The Roaring Twenties and the
Great Depression
OSHER 889-001
Dates: Tuesdays, 3/29/16 – 5/10/16, no class 4/26/16
Times: 9:30 – 11:00 AM
Location: Commander’s House, Fort Douglas
Instructor: Walter Jones, [email protected]
Course Overview
The 1920s was a period of significant economic expansion and prosperity for the United States. The
decade, however, was a troubled time for some Americans, especially for those who farmed or labored
at unskilled jobs that were not unionized. Then, as the decade progressed signs of economic decline and
stagnation began to appear in other areas of the economy such as building construction and the oil
industry. By the end of October 1929, the nation’s economy began to falter, slowly at first, but by late
1931, real panic set in. In 1932, voters elected franklin Delano Roosevelt to the office of President of the
United States. For nearly ten years FDR sought controversial ways to restore prosperity to the nation;
attempts that have been both hailed as saving the nation from violent revolution but also as failing to
bring back genuine economic stability. This class will explore important events and people of the 1920s
and 1930s in order to better understand the challenges, accomplishments and failures of the nation’s
leaders over the twenty years that encompassed the “Jazz Age” and the “Great Depression.”
Weekly Schedule
Week 1: 3/29/16 “Back to Normalcy”--Republican presidents, 1921-1933
Week 2: 4/5/16 Herbert Hoover’s election and term as President. 1928-1933.
Week 3: 4/12/16 The nation and the Great Depression’s dark shadow, 1929-1932
Week 4: 4/19/16 Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Week 5: 5/3/16 Significant events in the 1930s
Week 6: 5/10/15 The New Deal
Concluding Statement
The persistence of gloom and elements of final recovery.
The 1920s and 1930s are times of great differences in political philosophies and economic and social
experiences. Not everyone benefitted from the good times of the Jazz Age, nor did everyone agree with
the means political leaders such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt used in an attempt to alleviate the hard
times of the 1930s. Yet, the two decades combined demonstrate how complex and difficult to study
and assess events of those years are. This makes the Twenties and Thirties so fascinating to learn about.