MetaFilter posts tagged with FDR

December 5, 1933: The Good Old Days are Back Again

churl — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:14:38 -0800

He was elected at the nadir of the worst depression in history; 25% of the workforce was unemployed, two million were homeless. Yet in the face of this, he made us an optimistic and far-reaching New Deal, creating among other programs a federal minimum wage, social security, and the FDIC. He pulled us out of dire financial straits and, when our country was called upon to fight in World War II, he brought us to the cusp of victory. In his unprecedented thirteen years in office, he cemented his undisputed legacy as one of the greatest presidents in American history. But before he could achieve any of this, Franklin Delano Roosevelt had a promise to keep — a promise to the "wet vote," whose indispensable support he had called upon in 1932 during his first presidential campaign when he promised to repeal the 18th Amendment and end Prohibition. And thus, as legend has it, immediately after his first fireside chat from the White House in March 1933, Roosevelt turned to his two top aides and said, "I think it's time for a beer." And yes, indeed, it was. Of course, legalizing beer was only the beginning. As Roosevelt was a man of his word, it quickly came to pass that on this very date, December 5th, in 1933, Congress ratified the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, ended Prohibition, and our patron saint FDR made the toast heard 'round the world: "What America needs now," he said, "is a drink." Today, on the 77th anniversary of that momentous event, let us all raise a glass to that wise and forward-looking man, whose decision ultimately did more than just create 500,000 new jobs: "You saved the very foundation of our Government. No man can tell where we would have gone, or to what we would have fallen, had not this repeal been brought about." In 1933, we celebrated by raising a glass of Miller High Life, Stag, Pabst Blue Ribbon [Previously], Hamms [2] [3], National Bohemian, Old Falstaff, Schmidt's, Blatz, or Budweiser. Of course, today we have a cornucopia of choices, in both our selection of booze and our enjoyment of its oft-sublime advertisements. Please enjoy these carefully selected and hand-distilled ads for Johnnie Walker [2] [3], Jameson, Bushmills, Glenfiddich, Jim Beam, Wild Turkey, Bailey's [2], Absolut [2] [3], Smirnoff [2], Stolichnaya [2], or, if you'd like, you can stick to beer with Guinness [2] [3] [4], Red Stripe, Carlton Draught, or Stella Artois [2]. Cheers and happy repeal day to you, in loving memory of Franklin Delano mother fucking Roosevelt. Please imbibe responsibly.

"Our greatest primary task is to put people to work."

Miko — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:58:52 -0800

Bridge to Somewhere: Lessons from the New Deal, an American RadioWorks documentary, chronicles Roosevelt's recovery-through-work programs (the CCC, the WPA, and the PWA) and their lasting impact on America's infrastructure. Rich with oral histories and actualities.

Universal Newsreels

Kattullus — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:24:39 -0800

More than 600 Universal Newsreels at Internet Archive, both whole and partial reels (the same collection, with a few more newsreels is also on YouTube but it's in lower quality). Newsreels were short collections of current events that ran before feature films. They ran from the start of the film era up into the 1960s. This collection goes from the early 30s through the mid 60s. Here are a few interesting ones: Eleanor Roosevelt tells a joke, 1935 car industry workers strike, Australian who was orphaned in China and raised by Chinese parents returns to Australia, FDR inaugurated, Enos the chimpanzee goes into space and returns to Earth, Vietnam War protest marches in New York, San Francisco and Rome, Busby Babes plane crash, Gagarin hugged by Kruschev, Truman brings the funny, Seattle be-in and Nuremberg trials.

Wasting Away in Hooverville

homunculus — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:35:20 -0800

Quit Lying About Roosevelt! "Amity Shlaes, the GOP's Great Depression philosopher-queen, couldn't be more dangerously wrong." [Via]

Greatest Achievements of American Socialism

homunculus — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:40:43 -0800

Great achievements in American socialism: A slide show of two dozen excellent things the federal government bought with your money.

The First 100 Days

Cochise — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:39:39 -0800

Oh those vaunted "first 100 days," they are finally upon us. Roosevelt's legendary time period has long been applied to new administrations, but never so emphatically or with such hope as to the Obama administration. And now you can follow them! For commentary, there's The First 100 Days, for mainstream media there's Obama's First 100 Days, for a comparison between old and new there 100 Days: Starting the Job, From FDR to Obama, for new media there's Obama's First 100 Days, and finally, for a government perspective there's First 100 Days. I smell an idea for an ironic t-shirt...

