New Deal Today: Policy & Politics

News items that speak to the resurgence of interest in the New Deal as a touchstone for public policy and political action today.

• Today’s Conservative Movement Has Roots in the Capitalist Backlash Against the New Deal, An Interview with historian Kim Phillips-Fein

  • February 10, 2023
  • Living New Deal

  By Daniel DenvirJacobin.com, December 16, 2023 During the New Deal, right-wing business people were furious that their authority was being challenged in the workplace and in society. So they started organizing. And that’s the origin story of the modern conservative movement. Read the piece here. read more
• A Civilian Climate Corps Is Broadly Popular

  • February 10, 2023
  • Living New Deal

  Data for Progress, January 5, 2023 On April 5, 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed an executive order establishing the Civilian Conservation Corps, enlisting over 3 million young men to conserve America’s public lands. Ninety years later, President Biden has a chance to continue the legacy of the New Deal. New polling read more
• The Less Talked About Part of Kevin McCarthy’s Deal With Republican Radicals

  • February 10, 2023
  • Living New Deal

  By Jamelle BouieThe New York Times, January 10, 2023 Conservative opposition to social insurance goes back to the New Deal itself. Social insurance and the welfare state are more than a ballast against the winds of capitalism; they are part of the foundation of self-government and the cornerstone of democratic citizenship Read read more
• History is present: FDR’s floating White House bobs in the waters off Jack London Square

  • February 10, 2023
  • Living New Deal

  By Carl NolteSan Francisco Chronicle, January 21, 2023 USS Potomac, once Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidential yacht, moored at Jack London Square, Oakland, California. Photo by: Chris Wood. Source. The USS Potomac had a a big role in the New Deal. It was not just a yacht. A lot of serious presidential work was read more
• Favorite New Deal Site: Westmoreland Park

  • January 30, 2023
  • Kurt Feichtmeir

  Tell Us About Your Favorite New Deal Site Westmoreland Park, Portland, Oregon Westmoreland Park is four blocks from my home in Portland, Oregon. I enjoy it often and recently discovered it was created from swampy farmland by hundreds of WPA laborers between 1936 and 1939. A distinctive feature of the park is read more
• The New Deal Turns 90

  • January 17, 2023
  • Susan Ives

    The New Deal Turns 90 The nation was spiraling into the worst economic crisis in its history when presidential candidate Franklin Roosevelt pledged "a new deal for the American people.” Upon taking office in 1933, FDR launched an all-out mobilization to beat back the Great Depression. “Neither before nor since have read more
• The WPA in and Around Rochester, NY

  • January 8, 2023
  • Living New Deal

  Drawing on materials at the Monroe County Archives, "The WPA in and Around Rochester, NY" is a class project that seeks to map the legacy of the WPA in Rochester. The project is led by Dr. Mark Rice, professor of American studies at St. John Fisher College, and is part read more
• Favorite New Deal Site: Does a Shelf of Books Qualify as Public Works?

  • October 25, 2022
  • David Kipen

  Tell Us About Your Favorite New Deal Site Does a Shelf of Books Qualify as Public Works? My favorite WPA project isn't a road or a bridge or even a school. It's not a library, but you're getting warmer. The Santa Monica Main Library has a gorgeous Stanton Macdonald-Wright mural that read more
• Video: In Landscape Harmony: New Deal Bridges for the Oregon Coast

  • October 19, 2022
  • Lisa Thompson

  Oregon national associate Judith Kenny and videographers Logan Duello and Alex Hilton recently produced a short video on the five Public Works Administration (PWA) bridges that completed the Oregon Coast Highway (Hwy 101). The five bridges serve the southwest coast and are valued by many as spectacular in their beauty read more
• Painting the Mail: Post Office Art of the New Deal

  • October 1, 2022
  • Living New Deal

  Tuesday, November 15, 2022 5pm-6pm PST (8pm EST)with Barbara Bernstein The New Deal didn’t just decorate post offices. It celebrated them. Murals, bas reliefs and sculptures depict letters being written, mailed, sorted, transported, delivered, read and shared. These artworks are increasingly imperiled as post offices are sold and repurposed. Barbara Bernstein, read more