Annotated Bibliography for
“Significant State and Local Studies of the New Deal”
Keith Volanto, Department of History
Argersinger, Jo Ann., Toward a New Deal in Baltimore: People and Government in the Great Depression
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988).
This book remains one of the best New Deal urban case studies, incorporating the sweeping approach
Charles Trout used in his study of Boston (see below) rather than focusing strictly on local politics. In her
study of Baltimore, Argersinger found a city filled with leaders openly hostile to the New Deal. Mayor
Howard Jackson disparaged federal intrusion and New Deal welfare programs, business leaders
vehemently opposed labor union activity, and the Baltimore Sun frequently attacked Roosevelt’s policies.
Ultimately, the New Deal had a limited impact on Baltimore – the city’s political power structure remained
in the hands of the city’s conservative Democratic elites who worked to stymie the implementation of
many federal government initiatives. Nevertheless, Argersinger contends, change came to Baltimore just
the same. Most importantly (and this is the author’s biggest contribution to the literature), she identifies
significant ways in which the New Deal spurred community organization and grass-roots participation by
citizen groups to fight for their interests. Consumers, the unemployed, organized labor, women, and blacks
became activists, coalescing into associations that frequently were able to successfully apply pressure upon
the local power structure to accept public housing and other New Deal offerings that the mayor and other
civic leaders were not inclined to support. The author’s findings regarding the extent of citizen activism
point to an important neglected dimension of the urban experience that other historians should examine
when studying other cities during the New Deal era.
Blakey, George T. Hard Times and New Deal in Kentucky, 1929–1939 (Lexington: University of Kentucky
Press, 1986).
In this work, Blakey describes a state much harder hit by the Depression than Heinemann’s Virginia (see
below). Kentucky badly needed help and its leaders acquiesced, cooperating often with the federal
government to receive significant financial resources to combat unemployment and low farm prices. The
author centers his work on five chapters that each detail specific issues targeted by various New Deal
agencies: banks, homes, and the indigent; relief and public works; youth; agriculture; and aid to business.
By describing the actions of the programs’ agents, as Holmes did, Blakey generates an appreciation among
readers for the creative efforts of New Dealer administrators to aid the distressed. Another chapter focuses
on the interaction of state politics with New Deal policies. Overall, though Blakey cites instances of
opposition to the New Deal in Kentucky, he concludes that the New Deal significantly aided the state’s
residents and left a positive lasting legacy on the state.
Blumberg Barbara. The New Deal and the Unemployed: The View from New York City (Lewisburg, PA:
Bucknell University Press, 1979).
One approach to studying the New Deal at the city level involves the analysis of a specific agency’s efforts
in a particular urban area. This method promises a much more detailed study of a program than provided
by citywide surveys, which typically dedicate no more than one chapter to a particular agency’s efforts. In
1979, Barbara Blumberg offered an early example of this method in The New Deal and the Unemployed.
Rather than tackling one aspect of the WPA’s activities, this book-length examination describes the
agency’s entire operation in Gotham—from blue collar construction projects to creative white collar
programs, including educational instruction and a series of huge arts projects that supplied much needed
relief to large numbers of desperate residents. Blumberg also devotes attention to administrative
challenges (due to its size, the agency actually treated New York City as an entire state) and growing
political opposition. In contrast to many other cities, New York under Mayor Fiorello La Guardia
cooperated incessantly with the Roosevelt administration to create work programs that would provide jobs
for the unemployed and the WPA became an important part of that effort.
John Braeman, Robert H. Bremner, and David Brody, eds. The New Deal: The State and Local Levels, Vol. 2
(Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1975).
After the publication of James Patterson’s The New Deal and the States, scholars began to increase their
focus on the Roosevelt administration’s efforts outside Washington. By the mid-1970s, this major
compilation of essays edited by John Braeman, Robert H. Bremner, and David Brody reflected Patterson’s
growing influence. Appearing as the second of a two-volume collection of articles in which the editors
reviewed the state of New Deal scholarship written in the decades following World War II (the first volume
focused on national affairs), the essays surveyed the Roosevelt administration’s efforts in an assortment of
states and a few major cities with a strong emphasis on politics. The general conclusion of the authors
reaffirmed Patterson’s findings: each state and city’s political situation directly influenced the impact of the
New Deal in these localities. The essay on Pennsylvania, for example, demonstrated that in the Keystone
State, the New Deal was nothing short of politically revolutionary—the rabidly pro-New Deal governor,
George Earle, not only led the Democratic takeover of the traditionally-Republican state, but also sought
cooperation with federal officials and worked with the legislature to enact its own state-level “little New
Deal” to provide additional aid to workers through the passage of new stringent labor laws and the
adoption of a mini-National Recovery Administration (NRA). In a majority of the states examined,
however, conservative governors and legislatures often obstructed New Deal measures through such tactics
as parsimonious fund-matching and constant foot-dragging, greatly reducing the federal programs’ impact.
