In 1933, the depths of the Great Depression, FDR signed legislation creating the National Recovery Administration (NRA). Its purpose was to eliminate unfair competition; establish a minimum wage and maximum work hours and ensure workers' rights to collective bargaining. In support, many businesses displayed the NRA symbol—the Blue Eagle. In September of that year, more a quarter million people, recruited from every industry, marched down Fifth Avenue in a show of solidarity with the NRA and the New Deal’s economic recovery efforts. New Deal historian William Leuchtenburg, then ten years old, was among the throng. He recalled, “They were saying ‘We do our part’—that the American people were going to be in league with the American government in seeing that the country could lift itself out of the Great Depression."
WATCH: Parade for Prosperity, 1933
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By Brent McKee
The Civilian Conservation Corps and its successful record of preventing and fighting wildfires is virtually absent from wildfire coverage. It’s as if the CCC never existed. But the New Deal’s most popular program was highly active—and effective—at firefighting. READ MORE |
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By Wayne Yanda
Showcasing art on ocean liners did not easily square with the Section’s mission. But in an ambitious experiment—one that was never repeated—the Treasury Section of Fine Arts commissioned New Deal artists to create murals and sculpture for passenger ships. READ MORE
By Nick Taylor
The Living New Deal and countless others long ago crowned Bill the dean of New Deal historians.
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WATCH: Dr. Leuchtenburg in Ken Burns’s “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History.” (2 minutes) |
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 Premiere, Oakland, California
"Your Rose Garden”
A film by Alexis Harte and Josh Peterson
Sunday, March 23, 2025, 12:30pm PST
This short film, inspired by Harte’s original song, is ready for its close up! Join the Living New Deal and the cast, crew and supporters to celebrate the launch of “Your Rose Garden,” an homage to Berkeley’s New Deal landmark. We hope it will inspire a conversation—and solidarity—around what’s happening to our shared Commons—our public lands— under the new “regime.” Your donations will help send the film off to festivals worldwide. FREE. RSVP (Space is limited).
LOCATION: The New Parkway Theater, 474 24th Street, Oakland, CA.
 Lecture and Reception, San Francisco, California
Terra Foundation for American Art
"The New Deal and American Art: Federal Funding and Cultural Democracy During the Great Depression"
with Cultural Historian Erika Doss
Thursday, March 6, 2025, 5-6pm PST
Ninety years ago the federal government was the major patron of American art. This presentation explores how various federal agencies shaped America’s New Deal art projects and the New Deal’s commitment to modern American art and its legacy.
Dr. Erika Doss is a professor of Art History and the Edith O’Donnell Distinguished Chair at University of Texas at Dallas. FREE. REGISTER
LOCATION: Blatner Presentation Space of California College of the Arts, 75 Arkansas Street,
San Francisco, CA.
 New Perspectives Theatre, New York
"It CAN Happen Here!—Hallie Flanagan and the Federal Theater Project”
A Play by Susan Quinn and Dan Jacobs
March 6-9, 13-16, 20-23, 27-30
The story of the Federal Theatre Project, as told in Susan Quinn’s 2008 book, "Furious Improvisation, How the WPA and a Cast of Thousands Made High Art Out of Desperate Times," has inspired a play that tells the story of the FTP’s embattled director during the reactionary assault on the Federal Theater by the House Un-American Activities Committee. The play is a twist on "It Can’t Happen Here," by Sinclair Lewis, first performed by the FTP in 1936. MORE INFO
LOCATION: Culture Lab LIC, 5-25 46th Ave, Long Island City, NY
Living New Deal Webinars
 Living New Deal Webinar
“Hidden History of the New Deal in Florida”
with Dr. Mary Calo and Dr. Keri Watson
Tuesday, March 25, 2025, 5pm PST / 8pm EST
Join the Living New Deal's Mary Okin and Jeff Gold in a conversation with two leading scholars about Florida's New Deal public works and public art. Dr. Keri Watson is an Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Central Florida. Her recent book is Florida’s New Deal Parks and Post Office Murals (History Press, 2024). Dr. Mary Ann Calo is the Batza Professor Emerita of Art and Art History at Colgate University and author of African American Artists and the New Deal Art Projects (Penn State University Press, 2023). FREE. REGISTER
 The Living New Deal, New York Chapter
“The Next Crash?”
