaes

2014: Harper Perennial

The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes 2008: Harper Perennial

The Great Crash 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith 2009: Mariner Books

Rethinking the Great Depression by Gene Smiley 2003: Ivan R. Dee

Since Yesterday: The 1930s in America, September 3, 1929 to September 3, 1939 by Frederick L. Allen

Harper Perennial

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LESSON THREE

The New Deal, The Alphabet Agencies, and Their Goals

Timing: Three to four 40- to 45-minute class periods Objectives: 1. Students will review the programs of the New Deal. 2. Students will evaluate the short and long term effects of each program. Procedures:

There were many New Deal Programs presented in the book. Students can use the book and the websites below and other resources to research these programs.

New Deal Programs American Heritage Center Museum FDR Library Images of New Deal Era

Students will choose at least five of these programs, research what the program was supposed to accomplish, and determine the short and long effects each program had.

Students, working in groups of three, will create a New Deal newspaper. The newspaper will have seven articles describing different New Deal programs, two editorials evaluating the short and long term success of two of the programs, at least three political cartoons highlighting three different New Deal programs, and a New Deal crossword puzzle (at least ten items down and ten items across) focusing on programs, people, and events of the New Deal. The newspaper will also have a name and place of publication.

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The rubric below will be used to evaluate the newspaper.

NEWSPAPER GRADING SHEET

__________ Seven News Articles (40 points) __________ Two Editorials (20 points) __________ Three Political Cartoons (20 points) __________ Crossword Puzzle (15 points) __________ Name and Place of Publication (5 points)

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LESSON FOUR

Abuse of Power by New Deal Personnel Timing: Three to four class 40- to 45-minute class periods Objectives:

1. Students will list and explain examples where people administering the New Deal may have abused their power.

2. Students will explain if they felt power was abused.

3. Students will create “Most Wanted” posters of various groups or

individuals who were targeted by the government.

4. Students will write about “The Forgotten Man” – who was right, Roosevelt with his Forgotten Man, or William Graham Sumner with his? The men have two competing concepts. Describe them. Which man is right?

Procedures:

1. There were many examples in which people believed the administrators of the New Deal abused their power. These include, but aren’t limited to, examples involving the Supreme Court, the operation of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the prosecution of the Schechters, the creation of Casa Grande, the attempt to impeach Andrew Mellon, the federal prosecution on mail fraud and antitrust charges of Samuel Insull, and by providing subsidies to farmers.

2. Students will work in groups of the three. By utilizing the book and various websites, including those listed below, students will research three examples of possible abuses of power and prepare a PowerPoint presentation explaining the details of each situation—making certain to describe how each situation could be viewed as an abuse of power. Schechter Chicken Case That’s Not Kosher: How Four Jewish Butchers Brought Down the First New Deal Chicago-Kent College of Law

Supreme Court Packing

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Andrew Mellon

Samuel Insull

Subsidies to Farmers

Middletown in Transition: A Study in Cultural Conflicts by Robert S. Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd. A pair of sociologists revisit Muncie ten years later to look at the effects of the crash and New Deal. 1982 Reissue: Mariner Books PBS: The First Century Measured. Robert and Helen Lynd and Middletown Ball State University: The Center for Middletown Studies Tennessee Valley Authority “Forgotten Man” Governor Franklin Roosevelt speech at Albany in April 1932

The Forgotten Man and Other Essays by William Graham Sumner 1919: Yale University Press Available as pdf from the Ludwig von Mises Institute Swarthmore College: William Graham Sumner’s “The Forgotten Man” lecture of 1883

3. Students will write a position paper explaining why they do or do not

believe the government and government officials misused their authority during the New Deal.

4. Students will hypothesize why some of these individuals (Mellon and

the Schechters) continued to support Roosevelt or show him respect even though the government took legal actions against them. (The Schechters felt Nazism could have come to the U.S. if the attempts to solve the Great Depression failed. Mellon may have felt a sense of loyalty and patriotism to the country for the success he had.)

5. Students, working in groups of three, will create three “Most Wanted”

posters highlighting three instances in which the government acted against an individual, a group of individuals, an institution, or a business during the New Deal. Students should go to Google Images and search under Most Wanted Posters for samples and ideas.