A few words from a beloved U.S. President on the banking crisis

spock — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:47:09 -0800

On the Oct. 7th Daily Show , Sarah Vowell mentioned that she is so desperate for Presidential leadership that she listened to FDR's Fireside Chats (from the Great Depression of the 1930s) and felt a little better. Beginning March 4th, 1933, and running through March 1st, 1945 FDR's fireside chats were a staple in American Homes. The news of the day, brought to you directly from the commander in chief himself. These are those broadcasts. (#2 is his first, on the banking crisis.)

This deal here is new

dersins — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:55:46 -0800

"New Deal Programs: Selected Library of Congress Resources was created to serve as a starting point for research using Library of Congress collections of New Deal program materials." Includes links to numerous collections of digitized materials, including photos, posters, music, manuscripts and more. Some of these individual sites have been linked here before, but the "New Deal Programs" portal in the first link is the first time the individual collections have been...uh... collected by the LOC.

Clipperton or bust

mdonley — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:29:07 -0800

1200 kilometers southwest of Acapulco lies the only atoll in the eastern Pacific: one of France's most isolated overseas possessions. First named for an English pirate/buccaneer/privateer, written about here by one John Harris in 1744, the island has changed hands numerous times: claimed by France as part of Tahiti, claimed by the US under the Guano Islands Act of 1856. The island remained uninhabited until 1906, when a British and Mexican mission began mining guano (still in demand today, though sources can now be found a little closer to home). The atoll was thought to have been polished off entirely by an earthquake rumored to have sunk the islands outright in August of 1909. Sovereignty over the atoll passed back and forth between France and Mexico again until the Vatican, given the task of arbitrating the dispute, passed the decision to the Emperor of Italy, who on January 28, 1931, decided that Clipperton was French: JSTOR link here. (Full citation if you've got access: Edwin D. Dickinson, "The Clipperton Island Case". The American Journal of International Law, Vol. 27, No. 1 (Jan., 1933), pp. 130-133). Since then, Clipperton has been the object of FDR's attention, who visited en route to the Galapagos in the hopes of creating a seaplane stop en route to Australia, an amateur radio enthusiast destination, a new destination for commercial diving operations (huge album of photos!), and most recently a scientific research base, chronicled for English speakers in a 2003 National Geographic expedition with Lance Milbrand, and televised for French viewers on the program Expedition: Clipperton, which includes a fantastic, if Francophone, photo album of discoveries made on the island, in its surrounding waters, and in its freshwater lagoon. Google Books possesses a copy of a recent history of the island, which goes into the motivation for FDR's visit to the island in 1938. Here's a shot of some leftover American ammunition. Given the island's massive exclusive economic zone - which covers an area nearly the size of metropolitan France itself - the place will certainly be on the radar from now on. And no post about a isolated, uninhabited tropical island in 2008 would be complete without the Wikipedia article that I found which started this little adventure today, and a link to a relevant Flickr photo set...in this case, a set of amateur radio operators.

The Hiding of the President

digaman — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 10:10:18 -0800

Keep Bush away from the press. Joe Scarborough (in the news lately for asking rude questions about the President's intelligence) opines that "If George Bush has lost his ability to give a commanding presser, then stage manage him differently. Play to his strengths... Show him only in settings where he is in control." Curiously, while Bush's press conferences have become unsetllingly less coherent in recent days -- even for him -- the so-called liberal media and even the blogosphere have barely mentioned it (perhaps in the spirit of preserving the dignity of the office, like FDR's wheelchair?) Example: watch this video -- what happens at 1:34 or so, right before the President abruptly terminates the questioning? Will Bush in his twilight years, as Foxborough advises, become like Ronald Reagan, protected from public humiliation by his faithful staff?

matteo — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 07:45:41 -0800

Teenage Hoboes in the Great Depression. During the Great Depression over 250,000 young people left home and began riding freight trains or hitchhiking across America. Most of them were between 16 and 25 years of age. Many finally found work and shelter through the Civilian Conservation Corps, a government relief project that Franklin D. Roosevelt established in 1933 as part of the New Deal. From 1933 to 1942, CCC enrollees built new roads, strung telephone wires, erected fire towers, and planted approximately 3 billion trees. By 1935, the program was providing employment for more than 500,000 young men.

