4
SECTION
Section
Step-by-Step Instruction
Social Security
“
Social Security has been one of the most successful government programs. Social Security is the foundation of well being
for the elderly, the disabled and their families. . . . But today
Social Security faces serious long-range financing issues.
Review and Preview
”
In the previous section, students learned
about the effects of the Great Depression
on everyday life. In this section, students
will read about the legacy of Roosevelt’s
New Deal programs to lift the country
out of the Depression.
Section Focus Question
What were the long-term effects
of the Great Depression?
Before you begin the lesson for the day,
write the Section Focus Question on the
board. (Lesson focus: The Depression
prompted responses from the federal government that expanded its power and strengthened
labor unions.)
Prepare to Read
Build Background
Knowledge
L2
Ask students to recall what they learned in
Section 2 of this chapter about Roosevelt’s
programs to combat the Great Depression.
Ask: How did the Great Depression affect
the 1932 presidential election? (Americans
voted for a candidate who promised change.)
Ask students to predict what they will
learn about the legacy of New Deal programs. Use the Numbered Heads strategy
(TE, p. T24) to elicit responses.
Set a Purpose
■
!
Objectives
• Discover how the New Deal reformed labor
relations.
• Find out how Social Security began.
• Identify the main arguments for and against
the New Deal.
Evaluate Long-Term Effects Important
historical events such as the Depression often have
far-reaching effects. In fact, the Depression changed
America permanently in some areas, such as its
culture, political system, and economy. Read this
section to identify these long-term effects. Think
about how, if at all, they affect your life today.
Key Terms and People
payroll tax
Frances Perkins
collective
bargaining
Answer
Social Security was paid for
by payroll taxes matched by employer contributions.
790 Chapter 23
Why It Matters FDR’s New Deal programs tried to solve the
immediate problems of the Great Depression. Yet programs
that Roosevelt created in the 1930s had a lasting impact on the
American economy and society.
Section Focus Question: What were the long-term
effects of the Great Depression?
Social Security
Reading Skill
John L. Lewis
sit-down strike
deficit spending
L2
Have students discuss the statements in
pairs or groups of four, then mark the
worksheets again. Use the Numbered
Heads participation strategy (TE, p. T24)
to call on students. The students will
return to these worksheets later.
Her first Social Security check
Legacy of the New Deal
Read each statement in the Reading
Readiness Guide aloud. Ask students to
mark the statements True or False.
Teaching Resources, Unit 8,
Reading Readiness Guide, p. 19
■
—James B. Lockhart III, government
official testifying before Congress, 2004
“Those suffering hardship from no fault of their own have a
right to call upon the government for aid,” FDR argued. In 1935,
he signed the Social Security Act. It gave the federal government
a major and lasting role in providing support for the needy.
A key part of the Social Security Act was Old-Age Insurance.
It guaranteed retired people a pension. To fund the pensions,
the new law imposed a payroll tax, or a tax that removes
money directly from workers’ paychecks. Employers were
required to make matching contributions. Business leaders
opposed Old-Age Insurance, arguing that matching payments
removed too much money from the economy.
The Social Security Act included Aid to Dependent
Children (ADC) to help children whose fathers were dead,
unemployed, or not living with the family. The ADC granted
federal money to states to help mothers stay home to raise
their young children. The Social Security Act also provided
financial aid to the disabled and gave the states federal money
to make temporary payments to the unemployed.
At first, the Social Security Act excluded some categories
of labor. Employers of agricultural and domestic workers
were not required to pay into the system. As a result, many
African Americans, migrant workers, and poor rural whites
did not benefit from Social Security.
How did the Social Security Act pay for
pensions for retired Americans?
790 Chapter 23 The Great Depression and the New Deal
Differentiated Instruction
L1 Less Proficient Readers
L1 Special Needs
Comprehension Aids Before students
read the section, have them look through
the pages and list each heading to create an
outline. As they read, have students jot
down important words, concepts, or people they want to remember or questions
they may have about the content under
each heading. Check with students to see
what questions they have. Encourage them
to answer them on their own, or ask
another student, before asking for help
from you.