Though the scholarly community would have to await the publication of more lengthy and detailed
monographs, the basic consensus of those historians initially investigating the New Deal at the state and
local level supported the emphasis upon limited effectiveness due to local resistance.
Dorsett, Lyle W., Franklin D. Roosevelt and the City Bosses (Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1977).
In addition to Bruce Stave’s work on Pittsburgh (see below), another historian interested in the relationship
between President Roosevelt and urban political machines, Lyle W. Dorsett, extended his analysis beyond
the study of one city. In Franklin D. Roosevelt and the City Bosses, Dorsett devoted individual chapters to
describing FDR’s interaction with seven powerful urban machine bosses, specifically, Edward Crump of
Memphis, James Curley of Boston, Edward Flynn and Fiorello LaGuardia of New York, Frank Hague of
Jersey City, Edward Kelly of Chicago, and Thomas Pendergast of Kansas City. Though Dorsett had a
narrow focus, ignoring the structural changes in urban government taking place during the period, his
contention that the New Deal aided rather than destroyed the urban bosses is valid, supporting Stave’s
conclusions from his study of Pittsburgh. Dorsett’s research in the president’s personal files, official
government correspondence, and the papers and recollections of key urban political players (some of whom
he interviewed) demonstrate that Roosevelt often worked actively with the bosses rather than against them.
Fearon, Peter. Kansas in the Great Depression: Work Relief, the Dole, and Rehabilitation (Columbia:
University of Missouri Press, 2007)
Another approach popular with historians concerns the investigation of a particular issue that involved
multiple New Deal agencies tackling a related set of problems in a given state. Race relations, labor,
agriculture, relief efforts, economic recovery initiatives, and the promotion of the arts mark a few areas
subject to such “issue studies.” Among this type of scholarship, Peter Fearon’s sweeping coverage of relief
activities in this book provides a fine recent example. After explaining Kansas’s economic situation and
describing the state government’s efforts during the Hoover years to correct the downturn, the author
delves into a myriad of government records to detail the activities of several New Deal relief agencies
assigned to aid the most destitute, specifically, the emergency programs instituted by the FERA, the work
relief projects of the CWA, WPA, PWA, CCC, and NYA, and the rural relief efforts of the AAA, FSA, and
the Farm Credit Administration. By eschewing the broader undertaking of a statewide survey, Fearon
concentrated more directly on the issue of unemployment relief, describing in great detail the relationship
of the federal government relief agencies with the Kansas state government and the state’s residents.
Heinemann, Ronald L. Depression and New Deal in Virginia: The Enduring Dominion (Charlottesville:
University Press of Virginia, 1983).
With this work, Heineman became one of the first historians to integrate aspects of administrative history
with general social and political history to produce a book-length survey of the New Deal in a single state,
Virginia. Beginning with introductory chapters describing the human impact of the Depression on the
state’s residents, Depression and New Deal in Virginia continues with individual chapters analyzing the
major activities of New Deal agencies (though to a lesser degree in agency records than Michael Holmes’s
study of Georgia described below), before concluding with two chapters on state politics. The constraints
working against the New Deal provides the work’s central focus. While the Old Dominion’s balanced
economy provided some insulation from the worst effects of the Depression as seen elsewhere, the state
was certainly not immune from the economic downturn and needed substantial help. Nevertheless,
Virginia’s conservative Democratic political elite, devoted to fiscal conservatism and opposed to federal
interference, coupled with the state’s overt dedication to traditionalism, stymied the New Deal’s
effectiveness. The FERA’s grant-in-aid program, for example, received minimal matching funds from the
legislature, greatly limiting the agency’s reach. The state’s small relief rolls further impacted employment
efforts to help needy Virginians because only individuals receiving relief payments were eligible for WPA
employment. Despite discrimination in federal programs, blacks received some benefits to help them
endure economically, though there was certainly no attempt to disturb the Jim Crow system. Ultimately,
Heinemann’s survey showed that in Virginia the New Deal succeeded as a holding operation, maintaining
the status quo, and failed to bring lasting social, political, or economic structural changes to the state
Holmes, Michael S. The New Deal in Georgia: An Administrative History (Westport, Conn. Greenwood Press,
1975).
