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NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2025


** Harry Hopkins on Hunger ([link removed])
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When FDR took office in 1933, more than 16 million Americans were unemployed. Roosevelt charged his closest confident, a plain-spoken Iowan, Harry Hopkins, with creating the New Deal relief programs post haste. It marked the first-ever federal efforts to address hunger in America. Hopkins had learned firsthand about poverty while working in New York City settlement houses and immediately set about establishing the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), followed by the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and then the Works Progress Administration (WPA)—agencies that offered "jobs over handouts” to millions of struggling Americans. When critics questioned the necessity—and cost—of such government aid, Hopkins would respond, "Hunger is not debatable.”

The current administration and its accomplices are throwing thousands out of work and gutting federal programs that millions of Americans rely on. Hopkins gave no quarter to those who would deny help to those in need. "People don’t eat in the long run. They eat every day,” he told them. That’s as true in 2025 as it was during the Great Depression.


** “Sistine Chapel” of New Deal Art Threatened ([link removed])
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** By Gray Brechin
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Some murals at the Social Security building in Washington DC suggested that poverty and racism existed in the land of the free. But the works by Ben Shahn and other artists also showed how Roosevelt and Frances Perkins’ Social Security programs had distributed America’s abundance so as to give everyone, rather than a few, a richer, more secure life. The current administration hopes to dispose of the building and three others in the vicinity by the end of the year. READ MORE ([link removed])

Save the Wilbur J. Cohen Building. Please sign and share the petition ([link removed] ) .


** Forgotten Artist of the New Deal ([link removed])
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** By Richard Haw
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Few people took greater advantage of the opportunities presented by FDR’s New Deal than artist Leon Bibel. Like many, Bibel persevered through the Great Depression because of the New Deal. “It was an exciting time to be an artist,” he later recalled. “We had a mission in life and something to say.”
READ MORE ([link removed])

A Living New Deal webinar with author Richard Haw will take place via Zoom on Tuesday, November 11 at 5pm Pacific. REGISTER ([link removed])
HAPPENINGS
Living New Deal Webinars and Events
Live, interactive conversations on topics related to the New Deal and its relevance today, featuring authors, artists, opinion leaders and other educators.
V ia Zoom
"Leon Bibel, Forgotten Artist of the New Deal" ([link removed])
With Richard Haw and Harvey Smith
Tuesday, November 11, 2025, 5-6pm Pacific, 8pm Eastern

Artist Leon Bibel, like many of his generation, survived the Great Depression because of the New Deal. He worked on murals funded by the Public Works of Art Project and served in the Civilian Conservation Corps. In 1936 he joined the Federal Art Project. He painted, etched, drew, carved, printed, stamped and stenciled. His work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, British Library and Boston Museum of Fine Art. Author Richard Haw will tell the story of how Bibel, a kid from a Polish shtetl, took opportunities offered by FDR’s New Deal and why his story is relevant today. Haw is professor at John Jay College in New York. His latest book "Leon Bibel, Forgotten Artist of the New Deal" is the first biography of this eclectic artist. FREE. REGISTER ([link removed])

Via Zoom
"Teaching New Deal Art: A New Survey for Students, Teachers and the Public” ([link removed])
With John Murphy and Erika Doss
Tuesday, December 2, 2025, 5pm Pacific, 8pm Eastern

Unprecedented federal funding for the arts through the New Deal launched the careers of many renowned artists. With drastic cuts to public arts funding, what does the New Deal’s goal of broadening access to "art for the people” have to teach us? John P. Murphy is the Philip and Lynn Straus curator of prints and drawings at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College. Erika Doss is a Distinguished Professor in the Edith O. Donnell Institute of Art History at the University of Texas at Dallas. FREE. REGISTER ([link removed])

In Person
KALW and The Living New Deal, San Francisco, CA
"The Public Works: Uncovering Lessons from the New Deal in the Bay Area” ([link removed])
With Sheryl Kaskowitz, Alexis Harte and John Rogers
Tuesday, January 27, 2025, 6pm reception; 7pm program.

