© 2008 Brian Eric Stipelman All Rights Reserved

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

© 2008 Brian Eric Stipelman All Rights Reserved © 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.
Recommended publications
  • 1 Politics After Babel: Reinhold Niebuhr, Michael Oakeshott, And
    Politics after Babel: Reinhold Niebuhr, Michael Oakeshott, and the Theological Defense of Modernity Matthew Sitman University of Virginia Therefore is the name of the place called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of the earth… Genesis 11: 9 What has anyone achieved in words when he speaks about you? Yet woe to those who are silent about you because, though loquacious with verbosity, they have nothing to say. -- Augustine, Confessions I. Introduction: The Prophet and the Philosopher Merely juxtaposing basic descriptions of Reinhold Niebuhr and Michael Oakeshott – their biographies, temperaments, and writings – calls attention to their incongruities. The former was from the American Midwest, the son of German immigrants, a brooding pastor and theologian, a man of the left and prominent public figure; the latter was British, a cheerful romantic, an idiosyncratic conservative, and enough of a quiet academic that, during his funeral, the local priest officiating at the service forgot his name. 1 Niebuhr wrote with the urgency of the prophet, and even his most sustained and nuanced work retains a sense of impending disaster. When he appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1948, his portrait was set against a background of dark, swirling clouds, with a small, white cross barely visible over his left 1 For a useful, if somewhat stilted, biography of Niebuhr, see Richard Wightman Fox’s Reinhold Niebuhr: A Biography (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1996). The many personal remembrances of Niebuhr found in Ronald H.
    [Show full text]
  • C H a P T E R 24 the Great Depression and the New Deal
    NASH.7654.CP24.p790-825.vpdf 9/23/05 3:26 PM Page 790 CHAPTER 24 The Great Depression and the New Deal The WPA (Works Progress Administration) hired artists from 1935 to 1943 to create murals for public buildings. The assumption was not only that “artists need to eat too,” as Harry Hop- kins announced, but also that art was an important part of culture and should be supported by the federal government. Here Moses Soyer, a Philadelphia artist, depicts WPA artists creating a mural. Do you think it is appropriate for the government to subsidize artists? (Moses Soyer, Artists on WPA, 1935. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC/Art Resource, New York) American Stories Coming of Age and Riding the Rails During the Depression Flickering in a Seattle movie theater in the depths of the Great Depression, the Holly- wood production Wild Boys of the Road captivated 13-year-old Robert Symmonds.The film, released in 1933, told the story of boys hitching rides on trains and tramping 790 NASH.7654.CP24.p790-825.vpdf 9/23/05 3:26 PM Page 791 CHAPTER OUTLINE around the country. It was supposed to warn teenagers of the dangers of rail riding, The Great Depression but for some it had the opposite effect. Robert, a boy from a middle-class home, al- The Depression Begins ready had a fascination with hobos. He had watched his mother give sand- Hoover and the Great Depression wiches to the transient men who sometimes knocked on the back door. He had taken to hanging around the “Hooverville” shantytown south of Economic Decline the King Street railroad station, where he would sit next to the fires and A Global Depression listen to the rail riders’ stories.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 18: Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1933-1939
    Roosevelt and the New Deal 1933–1939 Why It Matters Unlike Herbert Hoover, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was willing to employ deficit spending and greater federal regulation to revive the depressed economy. In response to his requests, Congress passed a host of new programs. Millions of people received relief to alleviate their suffering, but the New Deal did not really end the Depression. It did, however, permanently expand the federal government’s role in providing basic security for citizens. The Impact Today Certain New Deal legislation still carries great importance in American social policy. • The Social Security Act still provides retirement benefits, aid to needy groups, and unemployment and disability insurance. • The National Labor Relations Act still protects the right of workers to unionize. • Safeguards were instituted to help prevent another devastating stock market crash. • The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation still protects bank deposits. The American Republic Since 1877 Video The Chapter 18 video, “Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal,” describes the personal and political challenges Franklin Roosevelt faced as president. 1928 1931 • Franklin Delano • The Empire State Building 1933 Roosevelt elected opens for business • Gold standard abandoned governor of New York • Federal Emergency Relief 1929 Act and Agricultural • Great Depression begins Adjustment Act passed ▲ ▲ Hoover F. Roosevelt ▲ 1929–1933 ▲ 1933–1945 1928 1931 1934 ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ 1930 1931 • Germany’s Nazi Party wins • German unemployment 1933 1928 107 seats in Reichstag reaches 5.6 million • Adolf Hitler appointed • Alexander Fleming German chancellor • Surrealist artist Salvador discovers penicillin Dali paints Persistence • Japan withdraws from of Memory League of Nations 550 In this Ben Shahn mural detail, New Deal planners (at right) design the town of Jersey Homesteads as a home for impoverished immigrants.