This book provides an early example of the positive good that could be derived from meticulous research
in federal government agency records. While some critics fault the book for being a dry administrative
history, Holmes’s great attention to detail allows the reader to understand the intricacies of New Deal
operations at the state level. Dedicating individual chapters to each agency explored, specifically the
PWA, WPA, NRA, AAA, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), Civil Works
Administration (CWA), and the Farm Security Administration (FSA), Holmes provides extensive
descriptions of organizational structure, bureaucratic leadership, agency goals, and major issues
encountered for those wishing to understand and appreciate the implementation troubles and triumphs that
these government programs experienced. His work also stands as an extensive model for those researchers
needing guidance on how to approach the study of particular New Deal agencies in other states, as well as a
means to collectively evaluate the New Deal at the state level
Patterson, James T. The New Deal and the States: Federalism in Transition (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1969).
After the publication of this book, many historians began to move beyond the traditional emphasis on
national-level personalities, bureaucratic infighting, and Washington politics. In his short but
groundbreaking work, Patterson produced a synthesis of the scholarly articles, scattered dissertations, and
government documents that he researched in order to support his conclusion that the New Deal had a
widely varying impact on the country when viewed at the state and local level. While confirming that the
New Deal contributed to some noteworthy state-level changes, such as progressive labor laws, increased
relief spending, and the prodding of state governments to centralize numerous social services, Patterson
also emphasized that the federal government certainly did not dictate its desires upon the states. Though
some blame for implementation problems could be levied upon the Roosevelt administration for failing to
construct an effective coordination apparatus for its numerous agencies, Patterson asserts that local
conditions (often the attitudes of politicians and their constituents) played a larger factor in determining the
success of a given policy. While finding willing allies among friendly state and local leaders in some parts
of the country, the Roosevelt administration, nevertheless, frequently encountered staunch resistance to
their measures in other regions, which, in turn, greatly limited the effectiveness of their initiatives. Many
governors and legislatures skimped on providing their states’ fair share of relief dollars for their citizens,
for example, providing basic levels of relief with the funds offset by regressive sales taxes that hampered
economic recovery. In addition, state and local leaders often engaged in numerous ideological clashes with
New Deal officials over the implementation of policies with which they strongly disagreed. While far from
definitive, Patterson’s survey pointed to a new fruitful way to study and evaluate the New Deal. When
coupled with his important 1967 book Congressional Conservatism and the New Deal: The Growth of the
Conservative Coalition in Congress, 1933–1939, Patterson’s work placed the failure of the New Deal to
enact more revolutionary change into context by acknowledging the effective organized obstruction offered
by conservative opponents from both major political parties.
Smith, Douglas L. The New Deal in the Urban South. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1988).
Surprisingly, New Deal historians have been fairly reluctant to employ the comparative approach to
studying American urban areas during the Great Depression. However, Douglas Smith utilized this
technique effectively in this book as he studied the New Deal’s impact on the four largest cities in the
southeastern United States. His investigation revealed a varied impact on Atlanta, Birmingham, Memphis,
and New Orleans depending upon local conditions. Because of frequent obstruction and open hostility to
the Roosevelt administration displayed by Governors Eugene Talmadge of Georgia and Huey Long of
Louisiana, for example, Atlanta and New Orleans found funding cut for vital programs whereas the
Crump-led political machine in Memphis welcomed New Deal dollars and garnered disproportionately
favorable funding for numerous projects as a result. Smith certainly agreed with Stave and Dorsett that the
New Deal produced no “last hurrah” in the cities he studied since “the decentralized operation of many
federal programs and the generosity that New Dealers often showed their friends allowed city officials to
award public works projects and administrative relief positions to their supporters.” He argues that while
the political status quo did not change in these cities, as other authors had found, the New Deal still offered
much by providing adequate relief for desperate city residents in the short-term while stimulating the
creation of permanent local welfare agencies and other public responsibilities that would help lead the
South into a more modern urban consciousness.
Stave, Bruce M. The New Deal and the Last Hurrah: Pittsburgh Machine Politics (Pittsburgh: University of
Pittsburgh Press, 1970).
