Considering the common U.S. reaction to 9/11, we must ask: Can the U.S. do without its exceptionalist consciousness? Or is this consciousness indispensable to America?
Patrick Lawrence: Exceptionalism & Its Consequences
Tag: Great Depression
The Depression-Era Veterans Who Marched on DC
On Veteran’s Day, Shannon Bow O’Brien recounts what happened to the Bonus Army March by WWI veterans who, by the winter of 1931, were desperately short of cash.
COVID-19: The Great Depression & the Corona Shock
Nomi Prins compares four key factors — unemployment, the economy, the market, and the Federal Reserve’s response — in the crises then and now.
Paul Ryan’s Quiet Recklessness
In the mainstream media frame, Donald Trump and Paul Ryan represent opposite poles of the Republican Party. Trump is reckless and Ryan responsible, but that is a false dichotomy, says Lawrence Davidson.
Why FDR Matters Now More Than Ever
On the 133rd anniversary of his birth, Franklin Roosevelt remains a relevant figure for America, the president who gave meaning to the Constitution’s mandate to “provide for the general Welfare” — and who is still a target for those who made…
Fear Itself: Democrats Duck FDR’s Lessons
The lessons of Franklin Roosevelt are relevant today, especially the need for an activist government to “promote the general Welfare” by investing in infrastructure and combating the power of “organized money.” But many Democrats shy away from the debate, says Beverly…
FDR’s Legacy of Can-Do Government
Born to a well-to-do family 132 years ago, Franklin Roosevelt would earn the hatred of America’s plutocrats when as President he deployed the federal government to battle the Great Depression, an animosity toward FDR that the modern Right continues to this…
Forgetting the Why of the New Deal
Until the Great Crash of 1929, the federal government did little to regulate the power of Wall Street as it precipitated cycles of boom and bust that ruined the lives of many Americans. That history is now being forgotten as Republicans…
Dick Cheney: Son of the New Deal
From the Archive: As Republicans and the Tea Party seek to dismantle the New Deal’s social contract, one of their heroes, Dick Cheney, concedes that his personal success traces back to the federal government’s intervention against the depredations inflicted on Americans…
Modern-Day ‘Hooverville’ with Hope
The response to Occupy Wall Street is personal for many participants and visitors alike. For historian William Loren Katz, the iconic protest in Lower Manhattan was a reminder of Depression-era “Hoovervilles” — but with a youthful optimism.