    [Show full text]
  • Academic Search Complete
    Academic Search Complete Pavadinimas Prenumerata nuo Prenumerata iki Metai nuo Metai iki 1 Technology times 2021-04-01 2021-12-31 20140601 20210327 2 Organization Development Review 2021-04-01 2021-12-31 20190101 3 PRESENCE: Virtual & Augmented Reality 2021-04-01 2021-12-31 20180101 4 Television Week 2021-04-01 2021-12-31 20030310 20090601 5 Virginia Declaration of Rights and Cardinal Bellarmine 2021-04-01 2021-12-31 6 U.S. News & World Report: The Report 2021-04-01 2021-12-31 20200124 7 Education Journal Review 2021-04-01 2021-12-31 20180101 8 BioCycle CONNECT 2021-04-01 2021-12-31 20200108 9 High Power Computing 2021-04-01 2021-12-31 20191001 10 Economic Review (Uzbekistan) 2021-04-01 2021-12-31 20130801 11 Civil Disobedience 2021-04-01 2021-12-31 12 Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World 2021-04-01 2021-12-31 13 IUP Journal of Environmental & Healthcare Law 2021-04-01 2021-12-31 14 View of the Revolution (Through Indian Eyes) 2021-04-01 2021-12-31 15 Narrative of Her Life: Mary Jemison 2021-04-01 2021-12-31 16 Follette's Platform of 1924 2021-04-01 2021-12-31 17 Dred Scott, Plaintiff in Error, v. John F. A. Sanford 2021-04-01 2021-12-31 18 U.S. News - The Civic Report 2021-04-01 2021-12-31 20180928 20200117 19 Supreme Court Cases: The Twenty-first Century (2000 - Present) 2021-04-01 2021-12-31 20 Geophysical Report 2021-04-01 2021-12-31 21 Adult Literacy 2021-04-01 2021-12-31 2000 22 Report on In-Class Variables: Fall 1987 & Fall 1992 2021-04-01 2021-12-31 2000 23 Report of investigation : the Aldrich Ames espionage case / Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence,2021-04-01 U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Franklin Roosevelt's Advisory System: the Institutionalization of the Executive Office of the Esidentpr
    University of Nebraska at Omaha DigitalCommons@UNO Student Work 7-1-1974 Franklin Roosevelt's advisory system: The institutionalization of the Executive office of the esidentPr James C. Rowling University of Nebraska at Omaha Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/studentwork Recommended Citation Rowling, James C., "Franklin Roosevelt's advisory system: The institutionalization of the Executive office of the President" (1974). Student Work. 488. https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/studentwork/488 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UNO. It has been accepted for inclusion in Student Work by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT*S ADVISORY SYSTEM: THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT A Thesis Presented to the Department of Political Science and the Faculty of the Graduate College University of Nebraska at Omaha In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by James C. Rowling July, 197^ 1 UMI Number: EP73126 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI EP73126 Published by ProQuest LLC (2015). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest LLC.
    [Show full text]
  • “The National Voice” Across the Bayard and Ringo Stories
    UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE POPULAR FAULKNER: THE DEVELOPMENT OF “THE NATIONAL VOICE” ACROSS THE BAYARD AND RINGO STORIES A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS By WILLIAM WILDE JANUARY VI Norman, Oklahoma 2018 POPULAR FAULKNER: THE DEVELOPMENT OF “THE NATIONAL VOICE” ACROSS THE BAYARD AND RINGO STORIES A THESIS APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH BY ______________________________ Dr. James Zeigler, Chair ______________________________ Dr. Daniela Garofalo ______________________________ Dr. William Henry McDonald © Copyright by WILLIAM WILDE JANUARY VI 2018 All Rights Reserved. To Claire, as a monument to our adventure in Oklahoma. Acknowledgements This project is in many ways the culmination of everything I have done before, and thus it is necessary to acknowledge everyone I have had the pleasure to have known the past three years in the University of Oklahoma English Department: faculty, staff, and my fellow graduate students. In particular, I would like to thank both Dr. McDonald and Dr. Garofalo for not only serving on my committee, but for teaching seminars so influential that they changed the way that I viewed the world and, subsequently, my future plans. In a similar vein, I would like to thank Dr. John Burke and Dr. William Ulmer at the University of Alabama, as I would have never even been here without their part in shaping my formless undergraduate curiosity into the more disciplined inquisitiveness of a scholar. Most of all, I am indebted to my Chair, Dr. James Zeigler, who has over the past three years listened carefully to every road not taken by this work, and always provided clear, helpful feedback as well as a sense of positivity that has made all the difference in its completion.