Urban historians were among the first scholars eager to dig more deeply at the local level to ascertain the
impact of the New Deal beyond the nation’s capital. Rather than employing aspects of the “new social
history” in which academics studied the lives of average people and viewed matters from their perspective,
these early researchers focused instead on local politics and municipal leaders. Historians such as Bruce
Stave in this work produced findings that openly challenged the notion that the New Deal led to an
immediate decline in the power of local bosses. The popularly-held “last hurrah” thesis (promoted by a
famous 1956 Edwin O’Connor novel made into a popular Spencer Tracy movie of the same name two
years later) contended that New Deal programs led to the quick decline of urban bosses across the nation
because the federal government began to provide the basic services and resources traditionally delivered by
local political machines, thus undercutting the source of the bosses’ power. Stave demonstrated that when
one looks at Pittsburgh politics during the 1930s, this phenomenon simply did not occur—in fact, quite the
opposite took place. For example, the author identified and interviewed over a hundred Democratic Party
committeemen active in Pittsburgh during the 1930s and discovered that a majority had served as foremen
or supervisors with the Works Progress Administration (WPA), thus reinforcing the conclusion that there
existed a strong link between the WPA and local politics. New Deal relief programs actually helped to
keep the political machines alive by delegating to them the distribution of federal government largesse.
Trout, Charles H. Boston, the Great Depression, and the New Deal (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977).
While local politics remains an important element to the story of a large city’s experiences during the Great
Depression, the degree to which urban residents were actually helped by New Deal programs also warrants
great attention. Prior to the late-1970s, scattered articles investigating individual aspects of city life during
the 1930s appeared, but not any book-length case studies until 1977, when Charles Trout published Boston,
the Great Depression, and the New Deal. Encompassing a broad scope, Trout integrated aspects of social,
economic, and political history to produce a clear picture of what New Dealers faced as they tried to
implement their policies in New England’s largest city, where local political and economic elites were
openly hostile to the New Deal. While acknowledging the important benefits that the New Deal provided
the city’s economically distressed population, Trout demonstrates how a myriad of local obstacles greatly
limited the distribution of aid. The degree of relief that residents received, for example, was impacted by
the state legislature’s stubbornness in providing necessary matching funds. Further, Mayor James Curley
often diverted federal funds to cover the maintenance of existing work projects rather than create new jobs
for the unemployed as desired by Works Progress Administration (WPA) officials. Factionalism within the
Massachusetts Democratic Party also contributed to delays in work projects, such as when the anti-Curley
man appointed by the governor to approve Public Works Administration (PWA) projects refused to grant
Boston a single project for many years in order to deny the mayor any glory. In another instance of local
warping of New Deal intentions, Boston received approval of a slum-clearance grant from the PWA’s
Housing Division to build low-income apartments for the city’s residents. After five years of legal
wrangling over eminent domain and haggling by local officials for additional federal outlays, the thousandunit complex finally opened for applicants, but the local housing authority excluded non-Irish and the very
destitute for whom such shelters were supposed to be built.
Trout continues with other prominent examples of local business resistance, such the shoe industry’s
reluctance to comply with National Recovery Administration (NRA) codes concerning minimum wages,
regulated prices, and the right of workers to bargain collectively. Meanwhile, the textile industry’s rabid
objections to the cotton-reduction policies of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) were
legendary. Mill owners vehemently objected to the lowered volume of the white fiber on the market as
well as the processing tax that the government expected them to collect on all cotton manufactured in their
factories in order to fund the AAA subsidy program for growers. Finally, the local Catholic hierarchy,
especially the powerful and influential William Cardinal O’Connell, was firmly convinced that the
Roosevelt administration’s policies were socialistic and spoke out constantly against an array of New Deal
measures. Ultimately, Trout finds that Roosevelt’s policies had little long-term impact on the city.
Boston’s traditional conservative establishment remained intact and weathered the dual storms of the Great
Depression and New Deal.
Tweton, D. Jerome. The New Deal at the Grassroots: Programs for the People in Otter Tail County,
Minnesota (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1988).
Historical memory plays a big role in this excellent local study, the first significant monograph about the
workings of the New Deal at the county level. After spending four years gathering historical records, local
newspaper accounts, and conducting oral history interviews, the Otter County Historical Society asked
Tweton to produce a book based on the compilation. The result is a fascinating look at the impact of the
New Deal on a rural western Minnesota district. Though Tweton draws from government records in a
traditional way to bolster his descriptions of the various programs enacted in Otter Tail County, his
extensive use of the oral interviews offers firsthand evidence of the New Deal’s impact on the actual people
who lived through those times and provides a fresh perspective often lacking from other local New Deal
studies. Tweton’s approach stands as a model for historians wishing to conduct similar case studies in
order to recapture the New Deal experience at the “grass roots.”