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© 2008 Brian Eric Stipelman All Rights Reserved “NECESSITOUS MEN ARE NOT FREE MEN:” THE POLITICAL THEORY OF THE NEW DEAL by BRIAN ERIC STIPELMAN A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School – New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Political Science written under the direction of Daniel Tichenor and approved by ______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ New Brunswick, NJ May, 2008 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION “Necessitous Men Are Not Free Men:” The Political Theory of the New Deal by BRIAN ERIC STIPELMAN Dissertation Director: Daniel Tichenor Little attention has been paid to the political theory that informs the New Deal, despite the impressive amount of research devoted to the period. This is of particular importance since the alleged lack of theory means there is little philosophic justification for the American welfare state on its own terms. This dissertation synthesizes a political theory of the New Deal from the writings of Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, Henry Wallace, and Thurman Arnold. The theory highlights the need for the public accountability of private economic power, arguing that when the private economic realm is unable to adequately guarantee the rights of citizens the state must intervene to protect those rights. The New Deal created a new American social contract that accorded our right to the pursuit of happiness a status equal to liberty, and ground both in an expansive idea of security (with physical, material, and psychic components) as the necessary precondition for the exercise of either. This was connected to a theory of the common good that privileged the consumer as the central category while simultaneously working to limit the worst excesses of ii consumption-oriented individualism. This theory of ends was supplemented by a theory of practice that focused on ways to institutionalize progressive politics in a conservative institutional context. It focuses in particular on Thurman Arnold’s theory of symbolic politics. Arnold argues that any progressive change must be grounded in the ‘folklore’ of the institutions it wishes to supplant. This project has two further goals. The first is to argue that political theory needs to greater focus on the moment of political engagement. Unless a theory is integrated into a political context that focuses on the restraints upon and possibilities of agency facing the relevant actors the theory is engaged primarily in moral critique. Finally, the dissertation argues that contemporary progressives should appropriate the theory of the New Deal to use as the theoretical framework for arguments seeking to defend and expand the American welfare state. iii DEDICATION In memory of Wilson Carey McWilliams (1933-2005) iv Acknowledgments This dissertation is dedicated to the memory of Wilson Carey McWilliams, who was its director before his passing. This began as much smaller project on Thurman Arnold. I had approached Carey asking for a good book on the political theory of the New Deal. Carey after thinking for a moment, realized that no one had written one yet, and that this would make for a much more compelling dissertation. He died in the early stages of the project, and his absence was clearly felt, both personally and professionally. He set the standards for teacher, scholar, and citizen that I aspire to, and my deepest wish is that this project would have met his expectations. I am grateful to the Political Science Department at Rutgers for its years of financial, educational, and emotional support. I would also like to thank Rutgers University for awarding me a University and Bevier Fellowship for the 2007-2008 year. Without it I would not have finished the dissertation. I have been fortunate to study under an uninterrupted string of excellent professors, all of whom have earned my gratitude. First Jean Yarborough, who introduced me to political theory as an undergrad at Bowdoin College and saw potential in me despite my atrocious grammar. I owe her a great debt, as I fell in love with political theory, and learned how to write about it, under her watch. While I suspect she would not approve of the politics that inform this dissertation, I hope she would approve of the scholarship. v It was Jim Morone’s work that first convinced me that this argument was feasible, and it is an honor to have him as a reader. Dennis Bathory has been a source of excellent feedback and general encouragement whenever approached, both during this dissertation and during my time at Rutgers. Steve Bronner’s insistence that political science must reflect political commitments informs the overall character of this project. His ability to do so has set a standard I hope to match in my own career. The true origins of this dissertation can be traced back to discovering Thurman Arnold in an independent study with Dan Tichenor. I ended up deciding to study Arnold to ensure I worked