An evening of film screenings and discussion with local filmmakers about the vibrant public spaces FDR’s New Deal left to the Bay Area. Sheryl Kaskowitz is the creator of the KALW radio series "The Public Works," which is supported by the Living New Deal and airs on the news and culture show Crosscurrents. Her book, "A Chance to Harmonize: How FDR's Hidden Music Unit Sought to Save America from the Great Depression—One Song at a Time,” received Honorable Mention from the New Deal Book Awards in 2024. Donation $10-$20 sliding scale. REGISTER ([link removed])

LOCATION: 220 Montgomery Street, San Francisco

Via Zoom
"A Virtual Walk Through New Deal Washington, DC" ([link removed])
With David Taylor
Tuesday, February 24, 2026, 5pm Pacific, 5pm Eastern

Writer and producer of the podcast The People’s Recorder, David Taylor leads tours of New Deal art and architecture in Washington DC for Smithsonian Associates. This virtual tour takes in the Library of Congress annex, with sculptures (pictured) and doors by Lee Lawrie; the murals at Wilbur J. Cohen Building now on a list of federal buildings ([link removed]) for sale; the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and concludes at the Jefferson Memorial, dedicated by FDR amid debate over the role of government. Along the way we will learn about artists and designers and ways in which the New Deal shaped America’s capital as we know it. FREE. REGISTER ([link removed])
Via Zoom
Eldridge Street Museum and the Arthur Rothstein Legacy Project, New York
"The Life of Arthur Rothstein: Documentary Photography, Memory & the Immigrant Experience" ([link removed])
With Dr. Annie Rothstein Segan and Brodie Hefner
Wednesday, November 19, 2025, 6-7pm ET

An exploration of documentary photography as a record of collective memory and a call for social action. Hefner and Rothstein-Segan examine how the camera becomes a tool for preserving the stories of immigrants, the marginalized, and the displaced. They’ll also reveal how Arthur Rothstein's family’s immigrant history helped inspire his iconic New Deal-era images. Virtual, Pay-What-You-Wish. REGISTER ([link removed])

New Deal Spotlights! Help launch a New Deal Video Campaign! ([link removed])
“Your Rose Garden,” ([link removed]) won the top award at the 2025 Better Cities Film Festival, which described the music video as "a joyful short that had audiences humming along while reflecting on the extraordinary value of beloved public spaces.” The film’s creators, Alexis Harte and Josh Peterson, now are developing New Deal Spotlights ([link removed]) , a crowdsourced video campaign celebrating New Deal public works nationwide. You can help launch the project by sending a short smartphone video about a New Deal site in your community. Please submit your video by December 31. DETAILS AND INSTRUCTIONS ([link removed])
THE NEW DEAL IN THE NEWS
Some links may limit access for nonsubscribers. Please support local journalism, if you can.

The New Deal Masterpieces Threatened by Trump’s D.C. Downsizing ([link removed])
Your great-grandparents paid Ben Shahn and Philip Guston to create gorgeous public murals. Next year they could be rubble.
By Timothy Noah
New Republic, September 30, 2025

There Was a Plan to Save These New Deal Masterpieces. Then Trump Won. ([link removed])
A feasibility study was underway about restoring the ailing federal building that houses important Ben Shahn frescoes, Philip Guston murals, and other FDR-era artwork. But the Trump administration put a stop to it.
By Timothy Noah
New Republic, October 3, 2025

The New Deal Treasures Slated for Demolition ([link removed])
The pending sale of a historic federal building by Trump could mean the wrecking ball for the “Sistine Chapel of New Deal Art.”
By Anne Kim and Garrett Epps
Washington Monthly, October 14, 2025

Video Tour of the White House East Wing—before it was demolished ([link removed])
...including the very grand piano given to FDR by Mr Steinway that you see at the end. (2 minutes)
By Vanessa Branda
Substack, October 22, 2025

The East Wing is gone. Here’s why it’s been called ‘the heart’ of the nation ([link removed])
It’s played second banana to the West Wing, but the home of the first lady’s office has been the source of quiet power and influence.
By Roxanne Roberts
Washington Post, October 26, 2025

How Democrats Became the Party of the Well-to-Do ([link removed])
Since the days of President Franklin Roosevelt, Democrats have been known as the party of the poor and the working class, while Republicans tended to represent big business and the country-club set. Federal demographic and campaign-finance data from the past two decades reveal that the class alignment of the two parties has flipped.
By Brody Mullins
The New York Times, October 23, 2025

Paging FDR: Democrats need to embrace New Deal-Style politics ([link removed])
FDR fought for the underdog — and he was brazenly ruthless. Dems should follow his lead.
By Heather Digby Parton
Salon, August 19, 2025

Social Security More Threatened Than Ever ([link removed])
The program provides benefits to almost 69 million Americans monthly. It’s a major source of income for people over 65 and is popular across the country and political lines. It also looks more threatened than ever.
By Fatima Hussein
Associated Press, August 14, 2025
FDR SAYS
"I never forget that I live in a house owned by all the American people and that I have been given their trust."

— "Fireside Chat" Radio Address, April 14, 1938


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