Concepts:  Note -- While some of the items included below are proper nouns rather than concepts per se, they have become part of our conceptual language.

As much as any other period in American history, the era of Franklin D. Roosevelt shaped the modern world. The government activism that for more than sixty years has been a given of American public life and that is now a focus of political controversy began during Roosevelt's administration. Moreover, the image of the activist, enlightened President that has dominated Americans' assessments of their Presidents in the modern era began with Franklin D. Roosevelt. Finally, the era of the Second World War shaped the configuration of world politics that prevailed for half a century.

In particular, many of the benefits that students and their families receive today -- such as disability and unemployment insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, Social Security, food stamps, fuel assistance, low-interest college loans, tuition-assistance programs, and HEOP have sprung from the activist role that the federal government has played for six decades in providing for the general welfare. Finally, the grandparents of today's students grew up in the age of Roosevelt; study of this period will enable students to connect with their grandparents, to help them shape and develop their knowledge of history, and the teacher to educate students in further use of the valuable techniques of oral history.

Lesson 1
A Crossroads Resource: Procedure for Roosevelt Administration Portfolio
A Crossroads Resource: Depression-Era Interview Questions
A Crossroads Resource: The New Deal Checklist
A Crossroads Resource: The New Deal: Measures for Relief, Recovery, and Reform
A Crossroads Resource: Franklin D. Roosevelt's First Inaugural Address (4 March 1933)
A Crossroads Resource: Using Political Cartoons
Lesson 2
A Crossroads Resource: Recollections of a Teenager's War Years
A Crossroads Resource: Day Three and Beyond