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BOOKS AND ARTICLES OF INTEREST David Lilienthal defends the Tennessee Valley Authority Insull by Forrest MacDonald Tuxedo Park: The Rise and Fall of a Billionaire Utility Tycoon by Jennet Conant 2003: Simon & Schuster Government Project: The Story of the Casa Grande Farm by Edward C. Banfield 1951: Free Press TVA and the Disposessed: The Resettlement of Population in the Norris Dam Area by Michael J. McDonald and John Muldowny 1981: Tennessee University Press

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LESSON FIVE

Economic Theories of the New Deal Timing: Three or four 40- to 45-minute class periods Objectives:

1. Students will discuss the different ideas about how the government could have handled the Depression.

2. Students will analyze the effects each theory could have had on the

economy.

3. Students will choose what they believe is the best alternative. Procedures:

1. After reading the book, students will have learned about various ways to deal with the Great Depression—from the ideas of Andrew Mellon and John Maynard Keynes to those who believed in the concept of classic liberalism.

2. Students will visit the sites below to gather information on how to end The

Great Depression.

Benjamin Anderson, Economics and the Public Welfare National Center for Policy Analysis: What Is Classical Liberalism? Wall Street Journal: FDR and the Lessons of the Depression by Thomas Cooley and Lee Ohanian Library of Economics and Liberty’s EconTalk podcast: Amity Shlaes on the Great Depression New York Times: “Keynes was Right” by Paul Krugman WiseGEEK: What is Keynesian Economics?

3. Assign students into groups. Each group will research one of the theories

above. (Mellon, Keynes, and classic liberalism ideas)

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4. Students will prepare a pamphlet highlighting each system and explain

how well they felt that system worked or would have worked. Each group will present their pamphlet to the class.

5. After hearing all the options, all students will write at least a one-page

summary about which theory they think would have been the best way to deal with the Great Depression.

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LESSON SIX

Evaluation of the New Deal Timing: Four or five 40- to 45-minute class periods, depending on class size Objectives:

1. Students will evaluate the success of the New Deal.

2. Students will develop a plan to implement in case another Great Depression were to occur.

Procedures:

1. In the previous five lessons, students have evaluated several aspects of the New Deal. Students will review the various websites they visited, consider the evidence presented in the book, analyze other sources, and look at the materials they have presented and created.

2. Students will view these websites below and other resources to review the

goals of the New Deal.

University of Maryland, Baltimore County: Roosevelt and the New Deal AP Study Notes: The New Deal National Archives: FDR’s Fireside Chat on the Purposes and Foundations of the Recovery Program

3. Working in groups of three, students will prepare a news show of 15 to 20 minutes similar to 20/20 or Dateline NBC. The focus of this show will be to develop three news stories to evaluate the success of the New Deal in accomplishing its goals. Students should use pictures, images, charts, and graphs to go along with each story they create. This news show will be videotaped.

4. Within their groups, students will prepare their own action plan to

implement in case we experience another Great Depression. Students will consider all the viewpoints presented in the materials they viewed, the book they read, and the assignments they completed in order to accomplish this task.

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5. Each group will share its action plan and video with the class. Depending on time, you may want to show only part of each group’s news show.

6. Review the main ideas of all of the lessons.

ONLINE RESOURCES Library of Congress’s Exploring Contexts: Migrant Mother Photograph by Dorothea Lange C-Span: The Contenders: They Ran & Lost But Changed Political History, Wendell Wilkie BOOKS OF INTEREST Annals of America, vols. 14 and 15, edited by Mortimer J. Adler Economics and the Public Welfare: Financial and Economic History of the United States, 1914-1946 by Benjamin M. Anderson, Ph.D. Available online from the Ludwig von Mises Institute. The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes 2008: Harper Perennial

The Great Depression: A Diary by Benjamin Roth, edited by James Ledbetter 2010: Public Affairs FILMS The Grapes of Wrath 1940: Directed by John Ford It’s a Wonderful Life 1947: Directed by Frank Capra Indiana University: Films that Depict the Great Depression