New Deal - SAC (SHEG ADAPTED) Name: _______________ 1

A Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) is a discussion strategy used in history class to gain greater
insight into two sides of a historical event topic. In this case, we investigate if the New Deal was successful
or if it was a failure. The class will be broken into two sides but groups of three. The whole class will have
the same materials. However, the two sides will examine the topic from two different lenses.

You will be graded on several things this week!

1. Document Packet → did you complete all analysis questions? (54 points)
2. Evidence Gathering → did your team choose 4 pieces of evidence to support your side? (15 points)
3. Active Listening → did you take notes on the other side when they were sharing? Were you
listening? (15 test points)
4. Thesis Statement & Reflection → did you write your thesis statement at the end (15 test points)
GRAND TOTAL OF 69 CLASSWORK POINTS & 30 TEST POINTS

TEAM ARGUMENTS:
TEAM A: ARGUES THE NEW DEAL WAS SUCCESSFUL
TEAM B: ARGUES THE NEW DEAL WAS A FAILURE

Rewrite your team's position in your own words: ________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Breakdown of the SAC Week:

TUESDAY Docs A & B Formative

WEDNESDAY Docs C & D Formative ____/54 pts

THURSDAY Docs E & F Formative

FRIDAY Evidence Gathering Formative _____/15 pts

FRIDAY SAC Discussion (active listening and participation) & Summative _____/15 pts
Thesis Paragraph _____/15 pts

Document A: Fireside Chat (Excerpted and Modified)

 2
President Roosevelt gave this speech over the radio on May 7, 1933, two months after he became president. He
called these radio addresses “fireside chats,” and this was his second one as president.

Tonight, I come for the second time to tell you about what we have been doing and what we are
planning to do. . . .

First, we are giving opportunity of employment to one-quarter of a million of the unemployed,

especially the young men, to go into forestry and flood prevention work. . . .

Next, the Congress is about to pass legislation that will greatly ease the mortgage distress among the
farmers and the home owners of the nation, by easing the burden of debt now bearing so heavily upon
millions of our people. . . .

I know that the people of this country will understand this and will also understand the spirit in which we
are undertaking this policy. . . .

All of us, the Members of the Congress and the members of this Administration owe you, the people of
this country, a profound debt of gratitude.

Source: President Roosevelt’s “Fireside Chat,” May 7, 1933.

VOCAB:
legislation: laws.
mortgage distress: many farmers and homeowners were unable to pay off the loans on their houses and
so their property was taken away.
gratitude: thanks.
1. Who said this? When was it said?
____________________________________________________________________

2. Based on this document, what is President Roosevelt telling the people?

____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
3. Based on this document, what is Roosevelt and Congress doing to help the people?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
4. Historical Context: The Great Depression led to millions of people losing their jobs which meant
people weren’t able to make much money. Congress and Roosevelt worked to create as much
jobs as they can by investing in community projects. Does this historical context support the
argument that the New Deal was successful? Explain.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

Document B: African Americans and the New Deal (Modified)

 3

Most New Deal programs discriminated against African Americans. The National Recovery
Administration, for example, not only offered white Americans the first crack at jobs, but authorized
separate and lower pay scales for African Americans. The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) refused to
guarantee mortgages for African Americans who tried to buy in white neighborhoods, and the Civilian
Conservation Corps maintained segregated camps. Furthermore, the Social Security Act excluded those
job categories African Americans traditionally filled.

The story in agriculture was particularly grim. Since 40 percent of all black workers made their living as
sharecroppers and tenant farmers, the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) acreage reduction
hit African Americans hard. White landlords could make more money by leaving land untilled than by
putting land back into production. As a result, the AAA's policies forced more than 100,000 African
Americans off the land in 1933 and 1934. Even more galling to black leaders, the president failed to
support an anti-lynching bill and a bill to abolish the poll tax. Roosevelt feared that conservative
southern Democrats, who had seniority in Congress and controlled many committee chairmanships,
would block his bills if he tried to fight them on the race question.

Source: This excerpt is from the Digital History online textbook, 2016.

Vocabulary
mortgage: a loan to buy a house grim: worrisome, severe galling: irritating

5. When was this written?

____________________________________________________________________
6. What was a form of discrimination African Americans faced when it came to getting a job?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
7. What was a form of discrimination African Americans faced when it came to buying a house?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Historical Context: Roosevelt created programs like the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and the Social
Security Administration to ultimately help people and the economy to get out of the Great Depression.
Many programs like the Federal Housing Authority and the Social Security Administration exist today.
However, Roosevelt faced a lot of opposition from people who thought he was giving handouts to people
who were “undeserving”. He had to make compromises and changes to his ideas in order to make people
in Congress happy. Many people of color were unable to qualify for benefits from several programs that
were made.
8. Based on the historical context, what would make people of color unable to qualify for help from
several New Deal programs?
 4
____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
9. Does this historical context support the argument that the New Deal was successful? Explain.
____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
DAY 1 STAMP:_________
Document C: Interview with Cotton Mill Worker
George Dobbin was a 67-year-old cotton mill worker when he was interviewed for the book These Are Our Lives, a
book put together by the Federal Writers’ Project in 1939.

I do think that Roosevelt is the biggest-hearted man we ever had in the White House. . . . It’s the first time
in my recollection that a President ever got up and said, “I’m interested in and aim to do somethin’ for the
workin’ man.” Just knowin’ that for once there was a man to stand up and speak for him, a man that
could make what he felt so plain nobody could doubt he meant it, has made a lot of us feel a lot better
even when there wasn’t much to eat in our homes.

