75th Anniversary of the New Deal
Center for New Deal Studies

75th Anniversary of the New Deal

March 4, 2008 marks the 75th Anniversary of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s inauguration as president, and the start of a remarkable outburst of reform, known as the Hundred Days.  From March 9 until June 16, 1933, President Roosevelt presided over an unprecedented outpouring of legislation from Congress.  In the midst of the greatest economic calamity the nation had ever faced, the executive and legislative branches joined together to give relief, reform industries, and initiate economic recovery.  Designed to provide Americans with a sense of security, this legislation shored up a failing banking system, created extensive work relief programs, implemented public works projects, and addressed the crises then gripping both the agricultural and industrial sectors of the economy.  Not all of the programs were successful, but the breadth and content of the measures reflected the feeling that the federal government was a government by and for the people, and thus, that government represented a compact, or deal, between the people and their elected representatives.  In addition to its ideological impact, the New Deal left a lasting physical legacy in the form of buildings, bridges, roads, park trails, art work, and many other tangible objects, as well as a generation of people assisted by New Deal programs.

On the 75th Anniversary of this truly historic moment, it is time to reflect on the history, meaning and heritage of Roosevelt’s New Deal. The Center for New Deal Studies at Roosevelt University, along with other groups, organizations, and individuals around the country, will be commemorating the anniversary with a variety of programs in 2008.  Please join us as we celebrate the history of the New Deal, and what is has meant, does mean, and can mean for America and Americans in the 21st century.

For a list of events going on around the country, visit the website of a national coalition organizing New Deal anniversary events, www.newdeal75.org, and the website of the National New Deal Preservation Society: www.newdeallegacy.org.

 

Center for New Deal Studies Events (In Progress)

January 2008:  A History of Public Housing in Chicago website.  The Center for New Deal Studies has launched a website for students and teachers participating in the Chicago Metro History Fair.  This resource guide features an extensive essay, suggestions for questions or specific topics that students may choose to explore, help with sources, tips on analyzing photographs, and more!  Visit the page at: http://www.roosevelt.edu/newdeal/chicago-metro-fair-public-housing.htm.

March 2008:  FDR@75 exhibit, Michigan Avenue Lobby, Roosevelt University.  A series of banners featuring documents, artifacts, and photographs trace the highlights of President Roosevelt’s 12 years in office, both in terms of domestic and foreign affairs.  The exhibit is on loan from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum.

March 6, 2008:  Opening Reception for FDR@75 exhibit and Panel Discussion, "Framing the New Deal:  Art & Labor in the Great Depression." 

Opening reception, 5:30-6:15, Michigan Ave. Lobby. 

Panel, 6:30-8:00, "Framing the New Deal:  Art & Labor in the Great Depression," Room 232, Auditorium Building.  Co-sponsored with the Midwest Chapter, National New Deal Preservation Association

Moderator:

Margaret Rung, Director, Center for New Deal Studies and Associate Professor, History, Roosevelt University

Panelists:

Heather Becker, Chief Executive Officer, The Chicago Conservation Center; co-founder of the Midwest Chapter of the National New Deal Preservation Association, and author of Art for the People:  The Rediscovery and Preservation of Progressive and WPA-Era Murals in the Chicago Public Schools, 1904-1943

Susan Weininger, Professor of Art History, Roosevelt University; President, Midwest Chapter, National New Deal Preservation Association, and contributing author to Chicago Modern, 1893-1945:  Pursuit of the New

James Wolfinger, Assistant Professor of History, DePaul University and author of Philadelphia Divided:  Race and Politics in the City of Brotherly Love

March 29.  Join us for a New Deal-related event, sponsored by the Working Women's History Project:   Women and Work:  Honoring Women Who Are Leading the Way, 10:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Kennedy King College: U Building, 740 W. 63rd Street.  Meet pioneers and new leaders in workplace equality, who will share their stories.  Pioneers include the Reverend Addie Wyatt, an international vice-president of the United Packinghouse Workers of America, a labor liaison to Dr. King in the 1950s, and a 1975 recipient of one of Time Magazine's women of the year.  Today's leaders include Roosevelt University's own Jeri Fleming, a VP of Local 391 of the Office and Professional Employees International Union, and winner of the Coalition of Labor Union Women's Florence Criley Award (1999). Free & Open to the Public.  Light refreshments.  For more information, call 773.667.4690.

April 16.  75th Anniversary of the New Deal Film Festival at Columbia College, Film Row Cinema Theater, 1104 S. Wabash Ave., 9:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.   Sponsored by Columbia College.  The festival will feature various New Deal films, many of which have not been shown in public for many, many years.  Throughout the day, experts will comment on the films.  The day will culminate with a viewing of several well-known New Deal documentaries, such as The River, and a panel discussion featuring Tom Nastick, head of public programs at the National Archives & Records Administration, Bruce Kraig, Professor Emeritus of History at Roosevelt University, and others.  For more information click on: New Deal Film Festival, or click on this schedule (pdf).

August/September 2008.  Remembering FDR:  Digital Images of the Joseph M. Jacobs Memorabilia Collection at the Center for New Deal Studies, Roosevelt University.  Join us as the Center and the Library host an event to showcase our newly digitized photographs of this collection of over 3500 objects relating to FDR, the New Deal, Great Depression, and World War Two.  Details to follow.

November 17, 2008.  Roosevelt scholar William Leuchtenburg, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor Emeritus of History, University of North Carolina will give the 16th Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt Distinguished Lecture.  This event will also celebrate Roosevelt University Dedication Day.  Co-sponsored by the Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in Hyde Park, NY.  The lecture, which is still in planning stages, will reflect on the legacy of the New Deal, and its implications for current politics.  Details to follow.

October/November 2008.  The Center for New Deal Studies hopes to sponsor two events at the Chicago Humanities Festival:  a bus tour of WPA murals and a lecture/panel on the built environment.  The 2008 theme for the Festival is “Grand Visions.”  Details to follow, as plans progress.

 

Center for New Deal Studies