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.

• Danny Glover Speaks Out In Opposition To Destruction Or Covering Of New Deal Murals At George Washington High School

  • August 13, 2019
  • Living New Deal

  For Immediate Release:    August 12, 2019 Contact:  Jon Golinger - for Coalition to Protect Public Art (415) 531-8585Noah Griffin - for Mr. Glover (415) 756-3933News Release DANNY GLOVER SPEAKS OUT IN OPPOSITION TO DESTRUCTION OR COVERING OF NEW DEAL MURALS AT GEORGE WASHINGTON HIGH SCHOOL Today, internationally acclaimed actor, activist and social justice warrior Danny read more
• PRESS RELEASE: S.F. School Board President Stevon Cook Proposes Solution to Dispute Over Controversial Mural

  • August 10, 2019
  • Living New Deal

  PRESS RELEASE  For Immediate ReleaseCONTACT: Laura Dudnick  Office: (415) 241-6565  Cell: (415) 730-0314  Email: [email protected]. School Board President Stevon Cook Proposes  Solution to Dispute Over Controversial Mural“Life of Washington” Mural Could be Preserved by Covering Over It to Make Way for New, Positive ArtworkSan Francisco (August 9, 2019) - The San Francisco Unified School District Board of Education read more
• The San Francisco Heritage Memo to the San Francisco School Board offers Alternatives to Destroying the George Washington High School Murals

  • August 3, 2019
  • Living New Deal

  San Francisco Heritage TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS, BUILDING CONSENSUS, RESOURCES (Submitted to SFUSD on 4.17.19, updated 7.16.19) Read the memo here. read more
• Join our Campaign to Save the George Washington High School Murals from Destruction

  • June 29, 2019
  • Living New Deal

  Washington High - Life of Washington Join our campaign to save the historic WPA murals at the George Washington High School in San Francisco. The members of the SF School Board have voted on June 27 to destroy the murals. The Guardian, the New York Times, and The San Francisco Chronicle have read more
• SF School Board Votes to Remove Arnautoff Murals

  • June 27, 2019
  • Living New Deal

  Despite public opposition, the San Francisco school board voted on Tuesday unanimously to remove the George Washington Arnautoff murals. The art has been the object of controversy for its depiction of slaves and a dead Native American. Find more details about the Board vote in a recent story in the read more
• A New Book Recognizes the Women of the New Deal

  • May 24, 2019
  • Susan Ives

  When millions of Americans lost their jobs, homes, and life savings in the 1930s, Franklin Roosevelt promised them a new deal. A new book, “Women and the Spirit of the New Deal,” reveals the extensive role women played in shaping government’s all-out response to the Great Depression. Inspired by a conference read more
• Eat at Jo's

  • May 24, 2019
  • Peter Hiller

  In the 1930s, the WPA constructed civic buildings that still hold a significant place in history. More than 80 years later, many are still in use, but many have fallen into disrepair or are out of compliance with today’s building codes. So it is especially gratifying when a New Deal read more
• Affectionately, F.D.R.

  • May 24, 2019
  • Deborah Gardner

  Extraordinary letters penned during FDR’s presidency document the warm friendship between Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Margaret “Daisy” Suckley, his distant cousin, friend, and confidant. FDR and Daisy shared a family heritage rooted in the Hudson Valley. Wilderstein, Daisy’s home in Rhinebeck, New York, was less than a dozen miles from Springwood, read more
• Was the New Deal Racist?

  • May 22, 2019
  • Richard A Walker

  Both friends and critics of the New Deal point to actions by President Franklin Roosevelt and the exclusion of African Americans from some programs as evidence that the New Deal was racist. But in order to evaluate the New Deal fairly we have to ask what the country was like read more
• Raising the New Deal Flag in New York City

  • May 22, 2019
  • Margaret W. Crane

  Two hundred New Yorkers gathered at the Center for Architecture on May 7 to kick off a Living New Deal initiative to familiarize New Yorkers with the New Deal’s vast imprint on their city. The reception and panel discussion, “A New Deal for New York City: Looking Back, Looking Forward,” were read more