    [Show full text]
  • The Second New Deal
    THE SECOND NEW DEAL Chapter 12 Section 2 US History THE SECOND NEW DEAL • LAUNCHING THE SECOND NEW DEAL • MAIN IDEA – By 1935, the New Deal faced political and legal challenges, as well as growing concern that it was not ending the Depression LAUNCHING THE SECOND NEW DEAL • Roosevelt and Hopkins (head of FERA) openly supported the New Deal policies – Needed support and effective speakers to defend against opposition to policies • Economy only showed slight improvement after 2 years of Roosevelt’s policies – Even though created 2 million new jobs, nations income only half of income from 1929 LAUNCHING THE SECOND NEW DEAL • Criticism from left and right – Roosevelt got criticism from both political parties • Right wing believed expanded Fed. Gov’t at expense of states’ rights • Right had always opposed new deal, but increased by 1934 – To pay for programs used “deficit spending” and many alarmed by growing deficit in gov’t – August 1934 Business and anti-New Deal politicians created “American Liberty League” • Organize opposition to New Deal • ‘teach necessity of respect for the rights of person and property LAUNCHING THE SECOND NEW DEAL – Left also criticized New Deal for not doing enough – Wanted more gov’t intervention to shift wealth from rich to middle/poor Americans • Huey Long – He was most serious threat to New Deal – Governor of Louisiana • Improved schools, hospitals and built roads/bridges – Created a large corrupt political machine, 1930 elected to senate – Attacked rich and was a great public speaker (lots of support) – 1934 created Share Our Wealth Society and announced run for President in 1936 LAUNCHING THE SECOND NEW DEAL • Father Coughlin – Catholic Priest from Detroit with radio show • 30-45 million listeners – At first supported New Deal but wasn’t fast or radical enough – Wanted national banking system and inflated currency – 1935 organized National Union for Social Justice • Worried might become new political party LAUNCHING THE SECOND NEW DEAL • The Townsend Plan – Third challenge to Roosevelt… Francis Townsend – Wanted Fed.
    [Show full text]
  • In Memoriam WILSON CAREY Mcwilliams (1933-2005)
    In Memoriam WILSON CAREY McWILLIAMS https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms (1933-2005) Wilson Carey McWilliams, Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University and editorial board member of this journal, died on March 29, 2005. Though his interests and writing spanned the field of political science, McWilliams had a particular ear for the music of American political life, and it was to articulating the notes of that song that he dedicated most of his energy. His first major work, The Idea of Fraternity in America (1973), for which he was awarded the National Historical Society Prize, sounded the themes that would become his refrain. In American political history, modern liberal theory, with its basic , subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at assumptions of human individualism, has become ever more ascendant. Modern liberalism teaches that fraternity is an as- yet unachieved end of politics, one that can be realized with the dissolution of all particular ties among particular people in communities. This teaching undermines the ancient theory 01 Oct 2021 at 19:08:32 that it is only through those particular bonds and relations that , on an individual can truly be formed, and that even well-formed individuals can never transcend their firm locations in particular settings. That ancient theory has had a voice in an "alternative" American tradition, emanating particularly from those ethnic and 170.106.202.226 religious communities that remained relatively cohesive in the years following immigration. But that voice has begun to falter. The assault on fraternity by modern philosophy—in the name . IP address: of fraternity, ironically enough—actually has threatened the possibility of individual cultivation by promising the realization of an unachievable state that lingers perpetually outside the grasp of embodied and embedded humans.
