In 1944, President Franklin Roosevelt proposed a set of priorities he called a “Second Bill of Rights” to shape postwar American society. The rights included in this list came from the experience of the Great Depression and World War II and evolved into new visions of and for the nation in the decades that followed.

Second Bill of Rights – Every American has the right to: 1) a job 2) an adequate wage and decent living 3) a decent home 4) medical care 5) economic protection during sickness, accident, old age, or unemployment 6) a good education

Write an analytical, thesis-based essay that answers the question: To what extent were the hopes and needs of the 1930s and 1940s, as conveyed in the Second Bill of Rights, realized by different groups of Americans by the 1970s?

*** Response should develop a thesis that declares a particular focus or angle on the question, I don’t expect you to be able to cover each point individually, so you will want to spend some time thinking about how to define and limit the scope. You may, for example, choose one or two points to focus and track how they evolved over time, or illustrate how different points became important at different moments, or how these applied differently to different groups of Americans. Be explicit about in how you define the principal “hopes and needs”, as well as what counted as “fulfilling” them.

In your answer you need to analyze at least three primary sources: at least one from the 1930s-40s and one from the 1950s-70s.

Sources: I’ve attached plenty of sources; please try to use some of the ones attached, as well as the ones listed below. If you need to use other primary sources, feel free to do so. Only need 3 primary sources, but feel free to use more or anything useful you find.

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5105 – FDR second inaugural address (1937)

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/8127 – Responses to FDR fireside chat (1933)

https://www.unz.com/print/Scribners-1934oct-00207 – Kiplinger “Why Businessmen Fear Washington” (1934)

https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/beyond-vietnam – King – Beyond Vietnam (1967)

http://web.mit.edu/21h.102/www/Primary%20source%20collections/Civil%20Rights/Carmichael.htm – Carmichael “What we want” (1966)

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mlassite/discussions261/missamerica.html – No More Miss America (1968)

Suggested Talking Points

– Brown vs Board of Education and affirmative action

– Rights of Liberty and Education

– Immigrants who became citizens, and mistreatment against laws (Native americans, internment camps)

– African Americans and continue need to fight for equality

– Continued fight for women’s rights

Try to keep paper to two pages double spaced, but feel free to go longer if needed.