This seminar will explore the New Deal era by examining key policies, programs, proposals, and individuals (other than FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt) that defined the period between FDR’s first inauguration in 1933 and his third in 1941.
According to one historian writing in 1962, the years from 1933 through 1938 “marked a greater upheaval in American institutions than in any similar period in our history, save perhaps for the impact on the South of the Civil War.” Another historian labeled “the character of the New Deal as overwhelmingly positive,” in contrast to the “pervasively negative” character of the Republican ascendancy of the 1920s. This same historian described the New Deal as not a new game, but as “a reshuffle of cards that had been too long stacked against the workingman, and the farmer and the small shopkeeper.” Nevertheless, the “Roosevelt Revolution” encountered vigorous opposition, both philosophical and political. Still, many of its programs and institutions endure, at least for the time being. Revisiting the New Deal and those who shaped its initiatives will provide some context for the issues and debates the nation faces today.
As background for the seminar, participants are urged to read at least one of the histories of the era listed in the linked handout.
P.O. Box 105 · 202 Plain Road · North Hatfield, MA 01066 · 1(413) 542-4031