    [Show full text]
  • 19. the New Deal Democrats: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Democratic Party
    fdr4freedoms 1 19. The New Deal Democrats: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Democratic Party With Franklin D. Roosevelt at its helm, the Democratic Party underwent a historic transformation. Before FDR rose to national prominence in the early 1930s, the party had represented a loose conglomeration of local and regional interests. Dominated by the “solid South” that dated to post–Civil War Reconstruction, this group also included Great Plains and Western farmers influenced by the Populist and Progressive movements, as well as the burgeoning ethnic populations of the great cities of the North and East, where the “machine politics” epitomized by New York City’s Tammany Hall ruled the day. Above: A banner for Franklin D. Roosevelt over a pawnshop in This diverse assemblage did not adhere to a central Rosslyn, Virginia, September 1936. ideology or political philosophy, but was instead heavily In November, FDR would outdo his influenced by religious and geographical identities and electoral margins of 1932, winning all but two states and the highest interests. Democrats might be found on both sides of a percentage of electoral votes since variety of political issues. Ironically, the party was home to the virtually uncontested election both the new waves of heavily Catholic and Jewish immigrants of 1820. of the Northeast and the extremely anti-Catholic and nativist Left: A poster for Franklin D. Ku Klux Klan of the South. Roosevelt’s 1932 campaign for president, calling for “action” and The Republicans enjoyed significant support across a fairly “constructive leadership.” The Great wide spectrum of the American political landscape. That party Depression was so cataclysmic that was heavily favored by northern white Protestants, small and it created an appetite for change in America, helping FDR lead a large business interests, professional white-collar workers, historic shift in voting patterns.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Robert H. Jackson in Franklin D. Roosevelt's Battle with the Supreme Court Stephen R
    Texas A&M University School of Law Texas A&M Law Scholarship Faculty Scholarship 1997 Loyal Lieutenant, Able Advocate: The Role of Robert H. Jackson in Franklin D. Roosevelt's Battle with the Supreme Court Stephen R. Alton Texas A&M University School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar Part of the Legal History Commons, President/Executive Department Commons, and the Supreme Court of the United States Commons Recommended Citation Stephen R. Alton, Loyal Lieutenant, Able Advocate: The Role of Robert H. Jackson in Franklin D. Roosevelt's Battle with the Supreme Court, 5 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 527 (1997). Available at: https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/336 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Texas A&M Law Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Texas A&M Law Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LOYAL LIEUTENANT, ABLE ADVOCATE: THE ROLE OF ROBERT H. JACKSON IN FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT'S BATTLE WITH THE SUPREME COURT Stephen R. Alton* Before his appointment to the Supreme Court,Justice Robert H. Jackson played a highly visible role in FranklinD. Roosevelt's failed "court packing plan. " Roosevelt's legislation would have increased the size of the Supreme Court and could have dramatically altered the functioning of our govern- ment. Jackson supported the plan from his post as Assistant Attorney Gener- al. This Article uses a chronological narrative to examine Jackson's role in Roosevelt's court fight.
    [Show full text]
  • Political Sociological Models of the U.S. New Deal
    P1: FJL/FGI P2: FLW June 3, 2000 16:34 Annual Reviews AR105-13 Annu. Rev. Sociol. 2000. 26:297–322 Copyright c 2000 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved POLITICAL SOCIOLOGICAL MODELS OF THE U.S. NEW DEAL Jeff Manza Department of Sociology, Northwestern University, 1810 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, Illinois 60208-1330; e-mail: [email protected] Key Words political sociology, political change, New Deal ■ Abstract The U.S. New Deal raises issues of class, race, gender, region, social movements, and institutional constraint in the context of a societal-wide economic and political crisis, and has not surprisingly generated a considerable body of work by political sociologists over the past twenty years. In particular, the New Deal has served as a major empirical context for developing, testing, or applying broader theoretical models of political change in the United States. In this sense, it is a paradigmatic exam- ple of the “historical turn” in the social sciences. This paper examines the theoretical and empirical controversies that have persisted between four competing theoretical models of New Deal political change: (a) those emphasizing the importance of social movements from below in generating momentum for political reform, (b) those high- lighting the centrality of business influence on successful New Deal reform initiatives, (c) feminist models, and (d) historical institutional models. I then turn to a survey of more recent work on some of the topics that have been the most widely debated in more recent scholarship and pose some questions for future research. INTRODUCTION Annu. Rev. Sociol. 2000.26:297-322. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org Few historical conjunctures have excited as many sociological imaginations as the United States in the 1930s.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Studies 11Th Grade
    Social Studies th 11 grade __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Strand Contents & Skills Essential Questions Assessment 1.1. The English Colonies (1605-1760) 1.1.a. An English Settlement at Jamestown Vocabulary Check i. Identify the obstacles facing the first English settlers in North America. How did the Infographic - North ii. Understand the factors that helped Jamestown to flourish. colonies develop vs. South economically, Salem Witch Trials - 1.1.b. Puritan New England socially and Primary source Theme 1 i. Identify the motives that led the Puritans to New England. politically? Character Counts Origins of a ii. Summarize the principles of government established by the dissenters who fled to Rhode Island. Reflection - Journal Nation Character Counts Pillar: Fairness Resources: Literary Connection: excerpt “A Short Discourse on the Present State of the Colonies,” by Sir William Keith excerpt from The Interesting Narrative of The Life of Olaudah Equiano “A Letter Regarding Relations with the Indians,” by Samuel Sewell Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God 2.1. The American Revolution (1774-1800) What were the Interactive Website 2.1.a. Organizing colonial resistance causes and major (mind map) i. Trace the mounting tension in Massachusetts. events of the chronologically ii. Summarize the battles of Lexington and Concord. American reviewing the revolution and who sequence of events. 2.1.b. Declaring Independence were the significant Ongoing Quiz i. Explain how the environment of North America provided for diverse societies. individuals (multiple choice) Theme 2 involved in the Character Counts 2.1.c. Conducting the War conflict. Reflection - Journal A New i. Trace the progress of the war through the turning point at Saratoga and winter at Valley Forge.
    [Show full text]