with Dan. He did a wonderful job taking over as chair after Carey’s death, and has been a constant source of constructive advice and positive energy. Whatever is of value in this project owes its primary debt to Dan. I was lucky enough to come up through the Rutgers program alongside a first rate group of fellow students, many of whom shaped my intellectual growth and interests in profound ways. I would like to thank Brian Graf, Alexandra Hoerl, Geoffrey Kurtz, and Marilyn LaFay for that. An extra acknowledgement is in order for Saladin Ambar, Aaron Keck, Amy Linch, Nichole Shippen and especially James Mastrangelo for reading chapters and helping me to formulate and crystallize the ideas that follow. My parents, Michele and Charlie Stipelman, have always believed in me whenever I didn’t believe in myself. I can say with absolute certainty I would not be where I am now without them. And my final and deepest thanks go to Hilary Eddy Stipelman, who pulled off the superhuman feat of spending seven years dating, living with, and married to a graduate student without ever once getting frustrated by the process (at least not to my face). vi Contents Abstract ii Dedication iv Acknowledgments v A Note on Sources viii Introduction 1. Reconstructing the Temple: The Political Theory of the New Deal 1 Part II: The New Deal’s Theory of Ends 2. “Necessary First Lessons:” The Preconditions of the Welfare State 39 3. “That Broader Definition of Liberty:” The Social Contract of the 97 New Deal Part II: The New Deal’s Theory of Means 4. “All Armed Prophets Have Conquered:” A New Deal Theory of 194 Agency. 5. The Third New Deal: The Institutional Context of Reform 279 Conclusion 6. “A Living and Growing Thing:” Appropriating New Deal Liberalism 325 Bibliography 392 Curriculum Vitae 404 vii A Note on Sources Frequently-cited works are footnoted with the the following abbreviations. Chat Franklin Roosevelt. FDR’s Fireside Chats. eds. Russell Buhite and David Levy. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. Constitution Henry Wallace. Whose Constitution?: An Inquiry into the General Welfare. New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1936 Courage Eleanor Roosevelt. Courage in a Dangerous World: The Political Writings of Eleanor Roosevelt. ed. Allida Black. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. Democracy Henry Wallace. Democracy Reborn. ed. Russell Lord. (New York: Da Capo Press, 1973). Folklore Thurman Arnold. The Folklore Of Capitalism, Washington, D.C.: Beard Books, 2000 (reprinting 1937). Frontiers Henry Wallace. New Frontiers. New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1934. Leave Behind Eleanor Roosevelt. What I Hope to Leave Behind: The Essential Essays of Eleanor Roosevelt. ed. Allida Black. New York: Brooklyn, 1995. Moral Basis Eleanor Roosevelt. The Moral Basis of Democracy New York: Howell, Soskin & Co, 1940. Speeches. Franklin Roosevelt. Great Speeches ed. John Grafton. New York: Dover Publications, 1999. Statesmanship Henry Wallace. Statesmanship and Religion. New York: Round Table Press, Inc., 1934. Symbols Thurman Arnold. Symbols of Government, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1935. Voltaire Thurman Arnold. Voltaire and the Cowboy: The Letters of Thurman Arnold. ed. Gene Gressley.Boulder: Colorado Associated University Press, 1977. viii 1 Reconstructing the Temple: The Political Theory of the New Deal We were against revolution. Therefore, we waged war against those conditions which make revolutions—against the inequalities and resentments which breed them.1 We cannot remove sorrow and disappointment from the lives of human beings, but we can give them an opportunity to free themselves from mass restrictions made by men.2 In brief, the New Deal places human rights about property rights and aims to modify special privilege for the few to the extent that such modification will aid in providing economic security for the many.3 The greatest destroyer of ideals is he who believes in them so strongly that he cannot fit them to practical needs.4 It is not surprising that I was drawn to the New Deal during the Bush presidency. FDR’s administration was the most consequential of the 20th century, and if it is a bit early to say the same for Bush, it will not be for a lack of trying on his part. He is, fundamentally, the anti-FDR, and thinking about one conjures images of the other. Bush’s attempt to privatize social security and undo the greatest legacy of the New Deal is perhaps the most symbolic connection between them, but one could spend all day juxtaposing the two. The New Deal looked for ways to democratize capitalism in order to save it, while Bush’s oligarchic, deregulatory policies have helped create a new ‘gilded age’ marked by ever widening disparities of wealth and unaccountable economic power. The New Deal fostered affordable housing in an attempt to help families establish roots in a community, while Bush works to create an ‘ownership society’ that encourages us to 1 FDR from a 1936 campaign speech.