Time to Bring Back the Home Owners Loan Corporation?

The New Deal’s mortgage relief program offers an effective alternative to the Obama administration’s failed strategy.

Continued high unemployment is unfortunately not the only bad piece of economic news that the nation has had to face this summer. It now appears as if the level of home foreclosures will continue at an alarming pace, with many economists now predicting that the number of Americans likely to lose their homes in 2010 will exceed one million — a figure that would surpass the more than 900,000 homes lost to foreclosure in 2009.

With so many homes at risk, the current housing crisis certainly rivals…

2010 Mid-terms: 1938 All Over Again?

With a wary public and still-shaky economy, the mid-terms look more like 1938 than 1934.

With US public opinion of the President falling below 50 percent, and Congress’ approval rating standing at only 20 percent, the prospects for a significant shift in the number of seats held in Congress by Republicans and Democrats remains high. In this respect, if we were to compare President Obama’s current political standing with FDR’s, the 2010 mid-term election looks more like 1938 than 1934. FDR won a massive victory in 1936, much like President Obama’s decisive victory in 2008. The expectation among the public and in the…

Remembering Social Security’s Roots on Its 75th Birthday

Roosevelt historian David Woolner shines a light on today’s issues with lessons from the past. **Photo: Ida May Fuller receives the first Social Security check.

On August 14, 2010, one of the New Deal’s most famous and enduring programs, Social Security, will celebrate its 75th anniversary. While the debate over the role of government rages and deficit hawks advocate cuts to Social Security benefits to trim the federal deficit, Social Security once again finds itself in the public limelight. To gain a better understanding of Social Security, it is instructive to look back at how the act came into being and what…

The “Special Relationship” between Great Britain and the United States Began with FDR.

Roosevelt historian David Woolner shines a light on today’s issues with lessons from the past.

British Prime Minister David Cameron’s recent visit to Washington has revived interest in what is frequently called the “Special Relationship” between Great Britain and the United States. Many Americans may be familiar with the phrase, as it is often used to characterize the strength of the ties between London and Washington made manifest by the strong British commitment to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; by our joint struggle against international terrorism; and by the bonds of language and history, stretching all the way back to the…

Repeating Our Mistakes: The “Roosevelt Recession” and the Danger of Austerity

Roosevelt historian David Woolner shines a light on today’s issues with lessons from the past.

For those familiar with the New Deal, recent economic reports showing that the recovery is slowing, coupled with the refusal of the Senate to pass legislation (which President Obama supports) to extend unemployment benefits and provide additional federal aid to America’s struggling cities and states for fear of adding to the federal deficit sound like history repeating itself.

In 1937, after five years of sustained economic growth and a steadily declining unemployment rate, the Roosevelt Administration began to worry more about possible inflation and the size of…

The Tea Party Movement: Successor to the American Liberty League?

Roosevelt historian David Woolner shines a light on today’s issues with lessons from the past.

Much has been written about the parallels between President Obama and Franklin Roosevelt. Both leaders assumed office during a time of great economic crisis and at a moment when the United States faced significant security threats from abroad. And, even though President Obama has turned out to be a more of a centrist politician than his liberal supporters would like, he nevertheless shares (albeit to a lesser extent) FDR’s belief in the use of government as an instrument to help restore the economy and provide the…

Obama v. FDR: Using the Media to Restore Public Trust

Roosevelt historian David Woolner shines a light on today’s issues with lessons from the past.

There is no question that President Obama exhibited a masterful use of the media, including the Internet, during his election campaign. Through it he established an almost unprecedented bond with the American people, especially young people, who came to see his campaign as a means by which they might change their destiny — both their own and the country’s. But in the past eighteen months, that bond has all but disappeared. Perhaps this is because the process of governing is never as exciting as trying to…

Oil, Jobs, and the Environment - A New Deal Solution to the Spill?

Roosevelt historian David Woolner shines a light on today’s issues with lessons from the past. He co-edited the book “FDR and the Environment,” now out in paperback.

In the wake of recent revelations that far more oil is spilling out into the Gulf than was originally estimated, and as it now appears more and more likely that BP will not be able to completely shut off the flow of oil until perhaps as late as August, fears about the economic impact of the disaster have intensified. With roughly a third of the federal waters in the Gulf closed to fishing, the seafood…

FDR and the New Deal Response to an Environmental Catastrophe

Roosevelt historian David Woolner shines a light on today’s issues with lessons from the past. He co-edited the book “FDR and the Environment,” now out in paperback.

As President Obama heads to the Gulf of Mexico to inspect the miles of coastline ravaged by oil from the Deepwater Horizon blowout, he might wish to examine the federal government’s response to an earlier environmental catastrophe — the drought and dust storms of the 1930s that turned major regions of the United States into what is commonly referred to as the Dust Bowl.

As the generation that lived through the Great Depression will attest,…

Overcoming the Great Recession Will Take Courage, Not Fear

Roosevelt historian David Woolner shines a light on today’s issues with lessons from the past.

When Franklin Roosevelt first took the oath of office on March 4, 1933, he implored his fellow Americans not to shrink from “honestly facing” the grim reality of the Great Depression. It was time, he said, to confront the truth, frankly and boldly — not with despair, but with hope. For FDR was confident, confident that this “great Nation will endure as it had endured, will revive and will prosper.” He then uttered one of the most quoted lines in American history when he asserted that in…