Title: New Deal Cultural Programs
Headings: New Deal Cultural Programs:
New Deal Cultural Programs:
Experiments in Cultural Democracy
by Don Adams and Arlene Goldbard
IN THIS DOCUMENT...
Introduction: Federal Cultural Programs of the 1930's
Early New Deal Programs: PWAP and FERA
The Treasury Section of Fine Arts
The Works Progress Administration (WPA)
The Birth of "Federal One"
Federal One's Component Projects
The Federal Art Project:
The Federal Music Project:
The Federal Theatre Project:
The Federal Writers Project:
The Historical Records Survey:
Federal One in Retrospect
The Problem of Censorship
The End of an Era
FOOTNOTES
Go to the Cultural Policy in U.S. History for the
history of U.S. cultural policy prior to or since the Great Depression
Return to the Webster's World of Cultural Policy Home Page
Return to the overall WWCD Home Page

Content: In his Annual Message to Congress on January 4 of that year, Roosevelt spoke critically of the failure of his administration's first-term efforts: We find our population suffering from the old inequalities, little changed by our past sporadic remedies. In spite of our effort and in spite of our talk, we have not weeded out the overprivileged and we have not effectively lifted up the underprivileged....We have...a clear mandate from the people, that Americans must forswear the conception of the acquisition of wealth which, through excessive profits, creates undue private power over private affairs and, to our misfortune, over public affairs as well. In building toward this end we do not destroy ambition, nor do we seek to divide our wealth into equal shares on stated occasions. We continue to recognize the greater ability of some to earn more than others. But we do assert that the ambition of the individual to obtain for him and his a proper security, a reasonable leisure, and a decent living throughout life is an ambition to be preferred to the appetite for great wealth and great power. { 2 }
Though the New Deal failed to accomplish the fundamental structural changes FDR's words suggest, his administration entered its second phase in 1935 with a renewed commitment to long-range and sweeping reform of American institutions, emphasizing social justice. Persistent unemployment was a continuing concern, and Roosevelt felt that