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
New Deal
Demolition of Van Cortlandt Park Stadium Expected
“Once a central gathering place for school sports and community events, the city has determined the long-shuttered stadium building at Van Cortlandt Park is beyond repair, with demolition now considered inevitable — even as funding to carry it out remains uncertain,” reports The Riverdale Press. [Read more…] about Demolition of Van Cortlandt Park Stadium Expected
Strike! 13 Strikes Every New Yorker Should Know About
Today the state of Minnesota is engaged in the first General Strike in nearly 80 years. There have been thousands of strikes in American history, but only about a dozen General Strikes. One of the first strikes took place in the city of New York in 1677. Afterward a dozen cart-men (one-horse cart operators) were criminally prosecuted “for not obeying the Command and Doing their Dutyes as becomes them in their Places” and fined.
About 80 strikes in the U.S. have involved over 100,000 workers. Here are 13 strikes every New Yorker should know about: [Read more…] about Strike! 13 Strikes Every New Yorker Should Know About
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
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
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
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
Heather Cox Richardson’s Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America
At a time when the very foundations of democracy seem under threat, the lessons of the past offer a roadmap for navigating a moment of political crisis. In Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America (Viking, 2023), historian Heather Cox Richardson delves into the tumultuous journey of American democracy, revealing how the roots of Donald Trump’s “authoritarian experiment” can be traced back through the earliest days of the republic. [Read more…] about Heather Cox Richardson’s Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America
‘Thuggery, Intimidation and General Foul Play’: Ogden Mills & The 1935 Nabisco Strike
Like all great mysteries, it started with an unexpected clue. In this case, a photograph that caught the eye of Joe D’Agostino, Historic Interpreter at Staatsburgh State Historic Site in Hyde Park, Dutchess County, NY.
It was a March 3, 1935 Acme News Service photograph showing workers picketing outside the 5th Avenue, Manhattan mansion formerly owned by Ruth Livingston Mills (1855-1920) and her husband Ogden Mills (1856-1929), who had also owned the Staatsburgh Mansion. [Read more…] about ‘Thuggery, Intimidation and General Foul Play’: Ogden Mills & The 1935 Nabisco Strike
The Great Depression in New York City: A Primer
As the 1920s advanced, the economy soared. But with that dramatic expansion came irrational exuberance and unchecked speculation: stock prices reached levels that had no basis in reality; margin purchases were rampant; banks handed out loans lavishly and imprudently; and giddy product production resulted in a vast oversupply of goods.
On Tuesday, October 29, 1929, it all came crashing down. This is the story of the Great Depression in New York City. [Read more…] about The Great Depression in New York City: A Primer
Post Office Murals of Henry Varnum Poor
On the latest episode of Crossroads of Rockland History, the new documentary, “The Murals,” which delves into the art of Henry Varnum Poor, formerly of New City, NY. The film features his New Deal era post office murals in Chicago. Filmmaker TG Jamroz spoke about how and why these murals were made by Poor; why they feature writer Carl Sandburg and architect Louis Sullivan; and how they inspire people today. [Read more…] about Post Office Murals of Henry Varnum Poor
The Rockland County Work Camp That Inspired The Civilian Conservation Corps
Ninety years ago this month, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the bill that created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The CCC established labor camps around the nation where unemployed men did forestry work and park improvements.
Much of their hard work is evident in state and national parks, which are still enjoyed by the public. At the time of its creation, the CCC was described as a “novel work-relief plan.” But it was not entirely novel. A similar program was being run in Rockland County, New York. [Read more…] about The Rockland County Work Camp That Inspired The Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps in the Catskills
The aims of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) were to provide jobs to young men and veterans, assist their struggling families and at the same time conduct conservation projects to reverse decades of environmental degradation, improve public lands and develop parks, trails and campgrounds for public enjoyment. [Read more…] about The Civilian Conservation Corps in the Catskills
The Origins of Rockwell Kent: The Development of an Artist and His Craft
Rockwell Kent, the artist who made the Adirondacks his home from 1928 until his death in 1971, mastered more media than any of his contemporaries, even if one were to include Andy Warhol.
And no one was more skillful than he at agitprop – exhorting the masses to political action through expressive combinations of images and words, in posters, pamphlets, books and even bottle caps, those he used to seal the milk bottles from his Ausable Forks dairy farm. [Read more…] about The Origins of Rockwell Kent: The Development of an Artist and His Craft
Marjorie Sewell Cautley: Renowned Landscape Architect
Marjorie Sewell Cautley (1891–1954) was the first woman landscape architect to design state parks, the first to plan the landscape of a federally funded housing project, the first to lecture in a university’s city planning department – and the first person to design a plan for D.L. Rogers Memorial Park in Bolton Landing on Lake George. [Read more…] about Marjorie Sewell Cautley: Renowned Landscape Architect
FDR’s Landslide Victory in 1936
This week on The Historians Podcast, David Pietrusza discusses his latest book, Roosevelt Sweeps Nation: FDR’s 1936 Landslide and the Triumph of the Liberal Ideal (Diversion Books, 2022). [Read more…] about FDR’s Landslide Victory in 1936
Granville’s WPA Mural of Working in a Slate Quarry
“Men Working in Slate Quarry,” the 1939 Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded mural displayed at the Slate Valley Museum in Granville, Washington County, NY is as good an example as you will find of “Art for the People.”
The subject of the museum’s current exhibition “One Painting, Many Stories,” explores many of the artistic, cultural and political contexts within which the mural was created. [Read more…] about Granville’s WPA Mural of Working in a Slate Quarry