On a warm, clear afternoon in June 1926, 600 Westchester County Republican delegates gathered in the art deco casino at Playland Amusement Park on Long Island Sound to endorse their neighbor, state Supreme Court Justice William F. Bleakley (1883–1969), for New York Governor. [Read more…] about Reluctant Warriors of 1936: William Bleakley & Herbert Lehman
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Owen D. Young: WWI Statesman, GE Radio & TV Pioneer
On a warm, sunny day amid the winding hills of Herkimer County, the world descended on Van Hornesville, a small Mohawk Valley community, without a train station but home to a global, widely respected statesman of commerce and international finance.
Ninety-five years ago this June, Owen D. Young (1874-1962), architect of the Young Plan on Germany’s fiscal rehabilitation after World War I, and longtime chairman of General Electric Company, presided over graduation ceremonies for the town’s newly built seven-room schoolhouse replete with a swimming pool, a playground, and an auditorium “wired for talkies.” [Read more…] about Owen D. Young: WWI Statesman, GE Radio & TV Pioneer
Peter Pan in the Catskills and Other Historical Essays
Peter Pan in the Catskills and Other Historical Essays (Purple Mountain Press, 2026) is a collection that evokes the magic of the region, from Rip Van Winkle to Maude Adams, whose renowned portrayal of Peter Pan made her famous.
This illustrated volume celebrates all that is extraordinary about the Catskill Mountains. In 33 essays, 28 writers dig into Catskills culture and history, bringing to light fossils, flora, and fauna, as well as art, railroads, baseball, and more. [Read more…] about Peter Pan in the Catskills and Other Historical Essays
Bear Mountain Dodgers: Spring Training in the War Years
After the cold, and snowy winter we experienced this year in the Empire State, it is difficult to imagine a major league ballclub preparing for the season by holding Spring Training in upstate New York.
Many contingencies emerged from the privations which occurred on the home front during World War II. [Read more…] about Bear Mountain Dodgers: Spring Training in the War Years
How The New Deal Helped Ignite Interest in American Skiing
Following the stock market crash of October 1929, an economic malady gripped the United States and much of the world, lasting several years. Loss of employment created excessive hardships, limiting even basic necessities of life.
The President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had previously been the two-term Governor of New York State, developed a composite plan to help citizens cope with the financial disaster and provide jobs, commonly known as “The New Deal.”
The ambitious program was multi-faceted, with one face being the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.) established in 1933, where young men were organized into military style labor, housed in barracks at remote locations. [Read more…] about How The New Deal Helped Ignite Interest in American Skiing
The Life & Legacy of Frances Perkins
Frances Perkins (1880-1965) was US Secretary of Labor in the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration for the entirety of his presidency from 1933 to 1945.
The first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet, Perkins was the architect of social security, a minimum wage, unemployment insurance, the 40-hour work week, bans on child labor, and many of the worker and fire safety standards we take for granted today. [Read more…] about The Life & Legacy of Frances Perkins
‘New Deal For Artists’ Opening Adirondack History Museum Film Series
With the failure of President Herbert Hoover’s policies and the ensuing Great Depression, Americans were desperate for help. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s pragmatic New Deal programs aimed to help Americans back to their feet by providing them with jobs. Several innovative public arts program were designed to provide economic relief and jobs for all kinds of artists from sculptures to painters and performers. [Read more…] about ‘New Deal For Artists’ Opening Adirondack History Museum Film Series
Marian Anderson & DAR Diversity History
World-renowned Black opera singer Marian Anderson (1897 – 1993) got her first big break after winning a 1925 singing competition sponsored by the New York Philharmonic. She performed at the Metropolitan Opera in Manhattan in 1955, becoming the first Black artist to do so. Throughout her career, Anderson performed all over the world while also lending her talent to the struggle against racial injustice. The granddaughter of Black people once enslaved in Virginia, she sang at the March on Washington in 1963 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom that same year.
Back in April 1939 however, Anderson was denied access to auditoriums in Washington, DC, and instead performed on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. [Read more…] about Marian Anderson & DAR Diversity History
Italian-Americans as Alien Enemies: Westchester Opera Star Ezio Pinza
In 1766 jurist William Blackstone published his Commentaries on the Law of England in which he defined the term “enemy alien” as it was understood in common law. He confirmed that during a time of war “alien enemies have no rights, no privileges.” The Crown exercises absolute power. In a simple turn of phrase, the Oxford professor anticipated the agony of millions of migrants. [Read more…] about Italian-Americans as Alien Enemies: Westchester Opera Star Ezio Pinza
Moses Smith and FDR: A Friendship
Moses Smith was a lifelong Democrat who lived in Hyde Park, in Dutchess County, New York, which at the time was a Republican bastion.
