Pandemics and Public Policy

In this lesson, students will explore two major themes of U.S. History: The impact of war and the mobilization for war on domestic public policy and the federal government’s increased role in response to major public crises like pandemics or the Great Depression. By the end, students will be able to use these historical lenses to evaluate past and current public policy responses to pandemics to evaluate their successes and failures. This lesson is aligned with the NCSS standards and would work for an AP US History class lesson on the New Deal.