Ideas for Research and Project Topics

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You have been assigned to do a research paper about some person or event from the Roosevelt era. Your teacher may have given you a topic, or he or she may have asked you to come up with one of your own choosing. The following list will provide you with a wide variety of broad topic ideas.

Once you have selected a topic, you can Contact the Education Specialist at the Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum's Education Department for primary source information about these topics.

Franklin Roosevelt

• As a boy
• As tree farmer
• As Assistant Secretary of the Navy
• As the Governor
• As the President
• His collections: books, ships, stamps
• His challenges with polio
• His campaigns
• His four terms
• His management style
• His legacy
• His speeches
• The Presidential Library System

Eleanor Roosevelt

• As a girl
• As a young woman
• As First Lady of the United States
• As 'First Lady of the World'
• Her work with the Red Cross
• Her work with the United Nations
• Her work on civil rights
• Her work on women's issues
• Her home at Val-Kill
• Her travels
• Her My Day column
• Her books
• Her legacy

The Great Depression

• The Banking Crisis
• The Dust Bowl
• The New Deal Programs
• Social Security
• CCC - Civilian Conservation Corps
• TVA - Tennessee Valley Authority
• AAA - Agricultural Adjustment Act
• NRA - National Recovery Administration
• FDIC - Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
• WPA - Works Project Administration
• FSA - Farm Security Administration
• Fireside chats
• Judicial Reorganization Plan (Court Packing Plan)

World War II

• Pearl Harbor
• Japanese American internment
• Lend-Lease
• The Four Freedoms
• Wartime Conferences
• FDR and Churchill
• The Rise of Hitler
• The Manhattan Project
• D-Day
• The Tuskegee Airmen
• The Home Front
• Propaganda Posters
• The United Nations.