Lasting Labor Reforms
Teach
The committee that drafted the Social Security Act was chaired by
FDR’s secretary of labor, Frances Perkins. The first woman to serve
in the Cabinet, Perkins backed major labor reforms. She said that “the
ideal of government should be, through legislation and through
cooperation between employers and workers, to make every job the
best that the human mind can devise as to physical conditions,
human relations, and wages.”
Social Security
Lasting Labor Reforms
pp. 790–791
Instruction
New Laws Favor Workers In 1935, Congress passed the
■
National Labor Relations Act. It became known as the Wagner Act,
after the New York senator who sponsored it. The Wagner Act
guaranteed workers’ rights to organize into unions and prohibited
unfair business practices, such as firing union members.
The Wagner Act also upheld collective bargaining, or the right
of a union to negotiate wages and benefits for all of its members. A
new National Labor Relations Board required employers to participate
in collective bargaining with unions. Largely due to the Wagner Act,
union membership tripled during the 1930s.
Workers gained additional benefits with the 1938 passage of the
Fair Labor Standards Act. The new law set minimum wages at
25 cents per hour and maximum weekly work hours at 44. It also
established time-and-a-half payment for overtime work and put an
end to child labor in some businesses.
L2
Vocabulary Builder Before teaching
this section, preteach the High-Use
Words minimum and fundamental,
using the strategy on TE p. T21.
Key Terms Have students complete the
See It–Remember It chart for the Key
Terms in this chapter.
■
Read Social Security and Lasting Labor
Reforms with students using the Idea
Wave strategy (TE, p. T24).
■
Ask: What is the goal of the Social
Security program? (Social Security provides a pension for retired people, aid to
dependent children to help them stay out of
poverty, unemployment insurance for those
that have lost their jobs, and financial aid for
the disabled.)
■
In order to help students better understand the role of Frances Perkins in labor
reform, assign the worksheet Frances
Perkins (1882–1965). Review the causes
advocated by Secretary Perkins and the
effect her work had on children and
working people.
Vocabulary Builder
minimum (MIHN ah muhm)
adj. smallest or least required or
allowed
A Powerful New Union In 1935, John L. Lewis, head of the
United Mine Workers, formed the Committee for Industrial Organization, later renamed the Congress of Industrial Organizations
(CIO). The CIO was an umbrella organization consisting of many
other unions. The CIO differed from the older American Federation
of Labor (AFL).
The AFL organized member unions by their skills. However,
Lewis thought that organizing unions differently would give workers
more bargaining power. The CIO combined all the workers in
a particular industry, skilled and nonskilled alike. This policy opened up union
membership to more women and African
Americans, many of whom worked in
unskilled positions.
In 1936, the United Auto Workers—a
member union of the CIO—launched a
sit-down strike at the nation’s largest auto
factory. In a sit-down strike, workers
stay in the factory but stop production.
After six weeks, the strikers won their
demands for higher wages and shorter
hours. The Supreme Court later ruled sitdown strikes illegal.
A Sit-Down Strike
The sit-down strike was a new
labor tactic in the 1930s. These
auto workers are literally sitting
down on the job—on unused
car seats. Critical Thinking:
Evaluate Information Why do
you think sit-down strikes were an
effective means of protest?
Teaching Resources, Unit 8,
Frances Perkins (1882–1965), p. 22
■
Ask: How were the AFL and CIO different? (The AFL organized members by
their skills, but the CIO organized members
by industry regardless of skill.)
Independent Practice
Have students begin to fill in the Study
Guide for this section.
How did the Wagner Act
protect workers?
Monitor Progress
Section 4 Legacy of the New Deal 791
Use the information below to teach students this section’s high-use words.
As students fill in the Notetaking Study
Guide, circulate to make sure students
understand the importance of Social Security and labor reforms during the Great
Depression. Provide assistance as needed.
High-Use Word
Definition and Sample Sentence
minimum, p. 791
adj. smallest or least required or allowed
The minimum age for the President is 35 years.
Evaluate Information Sit-down strikes
fundamental,
p. 793
adj. basic; essential; most important
Freedom of speech is one of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the
Constitution.
The Wagner Act guaranteed
the workers’ right to form unions and
protected them against unfair business
practices such as firing unionized workers.
Answers
prevented factories from operating.
