6. Legacies

About this Lecture

Lecture

In the final module, we turn to look at the legacies of the Great Depression and New Deal. The New Deal resulted in fundamental change to the way American society functioned but Roosevelt saw its results as unfinished. His more sweeping aim was to bring rural, African American and immigrant Americans into American life, providing them with security as well. This was a task that would left to later presidents. The Great Depression had impacts on how US governments dealt with economic crisis. After the economic toil of 1929-32, politicians would always act quickly and decisively in the face of crisis, but structural change on the scale of the New Deal would be far less likely to result.

Course

In this course, Professor David Kennedy (Stanford University) examines the Great Depression and New Deal in the United States. In the first module, we explore what America was like in 1929 before the Great Depression. After this, we examine the causes of the Great Depression in more detail. In the next two modules we look at the economic and social impact of the Great Depression on the American people. We then turn to look at the political response to the Great Depression - the New Deal. In the final module, we look at the legacies of the Great Depression and New Deal.

Lecturer

Professor David Kennedy is Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History Emeritus at Stanford University. His scholarship is notable for its integration of economic and cultural analysis with social and political history. His research focus has largely been on 20th century US History, winning the Pulitzer Prize for History for his book Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 (1999).