Copyright © 2024 by National New Deal Preservation Association.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, now known or yet to be discovered, without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

ISBN 979-8-218-36461-8

ISBN 979-8-218-36462-5 (e book)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2024903774

BISAC: History/United States/20th Century

Art/Public Art

Political science/public policy/social policy

Printed in the United States of America

This work was produced and published in the United States of America by

National New Deal Preservation Association

Kathryn Flynn, Executive Director

PO Box 602

Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504

1-505-473-3985

Website: www.nndpa.org

e-mail: newdeal@nndpa.org

The authors and publisher welcome comments and corrections, at the above e-mail address, in regard to the documentation in this work.

The views expressed are solely those of the authors. Any errors or omissions in this book are not intentional and are the responsibility of the authors.

Cover image: Olin Dows, Professions and Industries of Hyde Park, 1941, oil on canvas [detail]. Hyde Park, NY Post Office.

Photograph courtesy of Robert Carlitz, postofficeart.org.

Contents

INTRODUCTION

Christopher N. Breiseth

I: THE NEW DEAL: RECOGNIZING AND PRESERVING THE LEGACY

Kathryn Flynn and the NNDPA: A Quarter Century of Leadership

Christopher N. Breiseth

History of the New Mexico Chapter of the NNDPA

Kathryn Flynn

The New Deal: Most Creative Public Policy Initiatives in U.S. History

Robert Leighninger

New Deal’s Successful Spending and Financial Plans

Price Fishback

Evolution of the Living New Deal

Gray Brechin

A New Deal Odyssey

Harvey Smith

II: INFRASTRUCTURE/COMMUNITY

The Southern Colorado Chapter of the NNDPA

Barbara Diamond

A New Deal Legacy in the Pikes Peak Region

Pat Musick

The New Deal in Chicago

Margaret C. Rung

Roosevelt, New Jersey: A New Deal Community Continues to Honor its Heritage

Michael Ticktin

My Arkansas New Deal

Linda Lingle

III: NEW DEAL PERSONALITIES

Frances Perkins and the New Deal

Christopher N. Breiseth

Frank C. Walker: At the Center of FDR’s New Deal Speech, October 18, 1940

T.J. Walker

Memorials to Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt

Margaret C. Rung and Christopher N. Breiseth

Henry Wallace and the New Deal

David Wallace Douglas

Harry Hopkins

June Hopkins

IV: NEW DEAL ART AND ARTISTS

The Civilian Conservation Corps Art Project

Kathleen Duxbury

Jan Charles Marfyak and New Deal Art and Artists

Jan Marfyak

Pennsylvania New Deal Post Office Art

David Lembeck

New Deal Film Festival in Chicago

Alan Stein

EPILOGUE

Christopher N. Breiseth

The Economic Bill of Rights

Federal Firmament /A Chart of the New Deal

Introduction

CHRISTOPHER N. BREISETH

From the inspiration to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, this book took flight. It is dedicated to our leader, Kathryn Flynn, who has been Executive Director of the National New Deal Preservation Association (NNDPA) since its inception a quarter century ago. Kathy began in the early 1990s to discover, then highlight, then restore, finally work to preserve the vast number of New Deal treasures in her beloved New Mexico. Her efforts soon led to a national effort to do the same for these treasures throughout America. She and her growing number of New Deal preservationists initially discovered the virtual absence of public awareness of the New Deal legacy by contemporary citizens who depend on the vast investments of the Roosevelt Administration in art, architecture, literature, music, public spaces, health and educational institutions, as well as essential physical infrastructure bequeathed during the years 1933 to 1945 by our government.

Each of the authors of the chapters in this volume has had a rendezvous with the New Deal. Some have occupations linking them to this legacy. Others have relatives who were active In the programs of the 1930s and 1940s, whether as a CCC boy or an advisor to President Roosevelt. A few are academic scholars studying New Deal policies and programs. Most are or have been members of the Board of Directors of the NNDPA, united in the act of discovering, sharing and preserving the New Deal legacy. The book is as eclectic as the New Deal itself. The chapters are personal, expressing the experiences and viewpoints of their authors. Some are short and some are long. Many are very local, demonstrating what the New Deal accomplished in communities as well as nationally.

In addition to these personal chapters, there are three primary documents which evoke the era of the Roosevelt Administration:

1. A Fortune Magazine graphic, Federal Firmament Under the New Deal, As of March 1, 1934. A.D. 10:01 A.M., with an accompanying explanation, A Chart of the New Deal, April, 1934 issue.

2. A speech by Postmaster General Frank C. Walker on October 18, 1940, just weeks before the critical presidential election of 1940, conveying Walker’s warm and animated support for President Roosevelt and Walker’s expectation of America’s eventual involvement in World War II.

