CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS THESIS SIGNATURE PAGE THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE MASTER OF ARTS IN HISTORY THESIS TITLE: Victory of the Garden: Politics in American Gardens, 1801-2014 AUTHOR: Jaime K . Secrist DATE OF SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE: May 1, 2015 THE THESIS HAS BEEN ACCEPTED BY THE THESIS COMMITTEE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS lN HISTORY. Dr. Jeffrey Charles THESIS COMMITTEE CHAIR Dr. Jill Watts THESIS COMMITTEE MEMBER Dr. Anne Lombard L~ 111~ /,zo,,-­ THESIS COMMITTEE MEMBER SIGNATTJR! D TE Victory of the Garden: Politics in American Gardens, 1801-2014 by Jaime K. Secrist Copyright © 2015 Jaime K. Secrist All rights reserved Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... vi Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Historiography ...................................................................................................................... 3 Chapter 1 Gardening Across Time: The Yeoman Farmer to the Depression Gardener .............. 15 Chapter 2 A Study in Gardens: The World War II Victory Garden ............................................ 41 Chapter 3 The Return of the Garden: Writing, Remembering, and Planting Gardens After the Conclusion: The New Garden ..................................................................................................... 109 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 115 ii Table of Figures Figure 1 “Get Behind the Girl He Left Behind Him”……………………………...…………… 32 Figure 2 “Sow the Seeds of Victory!”….………………………………………………………. 32 Figure 3 “Freedom From Want” ……………………………………………………………….. 45 Figure 4 “The Four Freedoms”…………………………………………………………………. 45 Figure 5 “Going Our Way”……………………………………………………………………... 55 Figure 6 “Join Us on the Farm Front”………………………………………………………….. 55 Figure 7 “Help Harvest War Crops”……………………………………………………………. 55 Figure 8 “Plant a Victory Garden”…………………………………………………………….... 56 Figure 9 “Your victory Counts More Than Ever”……………………………………………… 56 Figure 10 “Grow Your Own Be Sure”…………………………………………………………. 56 Figure 11 “Grow it Yourself”………………………………………………………………….. 56 Figure 12 “War Gardens for Victory”…………………………………………………………. 56 Figure 13 “Food is a Weapon”………………………………………………………………… 59 Figure 14 “Where Our Men are Fighting Our Food is Fighting”………………………………. 59 Figure 15 “Victory Garden Pledge Sign”………………………………………………………. 62 Figure 16 “Garden Plot”………………………………………………………………………... 66 Figure 17 “Live Model Victory Garden Plot”………………………………………………….. 66 Figure 18 “Layout”……………………………………………………………………………... 66 Figure 19 “A Victory Garden on a Rooftop”…………………………………………………… 70 iii Acknowledgements To Dr. Jeffrey Charles, for looking at numerous drafts and setting me on the right path when I was overwhelmed and confused. For allowing me to be creative and adventurous as I wrote my thesis and allowing me to take on a topic when it seemed odd to do so. Thank you for guiding me through my thesis process. To Dr. Jill Watts, for supporting me even before I entered the Master’s program at California State University. For listening to me talk to you for hours, when there was a million other things you needed to do, and for pushing me to be a better scholar. To Dr. Anne Lombard, for inspiring me to see trends from the early days of American history that still exists in the present. For supporting me and keeping me in check based on my timelines. Thank you for agreeing to be on my committee and being excited about my topic even though it was slightly outside of your time period. To the CSUSM History Department, for being open to non-traditional ideas. For pushing its students to do outstanding work. For teaching us to be legitimate historians and not allowing us to simply get by. For my CSUSM Grad Lab cohort, who spent countless hours encouraging me, working with me, and listening to me vent about the stresses of writing my thesis, and understanding because they were all in the same boat. For always making me laugh and making my grad school experience the most memorable and enjoyable time of my life. I love you guys so much. To my family, who supported me and encouraged me throughout my years as a Master’s student. Thank you for always being there when I needed a break, especially when I did not realize that I needed one, and reminding me that it was okay to take one. Thank you for believing iv in me and telling me to keep going when I wanted to stop. Thank you for putting up with my moodiness and stress from deadlines and revisions. Sorry about that. To my friends, especially Brookey, Brittany, and my Ice Family, who made me smile, prayed for me, and happily celebrated every milestone along the way. Thank you for being there for the little things and keeping me grounded when I felt like I had no control. To my Love, you were always there to help me forget about my stress and take out my aggression. You taught me to get back up whenever I fall down, that hard work pays off, and to keep persevering no matter what. You taught me to face every obstacle with courage and to believe in myself. Finally, I want to thank God, with Him all things are possible, Philippians 4:13. v Abstract During World War II, the United States government implemented a policy that encouraged the home-front population to grow victory gardens. However, the use of agriculture as a way to inspire and bring a population together dates back to a much earlier period in American history, when Thomas Jefferson was president. Gardening may seem like an unusual topic for historians to study, but gardens have a greater purpose and value in society than supplementing food supply or providing a leisure activity. Gardens can be used as a way to analyze the relationship between the U.S. government and the American people, in order to understand how the two sides relate to one another and demonstrate concepts of citizenship. This thesis highlights the role that the victory garden has played in U.S. history. Gardens have played a role in public policy during multiple presidential administrations, beginning with the infancy of the United States as a nation and continuing through 2010s. Increased government-endorsed gardening corresponds directly to periods of uncertainty. Gardens have been used by the government in times of reformulating a national identity, in times of war, and in times of economic crisis. Gardens reflect and embody political ideologies, particularly pertaining to what it means to be a citizen. These ideas have changed with various administrations. However, using the garden as a vehicle to address popular politics remains constant. Keywords: U.S. History, World War II, Victory Garden, Citizenship, Public Policy, Agriculture, and Franklin D. Roosevelt vi Introduction Gardening or small-scale agricultural production, most often for personal use, has long been a part of the human experience, extending across cultures, The majority of the worlds gardens have been small scale, but the most famous gardens—the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Queen Mary’s Garden in London, and the Gardens at Versailles—have been elaborate spectacles of floral display, and often, amidst their beauty, been associated with displays of government power; although the majority of garden histories have focused on the design and meaning of these large ornamental gardens. Food-gardens have an equally widespread history surrounding them. Just as the flower gardens surrounding European palaces, vegetable gardens have a political history. In fact, as this study argues, food gardens have had a longstanding tradition in popular politics since the early days of America’s formulation as an independent country. The link between gardens and politics has appeared multiple times in America’s history, beginning in the early 19th century, reaching prominence in the1940s, and continuing on into the current day. Vegetable gardens can be used as a way to examine the relationship between the United States government and the American people. The basis for this connection has remained constant: the idea that gardens can be used to help define what it means to be a citizen. The government has endorsed gardening and used gardens as a way to inspire, motivate, and/or mobilize the United States’ civilian population, in the name of a political ideology. The first time government-endorsed gardening was notably used was under the administration of President Thomas Jefferson in the early 1800s. Towards the end of that century, government-endorsed gardening was re-introduced to the American public; this time however, the push to grow gardens occurred at the local level, rather than the federal level. This local based level of government-endorsed gardening inspired individuals of the Progressive Era to 1 petition the government to pass legislation pertaining to nature and public gardens. During World War One (1914-1918), American citizens planted victory gardens to show their support of the nation’s military effort. A decade later, the government once again became the primary force behind gardens and passed legislation relief to help vegetable