Book of the Month – A Third Term For FDR: The Election Of 1940

Brent McKee, The Living New Deal’s Project Historian, recently reviewed John W. Jeffries’ A Third Term For FDR: The Election Of 1940 (University Press of Kansas, 2017). The book is particularly relevant because the bitterness of the recent 2016 election echoed the tension of the 1940 election between Roosevelt and Wendell Wilkie. McKee notes that the book “has the right mix of interesting, often humorous stories, and academic & statistical analysis.” According to McKee, Jeffries found that “voter satisfaction with the New Deal was still high enough in 1940 to have a significant impact on the election and help secure a third victory for FDR.” McKee’s full review is on The Living New Deal website.

Living New Deal Map Reaches a New Benchmark

The Living New Deal now has at least 100 sites for every state and territory. With over 13,000 sites in total, some states have far more than 100 sites. However, it has long been our goal to cross the “100” threshold in every state and territory. The milestone represents a lot of hard work by our team – promotion and gathering of resources for the organization; detective skills in locating, researching and mapping sites; and dissecting obscure state-level government reports and publications. Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, we are indebted to our contributors across the country who submit sites and information to our website. Thank you and congratulations!

Gray Brechin’s Upcoming Talks in the San Francisco Bay Area

Gray Brechin, founder and Project Scholar of the Living New Deal, is giving two talks in the Bay Area in early December. First, on December 5 from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm, he will be the featured speaker at the Exhibition Program for the Victor Arnautoff exhibit at San Francisco State’s J. Paul Leonard Library. Arnautoff was a leading artist in San Francisco in the 1930s, whose best known work is the mural “City Life” located at Coit Tower. Then, on December 6 at 12:00 pm, Brechin will speak at the San Jose Museum of Art. He will discuss how the New Deal left behind an enormous legacy of art because of Roosevelt’s belief that the arts were fundamental to any civilization worthy of the name.

Fight to Save Harlem Post Office

The Postal Service announced plans to close and sell the College Station Post Office in Harlem. The College Station Post Office was funded by the Public Works Administration and built by the Treasury Department in 1937. The Postal Service is looking to relocate to a new facility on Striver’s Row on 138th Street. The Postal Service has attempted to sell the College Station location since 2009 but the community successfully blocked the attempts. Community members and the New York Metro Area Postal Union are fighting the most recent effort. The Postal Service has closed post offices nationwide due to insufficient funding from Congress, excluding the public from many fine New Deal buildings and murals. Public comment period is open until November 10, 2017. Email [email protected] for details.

Gray Brechin Speaking in NYC

Gray Brechin, the Living New Deal’s founder and Project Scholar, will be speaking in New York City at a public program hosted by the National Jobs for All Coalition: “A New ‘New Deal’ for NYC and the USA.” He will join other New Deal scholars and speakers at The New School (Theresa Lang Auditorium) on Friday, October 27, 5-8 pm. On Saturday, October 28, Columbia Law School will host a strategic planning session for a new New Deal from 10 am to 4 pm. Visit NJFAC.eventbrite.com for more details. Gray will also be speaking at the Gotham Center at CUNY on Thursday, October 26 from 6:30 pm-8:00 pm. He will discuss how federal spending on public works transformed New York City during the Great Depression and how it could again. Visit the Gotham Center for more detail.

National Archives Discoveries

Brent McKee, the Living New Deal’s Project Historian, recently undertook a massive research effort at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington DC, resulting in a trove of New Deal discoveries. He scanned over 8,000 photographs, which will result in approximately 1,200 new sites being added to our online map. Brent also estimates that he found over 2,000 new photographs to add to existing sites on our website that either had no photograph or would benefit from supplemental images. The images have also been used for our recently created New Deal Smiles and Working Together pages and will be useful for future projects such as news stories, presentations, and museum exhibits. We are grateful to Brent for his diligence in uncovering these invaluable resources.

LND Website Upgrades

We have been hard at work upgrading The LivingNew Deal website to make it more comprehensive and user-friendly. To that end, you can now use your computer or phone’s location settings to connect to our online map to view New Deal sites near you. To use this feature, go to the map and click on the “Nearby” button on the right side of the screen.  This feature will enable users to discover New Dealsites on-the-go, in your backyard and when traveling to new destinations. Similarly, the website can now generate a list of New Dealsites for particular cities as well as states. The site catalogs approximately 14,000 sites with newsites added daily through our submissions page. Check-out the new features and enjoy the website’s expanded access to New Deal history.  

The Best Possible Life

FDR’s Labor Secretary, Frances Perkins, the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet, wrote: “What was the New Deal anyhow?  Was it a political plot? Was it just a name for a period in history?  Was it a revolution?  To all of those questions I answer, ‘No.’  It was something quite different . . . It was, I think, basically an attitude . . . An attitude that found voice in expressions like…’a government should aim to give all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life.’”

In these times, it’s heartening that so many organizations, institutions, and individuals remain committed to preserving the legacy of the New Deal and advancing it as a model for solving our nation’s economic, social, and environmental problems today. We are grateful to be in their company in this important work, and to you for your continued support. 

Welcome to our New Project Manager, Erin Reding

The Living New Deal has a new Project Manager, Erin Reding.  Erin attended UC Berkeley, where she graduated in 2004 with Highest Honors, Phi Beta Kappa and best student in Geography.  She finished Law School in 2007, then worked for the County of Alameda as Deputy County Counsel and as an attorney with Moscone, Emblidge & Otis in San Francisco. The Manager’s job has grown along with the LND and Erin has the skills to help us grow and prosper in the coming years.

The Amazing Totem Poles of Alaska

Among the most interesting New Deal public works we have ever documented are the Alaska totem poles restored or recarved by Native craftsmen enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Drawing on materials uncovered at the National Archives, we have mapped over 100 totem pole sites. A fascinating primary source is Linn Forrest (1905-1986), the architect who oversaw the restoration under a joint program with the Forest Service. Forrest’s photographs and audio tapes reveal the difficult process of salvaging totem poles from abandoned villages, reviving the art of carving, and preserving Native cultural assets. Thanks to Brent McKee and Elena Ion for their work on this amazing trove of CCC projects.