3. FDR’s proposed Economic Bill of Rights, contained in his Annual Message in January, 1944."

Throughout these chapters you will see an appreciation of the role of government in contributing to the quality of life of our citizens. This was a characteristic — and continuing controversial — consequence of FDR’s twelve-year presidency. Even as the authors celebrate this legacy, you will glimpse aspirations to rediscover this spirit of community improvement, increased support for the most vulnerable Americans and efforts to uplift the best characteristics of our society which were at the heart of the New Deal. Hence the Moving Forward part of our title. Fittingly, we conclude this book with the words of Franklin Roosevelt in his Annual Message of 1944, the segment summarizing an Economic Bill of Rights as he prepared the nation for its postwar role of world leadership. It captures the essence of what he sought to begin to accomplish through the New Deal. It remains a provocative blueprint for our future.

I: The New Deal:

Recognizing and Preserving the Legacy

Kathryn Flynn and the NNDPA: A Quarter Century of Leadership

CHRISTOPHER N. BREISETH

Kathy Flynn gave birth to the National New Deal Preservation Association (NNDPA) in the 1990s and as Executive Director has led it ever since. The renewed national interest over the last several years in the accomplishments of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal colleagues, from 1933 to 1945, has surfaced during the Presidency of Joe Biden. That renewed interest in the New Deal legacy has at its source the work of Kathy Flynn and her colleagues both in New Mexico and then nationally through the NNDPA.

New Mexico’s twentieth Secretary of State, Stephanie Gonzales, hired Kathryn Flynn in the 1990s to be New Mexico’s Deputy Secretary of State. One of Kathy’s main duties was to compile and edit the New Mexico Blue Book which publishes information on the state’s history, in addition to information on every department or related program within the New Mexico state government. Published every two years since 1912, it is of particular interest to state employees, legislators, historians and others, as Kathy says, as a reference to who was who, and how come, and what was where and how come, and New Mexico history up the Wazoo. The NM Blue Book includes information about Native American governments and recommends traveler sites to tourists to enjoy across the state. Kathy produced six NM Blue Book editions over twelve years under two Secretaries of State.

At the outset, she met with a large number of New Mexico government employees to prepare her first NM Blue Book for 1991–1992 and was amazed to discover the extent of the New Deal legacy in New Mexico. The Federal Works Project Administration [WPA] had provided employment to destitute New Mexicans during the Great Depression to construct courthouses, public schools, city halls, libraries, university buildings and parks. The New Deal also supported artists through the Federal Arts Project [FAP], which would become one of Kathy’s main interests. Fascinated by the volume and varieties of these New Deal treasures, Kathy, with her state government colleagues, created an informal New Mexico New Deal Task Force to discover, highlight and preserve these treasures created a half century earlier. Known as The New Mexico Public Art Restoration Task Force, beginning in 1993, it was active for the following five years. The Task Force, for example, recommended that Kathy include in the NM Blue Book reproductions of twelve public murals produced by artists paid by the WPA as divider pages, one mural for each of the twelve chapters. Five other WPA murals were also included. The Task Force members were impressed by how many New Deal buildings were still in use and how much of the public art continued to survive. They also focused on New Deal programs supporting writers and musicians.

Kathy Flynn sought systematically to gather information on New Deal art in New Mexico. With a $15,000 grant from a strong supporter of the Task Force, the Hervey Stockman Foundation, the organization was able to carry out its research. In 1995 Kathy compiled and edited Treasures On New Mexico Trails: Discover New Deal Art and Architecture. A tour guide, reference book and educational source, it highlighted the art and architecture that came out of the depression years and how New Mexico’s three predominant cultures participated in and profited by New Deal programs. The book covers 48 New Mexico towns and provides biographies on 166 artists, and essays on many of the multicultural activities during this fascinating period of history. The cover features a mural, The Old Santa Fe Trail — Sangre de Cristo Mountains which is one of six outstanding murals created by William Penhallow Henderson for the United States Federal Courthouse next door to Santa Fe’s Main Post Office in downtown Santa Fe. A later and updated edition of this book is now called Public Art and Public Architecture in New Mexico — 1933–1943. The newer book cover is different, but those six murals are still referenced in the book in detail. They are still in this building to be enjoyed along with the two earlier murals in the Main Post Office next door by Gerald Cassidy.

Following publication of the book, the Task Force reached out to key resource people around the state to locate as many New Deal Treasures as possible. In her letter to such resource people, Kathy outlined the goals of the Task Force:

1. Develop a volunteer New Deal Detective Group who might enjoy visiting the known New Deal artwork in your community and completing a simple survey form as to the current condition of the art pieces.

2. Attempt to locate creations that we have information on but are not aware of their location and/or condition. Also attempt to determine if there are other artworks and craft items that are unknown to us.

