8 Comments

How much whites-only got baked in to the New Deal? I think about this thinkpiece from a former GOP footsoldier:

https://www.politicalorphans.com/socialism-for-white-people/

(esp. in the post-WWII context of Truman's proposed health plan) and I'm curious, esp. if votes from Dixiecrats (still Ds at this point in time) were needed.

Expand full comment
author

An awful lot, though for varied reasons. Some programs were racially egalitarian, others offered services along separate hut equal lines, others (like social security) largely ignored large populations of minorities

Expand full comment

Always been fascinated by the National Recovery Act signs - "We Do Our Part" - what was the purpose of distributing those signs and what did it mean to "do your part"?

Expand full comment
author

Great question! The NRA gave those out to businesses that voluntarily abided by the codes drafted for that industry by that industry. They were sort of a “Made in the USA” thing, a label to let New Deal supporters spend their money at places supporting the New Deal recovery effort

Expand full comment

In your opinion, what’s the #1 “Big Thing” Democrats should be working on ?

Expand full comment
author

It's hard to say as the current environment -- solid economy, but in a really dangerous place on several fundamental issues of rights -- is quite unlike what faced FDR, but he really was effective at promoting his policies/programs as a defense of democracy, of investing ordinary Americans with a stake in their government and their nation.

Expand full comment

What I’ve learned so far is that nothing was done for agricultural workers, ie Blacks in the south, and much more was done to keep southern reps/senators in. Is that what you mean?

Expand full comment
author

Right, the classic example is that the original SSA didn't cover farm workers or domestics, which accounted for 85% of African Americans in the South. Usually that's been attributed to the political opposition of segregationist Democrats who ran Congress, but there's also the practical matter of how SS taxes and benefits would work with people who weren't exactly receiving a weekly paycheck from a big company's HR Department.

Expand full comment