In 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt energetically attacked high unemployment of a three-year long depression and loss of faith in banks and government institutions through emergency actions during his first 100 days and a series of radio addresses. President-elect Biden laid out plans for an equally emergency-driven 100 days in 2021 to take on a pandemic and its economic and social impacts. He used televised briefings to seek national cooperation with his plans and lower the temperature of national political conversations. He is still consciously trying to follow the model of President Roosevelt past the first hundred days as he tries to transform the American economy.

The course will compare the historical situations of 1933 and 2021, examine the extent to which President-elect Biden appears to imitate President Roosevelt, and discuss the relative success of Roosevelt and the relative success of President-elect Biden as events unfold. The crisis of 1933 led to an entirely new American economy under the New Deal and an unprecedented 60 years without a depression or major recession. President Biden also intends to make the first hundred days the beginning of transforming the american economy for the next century.

Important concluding questions will be: (1) How closely does 2021 repeat the problems of 1933? (2) How similar are the strategies used by Roosevelt and Biden? And (3) How likely is the intentional repetition of emergency methods from 1933 and New Deal programs tol work in the very different world of Biden's term as president?

Looking at whether a historical emergency in one century can be the guide for another emergency in a different century points to a practical application of history. Is it a good idea to try to repeat history? Do methods that worked in one emergency work again after nearly 100 years?

Resources: Pictures ands graphics from the FDR Presidential Library and Museum (https://www.fdrlibrary.org/) are used.