(c) Disney

"So first of all let me assert my firm belief that the only      thing we have to fear is fear itself."-                                 First Inaugural Address, President Franklin Roosevelt

In March of 1933 Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office.  Americans had elected FDR because he believed that the United States could overcome the Depression.  His first speech as President restated this belief and gave people hope.  Roosevelt managed to make Americans believe, if only for a moment, that the Depression was a state of mind.   Of course, words were not going to end an economic disaster.  Roosevelt knew he had to DO something about the Depression.  So he immediately pushed relief program after relief program through congress.  People did not see immediate improvement, in the country's economic status, during or after the first "hundred days" of Roosevelt's term.  However, they did believe that the economy WOULD improve.  They were in fact looking for a way to express the hope they now felt.  A way to do so presented itself just as the "hundred days" were ending.....

The Three Little Pigs is a Silly Symphony Cartoon.  Music was the star of this series, which allowed Walt's animators to experiment and to produce a higher and higher quality of animation.  Many of these shorts (including The Three Little Pigs) won Academy Awards.  Yet, while the making of the shorts educated animators, the shorts themselves were made strictly to entertain.  However, something happened with The Three Little Pigs.  People everywhere began singing "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?".  Various versions of the song shot to number one on the charts, including a Swing version that bands played to fill the dance floors.  People decided that the short was a reflection of the hope the new President had given the people of The United States.  The Wolf became the Depression, the foolish Pigs were business and the people, the Practical Pig was Roosevelt.  The cartoon became such a powerful symbol of overcoming the Depression that people demanded to see it over and over.  Eventually The Three Little Pigs became the most popular short cartoon of all time.  The American people now had a way to express their President's, and now their belief, that the Depression would someday end.  

I have students watch The Three Little Pigs so that they understand how important hope is in difficult times.  The Great Depression came close to overwhelming the American people.  If they had not been able to choose a new leader, a leader who could provide them with hope, our system of government might have collapsed.  Since FDR did provide hope, he may have saved our system of government.  He may also have saved the world.  The United State's commitment to Democracy would become VERY important in just a few short years....

                NEXT:  The 1940's- Disney goes to War

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