Source: George Dobbin in These Are Our Lives, Federal Writers’ Project, 1939.
Vocab: recollection: memory

10. Who spoke this? Who was his audience?

____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
11. In what ways does Dobbin talk about Roosevelt. Use specific examples.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
12. Based on how Dobbin talks about Roosevelt, how does he feel about Roosevelt?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

Historical Context: President Roosevelt was the first president to directly talk to the American people
through his Fireside chats. These fireside chats were a chance for Roosevelt to be transparent and honest
about his plans and what he was working towards. A lot of Americans felt hopeful about the New Deal
projects and topics that Roosevelt discussed with the Americans.
13. Does this historical context support the argument that the New Deal was successful? Explain.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Document D: Hot Lunches for a Million School Children (and Modified)
 5
Speech delivered by Ellen S. Woodward, assistant administrator of the Works Progress Administration, in 1937.

One million undernourished children have benefited by the Works Progress Administration's school
lunch program. In the past year and a half 80,000,000 hot well-balanced meals have been served at the
rate of 500,000 daily in 10,000 schools throughout the country. . . .

For many children, who are required to leave home early in the morning and travel long distances after
school hours to reach their homes, the WPA lunch constitutes the only hot meal of the day. . . .

Through the daily service of warm, nourishing food, prepared by qualified, needy women workers, the
WPA is making it possible for many underprivileged children of the present to grow into useful, healthy
citizens of the future.

Vocabulary: constitutes: equal.

14. Who said this? Who is the audience?

___________________________________________________________________
15. Based on the text, what did the Works Progress Administration (WPA) do to help people?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
16. What made this program helpful for children who traveled large distances?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
17. According to the text, who is responsible for making the food for children?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
18. Historical Context: Programs like the Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided jobs for not
just men, but women too. In this time, women were increasingly gaining leadership roles and jobs.
The WPA and other programs hired women to often complete jobs that required cooking, sewing,
cleaning, harvesting. Does this historical context support the argument that the New Deal was
successful? Explain.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
DAY 2 STAMP:_____________
Document E: Unemployment Statistics
Gene Smiley, "Recent Unemployment Rate Estimates for the 1920s and 1930s," The Journal of Economic History,
June 1983.
 6

Vocabulary
Labor force: People who are able to work?
19. Who created this chart? What could this be for?
____________________________________________________________________
20. Do you think this is a reliable source for why the New Deal was successful or a failure? Why or why
not? Explain
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
21. The Great Depression began in 1929. When the financial crisis began, a lot of people lost their jobs.
In what year did unemployment go at an all time high and how much percent was the all-time high
at?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
22. Historical Context: President Roosevelt, who led the New Deal changes took office in 1932. The New
Deal programs started from 1932 and went on to 1938. Based on the chart and the historical
context, was the New Deal successful? Explain
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
23. Historical Context: In 1938, there was a small recession that occurred due to there not being any
action from the government to further bring down the unemployment rates, Because of there not
being any new programs or laws being passed, worries about another big recession came into
place. Ultimately, World War I brought the US out of the recession. Does this historical context
support the argument that the New Deal was successful? Explain.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Document F: Whither the American Indian? (Excerpted and Modified)
 7
Roosevelt appointed John Collier, a leading social reformer, as Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1933. Collier pushed
Congress to create the Indian Emergency Conservation Program (IECP), a program that employed more than
85,000 Native Americans. Collier also made sure that the PWA, WPA, CCC, and NYA hired Native Americans.

In 1934 Collier convinced Congress to pass the Indian Reorganization Act, which provided money for tribes to
purchase new land. That same year, the government provided federal grants to local school districts, hospitals, and
social welfare agencies to assist Native Americans.

Congress is authorized to appropriate $10 million from which loans may be made for the purpose of
promoting the economic development of the tribes. ...

About seventy-five of the tribal corporations are now functioning, with varying degrees of success, and
the number continues to grow. The Jicarillas have bought their trading post and are running it; the
Chippewas run a tourist camp; the Northern Cheyennes have a very successful livestock cooperative:
the Swinomish of Washington have a tribal fishing business. There are plenty of others to prove these
corporations can be made to work. . . .

The truth is that the New Deal Indian administration is neither as successful as its publicity says it is, nor
as black and vicious a failure as the severest critics would have us believe. Many Indian problems
remain unsolved, but every one has been addressed.

Source: Alden Stevens, “Whither the American Indian?” Survey Graphic magazine, March 1, 1940.

Vocabulary: Appropriate: Give

24. Who wrote this? Who was the audience?

____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
25. Based on the text, what support did the US give to Native American tribes?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
26. What types of Native American businesses received support?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
27. Historical Context: Prior to the Indian Emergency Conservation Program (IECP), Native Americans
tribes were seen as separate nations and did not receive any type of support from the United
States. They were not even seen as United States citizens. The IECP changed it to where Native
Americans were seen differently and would be able to take part of the benefits that the New Deal
was giving. Does this historical context support the argument that the New Deal was successful?
Explain.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Day 3 Stamp:_____________
 8

Evidence & Discussion Sheet

SIDE A: THE NEW DEAL WAS SUCCESSFUL SIDE B: THE NEW DEAL WAS NOT SUCCESSFUL

EVIDENCE #1: EVIDENCE #1:

DOC #_______

DOC #_______

EVIDENCE #2: EVIDENCE #2:

DOC #_______

DOC #_______

EVIDENCE #3: EVIDENCE #3:

DOC #_______

DOC #_______

EVIDENCE #4: EVIDENCE #4:

DOC #_______

DOC #_______

After listening to all sides of the story - write a thesis statement answering the question: Was the New Deal
successful? (The New Deal was/was not successful because 1__, 2___, 3___.)
_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________