Chapter 23 791
Cause and Effect
Scorecard on the New
Deal
CAUSES
p. 792
Instruction
■
Have students read Scorecard on the
New Deal. Remind students to look for
support of the Section Focus Question.
■
Ask: How did the New Deal change the
role of government? (It gave the government a bigger role in the nation’s economy.)
■
Ask: What New Deal projects do Americans still benefit from today? (Possible
answers: Bridges, dams, parks, electricity in
rural areas.)
Independent Practice
Have students continue filling in the Study
Guide for this section.
Monitor Progress
■
■
■
!
The gap between rich and poor Americans widens.
Industries decline when people cannot afford new items.
!
Margin buying leads to inflated stock prices.
!
The stock market crashes in 1929.
!
Banks fail because people cannot repay their loans.
!
L2
The economic collapse
known as the Great
Depression had multiple
causes. Its effects reached
every American.
(a) Interpret Charts Identify
one economic cause of
the Great Depression.
(b) Analyze Cause and
Effect In what way are
the effects of the Great
Depression and the New
Deal still felt today?
THE GREAT DEPRESSION
EFFECTS
!
Millions of people lose their jobs, farms, and property.
!
The banking system nears collapse.
Many businesses become bankrupt.
!
!
FDR institutes New Deal legislation to promote economic
recovery.
!
The government’s role in social welfare increases.
As students complete the Notetaking
Study Guide, circulate to make sure students understand the importance of
arguments in favor of and against the
New Deal. Provide assistance as needed.
Scorecard on the New Deal
The Social Security Act and other reforms permanently enlarged
the role of the federal government. However, not everyone agreed
that the government should take such an active approach to social
problems. The debate over the New Deal continues to this day.
Tell students to fill in the last column of
the Reading Readiness Guide. Probe for
what they learned that confirms or
invalidates each statement.
Arguments Against the New Deal Since the 1930s, critics
have charged that the New Deal gave too much power to the federal
government. They argue that government programs threaten both
individual freedom and free enterprise. Herbert Hoover warned:
Have students go back to their Word
Knowledge Rating Form. Rerate their
word knowledge and complete the last
column with an example.
shall have a society based upon ordered liberty
“andEithertheweinitiative
of the individual, or we shall have a
planned society that means dictation, no matter what you
call it or who does it. There is no halfway ground.
”
Teaching Resources, Unit 8,
Reading Readiness Guide, p. 19; Word
Knowledge Rating Form, p. 15
—Herbert Hoover, speech, June 10, 1936
Evaluate Long-Term
Effects
Evaluate the long-term
effects of the New Deal, as viewed
by its critics.
Such critics favor a return to the tradition of laissez faire, which stated
that the government should interfere with the economy as little as
possible.
Critics of the New Deal also worried about a massive increase in
the nation’s debt. To pay for his programs, FDR had resorted to a
policy of deficit spending. Deficit spending is a situation in which
the government spends more money than it receives in taxes.
792 Chapter 23 The Great Depression and the New Deal
Answer
Reading Charts (a) Possible answer: the
widening gap between rich and poor
(b) Many new programs established during the New Deal continue today.
Reading Skill Critics of the New
Deal believe that these programs resulted
in increased government involvement in
business, increased the nation’s debt, and
ultimately failed to end the Great Depression.
792 Chapter 23
Differentiated Instruction
L3 Advanced Readers
L3 Gifted and Talented
Debating Tell students to suppose that it
is the mid-1930s and that the U.S. Congress
is debating whether it is a good idea for
one of the New Deal programs to build
swimming pools. Organize students into
two groups. One group should argue for
the passing of the act and the other should
argue against it. Students should consider
the cost of maintaining a swimming pool,
whether or not they would be valued in all
communities, as well as the potential for
creating jobs within each community.
Have groups develop evidence using the
library or Internet sources for their position on the issue and then hold the debate
in class.
Finally, critics pointed out that the New Deal failed to fulfill its
most fundamental goal. FDR’s programs did not end the Great
Depression. Full economic recovery would not come until 1941,
when the United States began producing goods in preparation for
entering a new world war.
