Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal Explained — Fexingo History

The Federal Art Project: FDR's Vision for American Culture

In Episode 60 of Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal Explained, Lucas and Luna explore the Federal Art Project (FAP), a branch of the Works Progress Administration that employed thousands of artists during the Great Depression. They discuss how the FAP created over 200,000 works of public art, including murals in post offices and schools, and how it supported artists like Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Alice Neel. The episode covers the leadership of Holger Cahill, who emphasized American scene painting, and the controversies surrounding abstract art and leftist imagery. Lucas explains the Index of American Design, a catalog of folk art, and the project's legacy in shaping American cultural identity. They also touch on the FAP's conflicts with the Dies Committee and its eventual defunding in 1943. The episode ties the FAP's mission to the broader New Deal goal of preserving human dignity during economic crisis. #NewDeal #FederalArtProject #FDR #GreatDepression #HolgerCahill #JacksonPollock #WillemDeKooning #AliceNeel #AmericanArt #WPA #PublicArt #IndexOfAmericanDesign #DiesCommittee #DepressionEra #ArtHistory #AmericanHistory #FexingoHistory #History Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The Federal Theatre Project: FDR's WPA on Stage

In Episode 59 of FDR and the New Deal Explained, Lucas and Luna take you behind the curtain of one of the New Deal's most audacious experiments: the Federal Theatre Project. From 1935 to 1939, this WPA program put thousands of theatre professionals to work and brought live drama to millions of Americans who had never seen a play. Lucas walks Luna through the rise and fall of the FTP, highlighting its visionary director Hallie Flanagan, the controversy surrounding the Living Newspaper productions, the infamous 'Revolt of the Beavers,' and the project's ultimate demise at the hands of the House Un-American Activities Committee and conservatives like Martin Dies. Along the way, they explore how the FTP created a truly national theatre — with regional troupes, African American units, and even a Yiddish theatre in New York — before being branded as communist propaganda. It's a story of artistic ambition, political backlash, and a fleeting moment when the U.S. government funded the arts on a scale never seen before or since. #FederalTheatreProject #HallieFlanagan #WPA #NewDeal #FDR #LivingNewspaper #HUAC #MartinDies #RevoltoftheBeavers #AfricanAmericanTheatre #YiddishTheatre #GreatDepression #ArtsFunding #Censorship #OrsonWelles #History #FexingoHistory #NorthAmerica Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

FDR's New Deal: The Fight for a 30-Hour Workweek and the Black-Connery Bill

In 1933, as the Great Depression gripped America and the New Deal took shape, a bold proposal emerged: a national 30-hour workweek. This episode dives into the battle over the Black-Connery Bill, a bill that would have banned labor by anyone under 16 and capped the workweek at 30 hours. We follow the bill's champion, Senator Hugo Black of Alabama, who would later become a Supreme Court justice, and his unlikely ally, Congressman William Connery. We explore the fierce opposition from business groups, the cautious stance of FDR, and the bill's ultimate transformation into the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Along the way, we meet figures like labor leader William Green, Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, and the NRA's 'blanket code' of maximum hours. The episode reveals how the 30-hour workweek became a rallying cry for labor, a headache for the White House, and a forgotten turning point in American labor history. #30HourWorkWeek #BlackConneryBill #HugoBlack #NewDeal #FairLaborStandardsAct #WilliamConnery #FrancesPerkins #WilliamGreen #GreatDepression #LaborHistory #FDR #WPA #NRA #Senate #HouseOfRepresentatives #ChildLabor #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

FDR's Food Stamp Plan: The First Federal Food Assistance

In 1939, the Roosevelt administration launched an experimental program that would reshape American food policy for generations: the Food Stamp Plan. This episode follows the unlikely alliance of Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace, Milo Perkins, and a group of struggling farmers and hungry city dwellers who found common ground in a radical idea. We explore how the plan worked — participants bought orange stamps for full-price food, then received free blue stamps for surplus commodities — and why it succeeded where direct relief failed. We also look at the political battles, the role of the Surplus Marketing Administration, the program's sudden end in 1943, and its legacy in the modern SNAP program. Along the way, we meet the grocers, the anti-stamp critics, and the families whose lives changed when they could finally afford oranges and eggs. A story about depression-era innovation, dignity, and the unexpected power of a simple stamp. #FDR #FoodStampPlan #NewDeal #HenryWallace #MiloPerkins #SurplusMarketingAdministration #SNAP #DepressionEra #FarmPolicy #FoodAssistance #GreatDepression #USDA #Farmers #Relief #Experiment #FexingoHistory #History #NorthAmerica Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

FDR's Resettlement Administration and the Greenbelt Towns

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore an often-overlooked New Deal agency: the Resettlement Administration. Created in 1935, it aimed to move struggling rural and urban families to planned communities with modern amenities. We focus on the Greenbelt Towns program—three experimental suburbs built from scratch: Greenbelt, Maryland; Greenhills, Ohio; and Greendale, Wisconsin. We meet Rexford Tugwell, the RA's head, who envisioned these as a middle ground between city and country. We discuss the radical ideas behind them: public housing, cooperative stores, and integrated green spaces. The towns were intended to be self-sustaining, with rental income covering costs after initial federal investment. But they faced fierce opposition from private developers and conservative politicians who saw them as socialist. By 1937, Congress cut funding, halting expansion. Today, these towns survive as thriving communities, but their original vision was scaled back. We also touch on the RA's broader work: rural rehabilitation loans, migrant camps (documented by Dorothea Lange), and the infamous attempt to buy up worn-out farmland—critics called it 'planned poverty.' Tugwell resigned in 1936, but his ideas influenced later public housing and urban planning. This episode reveals a bold experiment that almost reshaped American suburbs. #NewDeal #GreenbeltTowns #RexfordTugwell #ResettlementAdministration #PublicHousing #FDR #GreatDepression #SuburbanHistory #GreenbeltMD #GreenhillsOH #GreendaleWI #PlannedCommunities #DorotheaLange #CooperativeMovement #RuralRehabilitation #History #FexingoHistory #UrbanPlanning Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]