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Al Smith

Al Smith, John Apperson, FDR & The Fight That Expanded NYS Forests

November 5, 2020 by David Gibson 1 Comment

Paul Schaefer with John AppersonA young wildlands advocate Paul Schaefer was enamored of activist John Apperson from the day he first met him.

It was about 1931. Apperson was an General Electric engineer fighting to protect Lake George and other wild places. As Schaefer said, it was the pure sense of joy that Apperson exuded about conservation in the Adirondacks which galvanized young people looking for a cause.

These were very important years for the Adirondacks, as for the nation. The 1932 national election loomed, as the Great Depression sucked hope and savings from so many. One can imagine the anxiety that gripped the country and the opportunity for hucksters, demagogues, as well as statesmen. [Read more…] about Al Smith, John Apperson, FDR & The Fight That Expanded NYS Forests

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, Nature, New Exhibits, Recreation, Western NY Tagged With: 1932 Election, Al Smith, Environmental History, Forest Preserve, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John Apperson, Lake George, Logging, Paul Schaefer, Political History

Revolution of ’28 Talk At NYPL Grand Central Branch

July 21, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

the revolution of 28Historian Robert Chiles is set to discuss his book The Revolution of ’28 at the New York Public Library’s Grand Central branch, 135 E 46th St, New York, on Tuesday, July 23, at 6 pm. [Read more…] about Revolution of ’28 Talk At NYPL Grand Central Branch

Filed Under: Books, Events, History Tagged With: Al Smith, Books, New York City, New York Public Library, Political History

Al Smith, FDR, and the Progressive Movement

March 12, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

a new york minute in history podcastOn the most recent episode of the podcast A New York Minute In History, co-hosts Devin Lander and Don Wildman examine how two New Yorkers – Al Smith and Franklin Delano Roosevelt – influenced the Progressive Era of the early 20th Century.  The episode also explores how the administrations of Smith and Roosevelt shaped modern day politics and the role of government. [Read more…] about Al Smith, FDR, and the Progressive Movement

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Al Smith, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Podcasts, politics, State Historian

New Book: Al Smith and the Revolution of 1928

April 5, 2018 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

revolution of 28Robert Chiles new book, The Revolution of ’28: Al Smith, American Progressivism, and the Coming of the New Deal (Cornell University Press, 2018) explores the career of New York Governor and 1928 Democratic presidential nominee Alfred E. Smith.

The Revolution of ’28 charts the rise of that idiomatic progressivism during Smith’s early years as a state legislator through his time as governor of the Empire State in the 1920s, before proceeding to a revisionist narrative of the 1928 presidential campaign, exploring the ways in which Smith’s gubernatorial progressivism was presented to a national audience.

[Read more…] about New Book: Al Smith and the Revolution of 1928

Filed Under: Books, History Tagged With: Al Smith, Book Notices, Immigration, New Deal, Political History

The Fracking Report In Historical Perspective

January 8, 2015 by Bruce Dearstyne 1 Comment

George Bellows - Up the Hudson (1908)Governor Andrew Cuomo’s decision in December to ban the use of hydrofracking in New York State was politically astute. The governor asserted he is merely following the recommendations in a new report from the State Health Department, A Public Review of High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing for Shale Gas Development.

That report, based on four years of research, is also politically judicious. It avoids condemning hydrofracking or sensationalizing its potential health risks. Instead, it concludes that “the overall weight of the evidence from the cumulative body of information” studied for the report demonstrates that there are “significant uncertainties about the kinds of adverse health outcomes that may be associated with HVHF [High Volume Hydraulic Fracking], the likelihood of the occurrence of adverse health outcomes, and the effectiveness of some of the mitigation measures in reducing or preventing environmental impact which could adversely affect public health.” The 184-page report is buttressed by 74 references, mostly well-documented studies and reports from the past few years. [Read more…] about The Fracking Report In Historical Perspective

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Al Smith, Andrew Cuomo, Charles Evans Hughes, Conservation Department, DEC, DOH, Environmental History, Medical History, Political History, Thomas E. Dewey, Urban History

Kelly Adirondack Center:
Adirondack Environmental History Going Online

April 8, 2014 by Anthony F. Hall 3 Comments

Kelly Adirondack CenterGovernor Al Smith helped block the construction of a highway along the shore of Tongue Mountain, but it was Franklin D. Roosevelt who was instrumental in protecting the east shore of Lake George, documents in the Apperson-Schaefer collection at the Kelly Adirondack Center at Union College in Schenectady suggest.

With funding from the bond acts of 1916 and 1926, much of Tongue Mountain and many of the islands in the Narrows were now protected, permanently, as parts of the Adirondack Forest Preserve.

But by 1926, John Apperson, the General Electric engineer who dedicated much of his life to the protection of Lake George, had become concerned about the future of the east side. [Read more…] about Kelly Adirondack Center:
Adirondack Environmental History Going Online

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Al Smith, Environmental History, FDR, Kelly Adirondack Center, Lake George, Online Resources, Political History

NY Public Historians: Looking Back, Looking Ahead

April 2, 2013 by Bruce Dearstyne 2 Comments

albany_state_education_buildingApril 11, 2013 marks the 94th anniversary of Governor Al Smith’s signing the law that established New York’s system of local government Historians (Laws of 1919, Ch. 181). Smith was a history-minded leader.

As an Assemblyman, he had sponsored the bill in 1911 that moved the State Historian’s office to the State Education Department and initiated the state’s local government records program. In 1919, his first year as governor, he was preparing to reorganize and modernize state government.

His approval of the Historians’ Law was a milestone event. New York was, and still is, the only state in the nation to declare preservation and dissemination of local history to be a public purpose so important that it is embodied in statute.
[Read more…] about NY Public Historians: Looking Back, Looking Ahead

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Al Smith, Association of Public Historians of NYS, Municipal Historians, New York State Education Department, Political History, Public History

Andrew Cuomo and New York History

July 25, 2012 by Bruce Dearstyne Leave a Comment

Through several initiatives and statements, Governor Andrew Cuomo has become a highly visible proponent of New York State history. Taken together, his projects constitute evidence of vision, interest, and support. Cuomo sees history as something that can be used to deepen understanding, provide perspective, and help guide us into the future. [Read more…] about Andrew Cuomo and New York History

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Al Smith, Andrew Cuomo, New York State Museum, Path Through History, Political History, Public History, Theodore Roosevelt, Tourism, Votes for Women Trail

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