3. Have a professional conservator evaluate the condition of those pieces identified in the survey as being in the greatest need of restoration.

4. Restore the pieces in greatest need when funds permit.

5 Hopefully the whole activity will cause an appreciation of the beautiful and little known treasures that are in so many communities around the state and create a greater awareness of their history and how they have recorded something of our state’s history.

Totally hooked by the extent of the New Deal legacy, not only in New Mexico, but nationally, Kathy asked Secretary Gonzales if she could contact Secretaries of State throughout the country to survey New Deal projects created in their states between 1933 and 1943. Given their enthusiastic responses, Kathy asked permission to bring these officials together to New Mexico for a conference to learn more about these New Deal treasures nationally. I was off and running to bring representatives from as many Secretary-of-State offices as possible, Kathy recalls. While there were extensive preliminary consultations and communications among these state officials prior to the first conference, representatives of fifteen states finally came together on December 3–4, 1998, towards the end of Secretary Gonzales’ time in office.

In addition to Secretary Gonzales and Kathy, there were representatives throughout New Mexico state government, including the Museum of International Folk Art, the National Park Service, the Office of Cultural Affairs, the State Fair Museum as well as citizens identified and interested in the New Deal, particularly with links to the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). National representatives also attended, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation and folks from Illinois, Ohio, Texas, California and Washington, D.C.

Their agenda included the following goals:

1. Identify and develop a network of people, agencies and organizations Interested in New Deal supported projects.

2. Develop and maintain a list of New Deal repositories nationwide.

3. Find monies for the preservation of New Deal treasures.

4. Determine how best to guide and encourage education of the public to preserve these works.

5. Consider the possibility of forming a national organization to support the above efforts.

6. Consider other suggested topics that participants think critical to the present.

At the conclusion of this gathering in Santa Fe, the group voted to create a nationwide, non-profit organization that would gather, compile and educate Americans about the large variety of projects created by President Roosevelt to provide employment opportunities for unemployed Americans. Projects included public buildings, parks, dams, roads, bridges, as well as public art, music, theater and literature. Attention would also be directed to the creation by the New Deal of 91 Resettlement Communities, the most prominent survivors of which are Greenbelt, Maryland; Greenhills, Ohio; Greendale, Wisconsin; Arthurdale, West Virginia; Roosevelt, New Jersey and Dyess Colony, Arkansas (home of Johnny Cash). The group selected a name for the new organization: The National New Deal Preservation Association (NNDPA). Its initial officers were Sam Larcombe, President (Santa Fe, NM); Duane Chartier, Vice President (Culver City, CA); Lynda Grasty, Secretary (Albuquerque, NM); Connie Kieffer, Treasurer (Highland Park, IL) and Kathryn Flynn, Executive Director (Santa Fe, NM).

Studs Terkel, New Deal author and Connie Kieffer, President — Midwest Chapter of the NNDPA. at the NNDPA’s Chicago conference May 3 & 4, 2002

Chris Breiseth, Kathy, Stan Rosen and two individuals who spoke about the CCC at the NNDPA’s Chicago conference May 3 & 4, 2002 — The New Deal: Past, Present and Future.

Francis V. O’Connor and Kathy Flynn.

President Larcombe explained that the purpose of the organization was to form a link between the activities of the various New Deal work projects done between 1933 and 1943 of the Franklin Roosevelt Era and the present. $3,000 was provided to facilitate the beginning of the NNDPA by Dr. Chartier, an art conservator from California, and Roy Lemons, an active New Mexican who had been in the CCC. All who attended constituted a temporary Board of Directors, really the Founders of the NNDPA. They included Ann Olszewski (Cleveland, Ohio Public Library), Keith Andreucci (Texas GSA), Rene Harrison (National Trust for Historic Preservation, Washington, D.C.), and the following New Mexicans: Jane Jodeit, Rosalie Triana, Barbara Stanislawski, Stan Rosen, Sarah Pirkl, Tey Mariana Nunn, Roy Lemons, Charles Singletary, Sally Bowler-Hill, Joan Barr and Edson Way. Jim Pirkl, Sarah’s husband, was asked to design a logo and Duane Chartier agreed to develop a website and secure the Domain Name, newdeallegacy.org.

The mission of the NNDPA, a non-profit, tax exempt–501-c-3 organization, was to preserve the nation’s New Deal legacy through the identification, documentation, preservation and public education about the New Deal and its profound impact on Americans in the Great Depression — specifically through the visual and performing arts, literature, crafts, structures and environmental projects. Articles of incorporation were filed as a New Mexico corporation on November 19, 1999.