with Diana B. Henriques, Dr. Noah Rosenblum
and Kevin Baker
Tuesday, May 6, 2025, 8pm EST, 5pm PST
A series of Supreme Court decisions in the summer of 2024 jeopardized the federal government’s ability to administer almost everything. These included the Security and Exchange Commission’s regulation of America’s financial markets, one of the most hard won and enduring of the New Deal’s reforms. Diana B. Henriques is a distinguished financial journalist and author of The New Deal and FDR’s Fight to Regulate American Capitalism. Her most recent book, Taming the Street: The Old Guard, was a nominee for the Living New Deal Book Award in 2023. Noah A. Rosenblum is an associate professor of law at New York University. He has written extensively on the presidency, administrative law, constitutional law and legal history. Kevin Baker is a historian, journalist and novelist and the director of the New York City Chapter of the Living New Deal. FREE. REGISTER
Exhibitions
 gallupARTS, Gallup, New Mexico
Gallup Launches Virtual New Deal Art Museum
March 28-29, 2025
Gallup’s collection of New Deal architecture, Spanish Colonial-style tinwork, oak furniture, murals, prints, western American paintings and Native art (156 objects in total) is housed in six different locations that are not all publicly accessible. Through a multi-faceted, highly interactive website, gallupARTS hopes to restore the legacy of the New Deal. Come celebrate the “grand opening” of the New Deal Art Virtual Museum with a full day of free tours, talks, music, crafts and family activities. FREE. VIEW THE PROGRAM. Questions: 505-488-2136.
LOCATION: Downtown Gallup, NM.
 Kingsborough Art Museum, Brooklyn, New York
"NEW DEAL AMERICA: Photographs by Arthur Rothstein"
March 26-May 21, 2025
As young government photographer for the Farm Security Administration, Rothstein documented President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal initiatives, aimed at bringing about relief, recovery and reform during the Great Depression. This exhibition was made possible through the support of the Hillman Foundation, Arthur Rothstein Legacy Project, Gage Gallery and Roosevelt University.
LOCATION: KAM, 2001 Oriental Boulevard, Brooklyn, NY
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The 2024 Super Bowl champs, the Philadelphia Eagles, were named, in 1933, to honor Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s National Recovery Administration.
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Some links may limit access for nonsubscribers. Please support local journalism, if you can.
Trump Is Like F.D.R. — Only in Reverse
It’s as though the current administration is running Franklin Roosevelt’s first 100 days in reverse: Instead of rebuilding institutions and public trust at a moment of national peril, it seems to be trying to unravel both — and is creating a moment of national peril.
By Brooke Harrington
The New York Times, February 25, 2025
William E. Leuchtenburg, eminent presidential historian and Ken Burns consultant, dies at 102
His affinity for Roosevelt was lifelong and personal. When he was 10, he sat by the radio and counted delegates as FDR was elected to his first term as president. He was able to afford college with help from a job found through a New Deal program, the National Youth Administration.
By Hillel Italie
The Independent, January 29, 2025
Biden struggled to bring the American Climate Corps to life. Then Trump killed it
President Biden struggled for years to get the American Climate Corps off the ground after Congress chose not to fund it. On his first day, Trump swiftly killed it with an executive order.
By Noah Haggerty
Los Angeles Times, February 5, 2025
Restored Anti-fascism Mural by Philip Guston and Reuben Kalish Unveiled in Mexico
In 1934, two young artists drove from Los Angeles in a beat-up car to Mexico, to create a powerful artwork about repression. It was concealed — and then forgotten.
By Victoria Burnett
The New York Times, February 1, 2025
The Man Madison Warned Us Against
Trump’s opening salvos are in no way like Franklin Roosevelt’s first hundred days, as some right-wingers have argued.
By Harold Meyerson
The American Prospect, February 17, 2025
Depression-era New Deal murals still hang in these Florida post offices
Sixteen new post offices were built from 1937 to 1943, each one decorated with murals or relief sculptures paid for by “The Section.” Many are in small towns that didn’t have a museum.
By Jacob Langston
ClickOrlando.com, February 19, 2025
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"We must especially beware of that small group of selfish men who would clip the wings of the American Eagle in order to feature their own nests. "
— FDR, Four Freedoms Speech
January, 1941
YOUR DONATIONS KEEP THE NEW DEAL SPIRIT ALIVE.
The Living New Deal thanks you for your generous support!
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Wildfire Journalism Overlooks the CCC