The Four Freedoms

kirkaracha — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 16:41:54 -0800

We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. In his State of the Union address on January 6, 1941 [mp3 of whole speech; Real audio links], President Franklin D. Roosevelt identified four essential human freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear (essays from the Carnegie Council's September 2005 Study Guide to the Four Freedoms). Roosevelt's speech inspired a series of paintings by Norman Rockwell. [more inside]

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

dilettante — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 15:46:21 -0800

The New Deal Network from the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute has articles, photographs, and other collections of material about the Great Depression and the New Deal. There are selections from the slave narratives collected by the Federal Writers Project, an account of the Harlan County mine wars from John Dos Passos, and enough stuff to ~~waste time~~ keep busy for days.

When Fascism Comes to America...

rzklkng — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 07:17:04 -0800

Corporate Interest Plot to Overthrow US Government. Approximately 72-years ago, the predecessor to the House Un-American Affairs Committee, known as the McCormack-Dickstein Committee, investigated claims made by Marine Corps General Smedley Butler that a vast right-wing conspiracy funded by the American Liberty League (Wiki) (funded by US Steel, Goodyear, DuPont, Morgan-Stanley, Chase-Manhattan, Remington Arms, and others) with backing from some of America's wealthiest citizens (such as Al Smith and Irene DuPont) and various Wall Street interests (1930s American Business seemed to be pro-fascism as a hedge against communists and socialists to protect their own wealth in the face of the Great Depression). Their goal was to overthrow Franklin Delano Roosevelt and install a military dictatorship in order to stop FDR's New Deal and its "redistribution of wealth" and to enact fascist policies to protect the economy and their investments. [more inside]

A date which will live in infamy

Mayor Curley — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 08:09:29 -0800

December seventh, nineteen forty one. 64 Years ago today, 2,471 people were killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In response, one of our greatest leaders made one of his greatest speeches. And you can listen to it here.

"Vote for Lindbergh or Vote for War"

matteo — Tue, 28 Sep 2004 10:58:09 -0800

"Fear presides over these memories, a perpetual fear." He is one of America's great novelists, but you don't expect Philip Roth to be barreling up the best-seller list with a book that hasn't even been published yet. And yet "The Plot Against America" is in the top 3 at amazon.com. It spins a what-if scenario in which the isolationist and anti-Semitic hero Charles Lindbergh runs for president as a Republican in 1940 and defeats F.D.R. "Keep America Out of the Jewish War", reads a button worn by Lindbergh supporters rallying at Madison Square Garden. And so he does: he signs nonaggression pacts with Germany and Japan that will keep America at peace while the rest of the world burns. The Lindbergh administration hatches a nice plan to prod assimilation of the Jews. Innocuously called Just Folks, it's a relocation program for urban Jews, administered by an Office of American Absorption fronted by an obliging and pompous rabbi of radio celebrity. The teenage Roth character is shipped off to a Kentucky tobacco farm, to finally live among Christians. The book is about American Fascism, but while Roth is no fan of President Bush ("a man unfit to run a hardware store let alone a nation like this one"), he points out that he conceived this book (LATimes registration: sparklebottom/sparklebottom) in December 2000, and that it would be "a mistake" to read it "as a roman à clef to the present moment in America." (more inside)

Happy Thanksgiving or Is It?

jonp72 — Tue, 26 Nov 2002 18:52:53 -0800

Happy Thanksgiving or Is It? In 1939, Franklin Delano Roosevelt responed to pressure from the National Retail Dry Goods Association to move the official date of Thanksgiving back one week to the next-to-last Thursday of the month. FDR hoped that this would enliven the economy by adding one week to the Christmas shopping season, but he received considerable political flak for tampering with what many viewed as a sacred religious holiday. (Thanksgiving is considered sacred even though it only became a national holiday due to lobbying by the editor of a 19th century woman's magazine.) New Deal-era Republicans were especially bothered by the calendar change and one essayist at the American Enterprise Institute still seems to carry a grudge. Congress later resolved the issue by passing a resolution in 1941 that designated Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday of November.