If the current U.S. recession is the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Obama’s plans hold a promise reminiscent of FDR’s New Deal. But just what did the 1930s-era project involve for the country, and especially Chicago? 

Ann Durkin Keating is the chair of the history department at North Central College in Naperville, and a co-editor of The Encyclopedia of Chicago. And Heather Becker is an artist and art historian, and the CEO of the Chicago Conservation Center.

They fill us in on New Deal programs like the Works Progress Administration and Public Works Administration.

Music Button: Zero One, “Glitch”, from the CD Ozone, (Waveform records)