Kathy Flynn became the leader of the NNDPA as Executive Director since she had given it birth and was in the best position to undertake its ambitious program. The NNDPA would be housed in Santa Fe (eventually literally in Kathy’s house). The New Deal’s expenditure by state, per capita, was greatest in New Mexico. With a charge to develop NNDPA chapters in other states, New Mexico led the way when interested historical associations in the state, with the New Mexico individuals listed above, elected to create the first NNDPA chapter in New Mexico which Kathy also led and continues to do so. It remains an active and creative organization. Other chapters followed in Chicago (named the Midwest Regional Chapter and organized by Connie Kieffer), Washington, D.C., Colorado Springs (led by Barbara Diamond) and New York City.

Indicative of the work begun by the New Mexico chapter, Duane Chartier, a professional art conservator, was hired to preserve and restore some of the art work discovered in New Mexico. Later he came from California and conducted Art Preservation Workshops around the state. Representatives of various buildings attended to learn what to look for and what to do to protect their art work. The New Mexico chapter successfully pursued funding from the New Mexico Legislature and private sources to begin preserving, restoring and protecting public art of the New Deal era.

The national organization began its active life with a first general membership meeting in Washington, D.C. on December 7, 1999, coinciding with the annual conference of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The NNDPA gathering attracted New Deal scholars and specialists from around the nation. President Larcombe summarized the results of the meeting.

1. Voted Virginia Mecklenberg and Thomas Thurston to be members of the NNDPA Board.

2. Committed to work with the National Civilian Conservation Corps Alumni Group to coordinate the activities of the two organizations, even exploring eventual merger, recognizing that because of the passing away of the surviving CCC boys, this interaction was urgent. The logistical challenge of such coordination was recognized.

3. The leading priority was to search for all living New Deal Project workers for oral history interviews and to identify and save New Deal memorabilia. A set of standard interview questions would be developed for use by volunteers conducting the oral history interviews. A Task Force of NNDPA members was charged to put this campaign together to reach the surviving New Deal workers.

4. Membership expansion was selected as a second priority. A well-planned recruitment drive could be a major success given the widespread national interest in the New Deal.

5. Fund raising was adopted as a third priority given that the members agreed that preliminary work was needed to begin planning a National Conference within the next two or three years to gather leading New Deal scholars and others to report on current research, preservation and conservation activities and to articulate a national plan to guide the NNDPA’s future.

6. Members agreed that, for the time being, the Association’s Annual Meeting ought to coincide with the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Annual Conference. The time and place of the 2000 NNDPA Meeting in October in Los Angeles was identified. The Board determined to work with the National Trust staff to arrange a major event focusing on New Deal projects.

7. Though not as urgent as the above priorities, the Association needed to work on an annotated checklist of all repositories of New Deal primary source material on the projects covered by the NNDPA mission. Although such national repositories as the National Archives and the Library of Congress were well known (even their New Deal holdings needed analysis and documentation), valuable materials existed at the state and local levels and needed to be identified.

8. Communication between Association members and other organizations interested in the New Deal was essential. A Newsletter, expanded use of the Internet, public service announcements, press releases, even an 800 number, were chosen as effective means to publicize the NNDPA and facilitate contact with surviving New Deal workers and those who share the NNDPA mission.

The start-up process for getting a national organization going, without significant funding became clear. A planned meeting in Taos, NM in 2001 did not occur for lack of a quorum. The NNDPA Board at the time had eighteen members, including: Barbara Stanis-lawski, Alan Harris Stein (IL), Andrew Connors, Connie Kieffer (IL), Duane Chartier (CA), Heather Becker (IL), Jerry Rogers (NM), Keith Andreucci (D.C.), Sarah Pirki (NM), Tom Thurston (NY), Sam Larcombe (NM), Lynda Grasty (NM), Stan Rosen (NM), Sally Bowler-Hill (NM), Peg Lohstroh (OH), Ann Olszewski (OH), Matthew Fidler (NY), and Vincente Ximenes (NM-CCC).

The first major NNDPA national conference, focusing on Past, Present and Future, was held In Chicago on May 3-4, 2002 and was coordinated by the Midwest Regional Chapter of the NNDPA, led by Connie Kieffer and Heather Becker. Meetings were held at the Art Institute and at Roosevelt University, with its Center for New Deal Studies, directed by Margaret Rung, playing host. Several formal presentations were given by young PhD candidates writing dissertations on the New Deal, signaling an emerging enthusiastic interest of a younger generation in rediscovering through serious scholarship the transformative efforts made during the Roosevelt Administration. Major speeches were made by Francis V. O’Connor on the New Deal Theatre Project and by Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, granddaughter of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, trustee of Roosevelt University and Co-Chair of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, whose recently selected president and CEO, Christopher Breiseth, also attended. He soon became an active member of the NNDPA board. The climax of the conference was the recognition of several elderly men in attendance who had been CCC Boys. Celebrating them was Studs Terkel, who