Smith was a tenant of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, living on a farm owned by FDR called Woodlawns. According to Smith’s son Clifford, the home got its name because of all the trees on its spacious lawns. [Read more…] about Moses Smith and FDR: A Friendship
FDR and Wall Street: Words with Actual Action
The American government has always been corrupt, yet the levels of corruption have varied from time to time. There has always been an element of dark money and insider trading going on, though what is happening now in the 21st century is beyond anything that ever came before.
Everyone in power, or running to get some, seems to be cashing in. That one billion dollars has already been spent by corporate interests in order to influence where hundreds of billions of taxpayer’s money will be spent after this election speaks to this fact. [Read more…] about FDR and Wall Street: Words with Actual Action
FDR, The New Deal, And A Mass Lynching in Georgia
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt developed New Deal programs to hire unemployed men to work on public works projects. In the South, New Deal jobs typically provided higher wages than those in the private sector and under those programs black men were paid the same wage as white men. [Read more…] about FDR, The New Deal, And A Mass Lynching in Georgia
New Children’s Book ‘Franklin’s Trees’ Tells of FDR’s Love of Nature
“All that is within me cries out to go back to my home on the Hudson River,” President Franklin D. Roosevelt once declared. It was at his home in Hyde Park, NY, that FDR could indulge in his favorite avocation— “tree farmer.” A new children’s book Franklin’s Trees (Muddy Boots, 2024) by A.J. Schenkman with illustrations by Lauren Reese introduces FDR’s love of nature through a lifetime in which he oversaw the planting of over a million trees on his estate. [Read more…] about New Children’s Book ‘Franklin’s Trees’ Tells of FDR’s Love of Nature
State Parks Offers Digital Timeline Exploring Great Depression, Civilian Conservation Corps
New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) has released the third installment of the interactive, online timeline “Blazing a Trail: A History of New York State Parks and Historic Sites” in celebration of New York State Parks’ Centennial. This project employs photographs, illustrations, paintings, documents, archival footage, maps and narrative to tell the story of the development of the New York State Parks system. The newest installment, “Depression and A New Deal,” is available here, along with previously released eras. [Read more…] about State Parks Offers Digital Timeline Exploring Great Depression, Civilian Conservation Corps
The Rhinebeck Post Office: Bringing Art and History to Life
On the afternoon of May 1, 1939, in the idyllic town of Rhinebeck, in Dutchess County, NY, a large and excited crowd gathered to witness President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) officially dedicate the new Dutch Colonial-style post office. Other esteemed guests included First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, the president’s mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury, and James Farley, Postmaster General. [Read more…] about The Rhinebeck Post Office: Bringing Art and History to Life
Relief & Reform From The Settlement Movement to The New Deal
In December 1884, Canon Samuel Barnett and his wife Henrietta along with friends from Oxford University established Toynbee Hall in Commercial Street, Whitechapel. Named after their friend, fellow reformer and Oxford historian Arnold Toynbee who had recently passed away, the founders’ vision was to create a center for social research where privileged students would live and work. Their expectation was that “settling in” amongst East London’s poor would improve mutual understanding and ease class tensions. [Read more…] about Relief & Reform From The Settlement Movement to The New Deal
FDR, Boy Scouts, Civilian Conservation Corps and the Adirondacks
The New Deal was the largest expansion of federal power since the Civil War and many of its programs had their origins in Albany, in the policies of Governors Franklin D. Roosevelt and Al Smith and their influential aide, Frances Perkins. [Read more…] about FDR, Boy Scouts, Civilian Conservation Corps and the Adirondacks
How Fiorello La Guardia Became America’s Mayor, and Why He Still Matters
Fiorello La Guardia was one of the twentieth century’s most colorful politicians ― on the New York and national stage. He was also quintessentially American: the son of Italian immigrants (his mother was also Jewish), who rose in society through sheer will and chutzpah.
Almost one hundred years later, America is once again grappling with issues that would have been familiar to the Little Flower, as he was affectionately known. [Read more…] about How Fiorello La Guardia Became America’s Mayor, and Why He Still Matters
Brooklyn Army Terminal & A Sea Cruise for Elvis
We still have ships in Brooklyn. Take your kids to see the high-rise ocean liners tied up at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in Red Hook. Visit the Shore Road park (immortalized in Saturday Night Fever) underneath the Verrazano at the end of 4th Avenue, and watch the freighters drowsing at anchor, or heading to and from the container ports in New Jersey.
Take an orange and black ferry (Portside Out, Starboard Home) from Battery Park to the St. George Terminal on Staten Island and see where the Brooklyn piers were. See The Flamingo Kid, whenever possible. Fleet Week. [Read more…] about Brooklyn Army Terminal & A Sea Cruise for Elvis
New York City During World War Two
As Nazi Germany began its domination of Europe, America was woefully unprepared for fighting. Our military was small, poorly supplied and without the prospect of a robust manufacturing sector that might have provided the arms, planes, ships, tanks and other equipment it would have needed.
And then, on December 7, 1941 the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. [Read more…] about New York City During World War Two