Tag Archives: franklin roosevelt

Paul Walter

Public funding for the arts should be cut during a recession, right?

By Paul Walter | Fri 21st April 2017 - 5:45 pm

Grant Wood - American Gothic - Google Art Project

Well, er, no. “America after the fall – Painting in the 1930s” is an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts which breathtakingly displays how public funding for the arts during a depression (let alone a recession) can work wonders. As part of President Roosevelt’s “New Deal”, the Federal Arts Project employed artists to create visual art works, which eventually included over a hundred thousand paintings as well as many sculptures and other works. Artists who benefited included Jackson Pollock. There were other New Deal art projects such as the Public Works of Art project, the Section of Painting and Sculpture and the Treasury Relief Art Project.

All these programmes helped to produce an extraordinary decade for American Art, which is reflected brilliantly in the Royal Academy exhibition, on until June 4th in Piccadilly, London.

What comes over is that the decade established a distinctive American Art world, which was finally free of reference to art elsewhere. There is an extraordinary variety of styles producing a most colourful and impactful exhibition, reflecting the profound changes going on in the USA at the time.

Continue reading »
Posted in The Arts | Also tagged and | 8 Comments
Paul Walter

Compelling portrait of a disabled person who was one of the USA’s greatest Presidents

By Paul Walter | Sat 4th June 2016 - 12:36 pm

BBC 4 have surpassed themselves with “World War Two: 1945 & The Wheelchair President”. Professor David Reynolds presents a remarkably gripping and informed biography of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, focussing mainly on the final year of his life. It’s a must-see for any politics anorak and is available for the next 20 days here.

Continue reading »
Posted in LDVUSA | Also tagged | 3 Comments
Mike Tuffrey

Opinion: Nothing to fear but fear itself

By Mike Tuffrey | Wed 20th June 2012 - 10:55 am

Mike Tuffrey seeks inspiration from Roosevelt in advocating a four point plan for a sustainable economic recovery.

With all the depressing news about the economy, I can recommend a re-reading of the inaugural address of newly-elected President Franklin D Roosevelt, given in the depths of the Depression on March 4, 1933. Aside from his well-known call to arms against fear itself, he did a nice (and topical) line in banker-bashing too: “Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men”.

Continue reading »
Posted in London and Op-eds | 7 Comments
Antony Hook

Opinion: An historical comparison – the Big Society vs the Great Society

By Antony Hook | Tue 15th February 2011 - 11:34 am

In the late 90s, Tony Blair’s New Deal deliberately adopted the name of US President Franklin Roosevelt’s 1930s programme to increase public spending, create jobs, and escape the Great Depression.

Thirteen years later, one assumes that David Cameron’s Big Society (that Jeremy Browne praised yesterday) at least partially invokes another significant American liberal reform era: the Great Society of President Johnson in the 60s.

I fear that substituting “big” for “great” represents a lesser moral ambition. The Kennedy-Johnson years in America were self consciously “a call to greatness”. Politicians talked of “new frontiers”, putting an end to war, conquering …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 16 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Nigel Jones
    Belated birthday wishes Mary and I am often particularly interested in your comments on Lib Dem Voice....
  • Joseph Bourke
    The UK is a permanent member of the UN security council and has a responsibility to promote the NPT ...
  • Nigel Jones
    Thank you Adrian for reminding us in some detail of our opposition to the Iraq war, which clearly showed our international values. Ed Davey should be doing the ...
  • Nigel Jones
    I think Ed should have been more clearly opposed to the actions of Trump and Israel. The idea of regime change by military force began in recent practice by the...
  • Simon R
    @Steve: Theories are often being refined, but as understanding of science (and economics) grows, it's becoming rare for fundamental theories to be totally disca...