Vocabulary Builder
fundamental (fuhn duh MEHN tahl)
adj. basic; essential; most
important
pointed out that FDR’s active approach eased many problems. It
employed millions of jobless people, ended the banking crisis,
reformed the stock market, saved poor families from losing their
homes, and improved working conditions. New Deal programs built
dams and bridges, preserved 12 million acres of national parkland,
brought electricity to rural America, and sponsored the creation of
lasting works of art.
For many Americans, the New Deal restored their faith in
government. They felt that their government would take care of
them. Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt received millions of letters
from admirers. One writer said, “I have always felt like you and your
wife and your children were as common as we were.” In countless
homes, FDR’s picture held a place of honor.
Check Your Progress
Comprehension
and Critical Thinking
1. (a) Identify What were the
main provisions of the Social
Security Act?
(b) Link Past and Present Why
is Social Security still important
today?
2. (a) Describe How was the
organization of the CIO different
from that of the AFL?
(b) Identify Benefits How
might the organization of the CIO
have made it more effective in
negotiating with companies on
behalf of workers?
Reading Skill
3. Evaluate Long-Term Effects
Reread “Arguments for the New
Deal” on this page. Evaluate the
long-term effects of the program,
as viewed by its supporters.
Key Terms
Complete each of the following
sentences so that the second part
further explains the first part and
clearly shows your understanding of
the key term.
4. Union and company representatives sit down together in
collective bargaining, _____.
5. Many people fear a government
might hurt the economy through
deficit spending, _____.
L2
Teaching Resources, Section
Quiz, p. 28
To further assess student understanding,
use the Progress Monitoring Transparency.
Progress Monitoring Transparencies,
Chapter 23, Section 4
Reteach
L1
If students need more instruction, have
them read this section in the Interactive
Reading and Notetaking Study Guide and
complete the accompanying question.
Summarize one argument against the New Deal.
Section 4
Assess Progress
Have students complete Check Your
Progress. Administer the Section Quiz.
Arguments for the New Deal Supporters of the New Deal
Looking Back and Ahead Admirers of the New Deal
said that people’s faith in FDR helped American democracy survive
the Great Depression. By contrast, several nations in Europe and
Asia turned from democracy to dictatorship. In the next chapter, you
will see how the rise of dictators led to World War II.
Assess and Reteach
Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt
For: Self-test with instant help
Visit: PHSchool.com
Web Code: mva-8234
6. Social Security was funded by a
payroll tax, _____.
Writing
7. Create a two-column checklist for
a multimedia presentation on a
topic from this section. Insert the
topic at the top of the checklist. In
the left column, list three of these
media types: Music; Videos/DVDs;
Art; Photographs; Computer Presentations; Interviews. In the right
column, describe specific materials
you would explore for each type.
For example: Interviews (left column); Talk to grandmother about
Social Security (right column).
Interactive Reading and
Notetaking Study Guide, Chapter 23,
Section 4 (Adapted Version also available.)
Extend
L3
Have students work in pairs to write a
news report about a new law passed as
part of Roosevelt’s New Deal. Encourage
them to include in the report what the new
law does, its purpose, and any opposing
views about it. Have several students share
their work with the class.
Progress Monitoring Online
Students may check their comprehension of this section by completing the
Progress Monitoring Online graphic
organizer and self-quiz.
Answer
Possible answer: One argument against the New Deal is that it
increased the nation’s debt.
Section 4 Legacy of the New Deal 793
Section
4 Check Your Progress
1. (a) The Social Security Act provided for
pension insurance for retirees, aid for
dependent children, financial aid for the
disabled, and unemployment insurance
for people who had lost their jobs.
(b) Social Security continues to provide
support for millions of Americans.
2. (a) The AFL represented skilled work-
ers, but the CIO represented both skilled
and unskilled workers.
(b) Because the CIO included all work-
ers in an industry, it represented more
segments of employees working for a
company, giving it greater bargaining
power.
3. The New Deal programs lifted millions
of people out of poverty, improved
working conditions, and improved the
country’s infrastructure, while restoring
many Americans’ faith in government.
5. or spending more money than it
receives in taxes.
6. a tax which is deducted directly from
workers’ paychecks.
7. Answers will vary, but students’ topics
should relate to the material in the section, and the media types and materials
they choose should be useful in their
presentations.
4. in which the union bargained on behalf
of all employees as a group.
Chapter 23 Section 4 793