President Franklin Roosevelt was a complex and difficult man, and Eleanor Roosevelt was equally complex. Ask several students to address these questions: In what ways was Mrs. Roosevelt important to the success of the Democratic party? In what ways was Mrs. Roosevelt an example of success in her own right, one who used her post as wife of the president to advance an agenda independent of that of the party? After FDR's death, of course, Mrs. Roosevelt's capacity for leadership in the United Nations and elsewhere stood out clearly. Nevertheless, until nearly the end of her life, many of her detractors disapproved of her having moved beyond the earlier tradition of president's wife as White House hostess. If students' opinions are known to the instructor, consider selecting two students to represent pro-feminist and anti-feminist points of view. Ask each one to make a brief statement to the class and provide opportunity for class response. The literature on Mrs. Roosevelt is large. Her own This I Remember (1949) is important. Also consult Joan Hoff-Wilson and Marjorie Lightman, editors, Without Precedent: The Life and Career of Eleanor Roosevelt (1984); Joseph P. Lash, Love, Eleanor: Eleanor Roosevelt and Her Friends (1982); Lois Scharf, Eleanor Roosevelt: First Lady of American Liberalism (1987); as well as titles in the chapter bibliography.

Analyzing the nature of the New Deal is key to understanding it. Not only is it interesting for students in itself, but it can also serve as an example of governmental complexity. Did the New Deal exhibit excessive governmental power? Was it merely a pastiche of compromises? Was it an agent of broad social change? Pose such questions to several students. Ask them to make a brief group report to the class and then open the matter for general discussion. See Morton Keller, editor, The New Deal: What Was It? (1963), one of the American Problem Studies Series; and Edwin C. Rozwenc, editor, The New Deal: Revolution or Evolution? (revised edition; 1959), one of the Problems in American Civilization Series. See also Steve Fraser and Gary Gerstle, editors, The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order, 1930-1980 (1989).

President Roosevelt's attack on the Supreme Court in 1937 was at best an embarrassment. Or perhaps it revealed unconscionable arrogance on the part of the president. Ask one or two students to review Alfred Haines Cope and Fred Krinsky, editors, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Supreme Court (1952), also one of the Problems in American Civilization Series. Ask the students to consider the nature of the New Deal with the insight that they have gained from this review.

In many parts of the United States, there are relics of New Deal projects involving writers and artists. If that is true of the community in which your college or university is located, ask several students to do some local-history study. Have them look at the murals in the local post office or movie theater, or examine the writings of some local figure. Students will gain a sense of the immediacy and reality of the New Deal period, now more than a half-century away. For background suggest William F. MacDonald, The Federal Relief Administration and the Arts (1969), and Richard McKinzie, The New Deal for Artists (1973).

Most of those who lived through the depression would not want to repeat it. Students who come from backgrounds of poverty, or at least of hardship, will understand depression-era reminiscences. The problem will be one of fully grasping how widespread the disaster was. Ask students to collect two reminiscences apiece of depression hardship. They may seek them out in their reading or obtain them from elderly friends and relatives. Select a few of the best for presentation to the class. Recognize the existence of depressed pockets in the contemporary economy by drawing parallels with the present. Consult Studs Terkel, Hard Times (1970); Harvey Green, The Uncertainty of Everyday Life, 1915-1945 (1993); and Richard Lowitt and Maureen Beasley, editors, One Third of a Nation: Lorena Hickok Reports on the Great Depression (1981); and Bernard Sternsher and Judith Sealander, editors, Women Women of Valor: The Struggle Against the Great Depression as Told in Their Own Life Stories (1990).

Is it right for government to step in and interfere with the market mechanism? Is it right for government to regulate what might be left to free enterprise? If so, under what conditions? Ask students to consider the matter in these terms: If you lived in the 1930s, would you support Roosevelt or Landon or Norman Thomas or Townsend or Long--or another? Write a brief statement and be prepared to defend your point of view in class.