This draft is really really rough. I'm getting lost in what I consider Roosevelt's identity of America as a youthful optimistic nation that is portrayed in the photos from the CCC. I keep branching into his government practice more than his optimism. I plan on incorporating Susman as a lead off paragraph before the Roosevelt paragraph if i'm allowed to. And the ending will be critical analysis of the two CCC photos of the young men and how they represent Roosevelts ideas as a tangible form. I would have more but I keep hitting a block and rewriting it over and over trying to get a hold of an idea to roll with.
The 1930’s. A pivotal moment in United States history. The great depression, the dust bowl and the new definition of an American identity. As Warren Susman argues, the United States made a transition from the desire to expand westward to the question of what constitutes an American in the 30’s. Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the ideal American in his various speeches, constantly identifying the American people as hardworking men and women with an unwavering resolve to weather the dark times. However, even with the beauty of words, Art itself showed the ideal American. The photography from the 30’s showed the embodiment of Roosevelt’s claims and fashioned the American identity.
During his Commonwealth Club Address, Franklin Delano Roosevelt spoke of a clear shift of ideals in American society. Gone were the days of westward expansion to solve the financial problems with big spending projects for railroads and new cities. Self reliance was now the key to keeping America afloat in rocky times. His speech laid out the groundwork for a mass scale effort to utilize the ever present factories of the Iron Age as well as use the abundant natural resources. All of this under the guidance of government. A new government that supported the people rather than controlled them.. Jobs were created with incentives for businesses. National spending projects were created to sustain those who were ailing in a time of depression. Opponents of Roosevelt’s solutions would argue that the type of government he was running stole the self gratification from the men and women throughout the country. But Roosevelt would argue that the identity that America had used for a century and a half would no longer be the answer. Instead, the government would play the role of helper and allow American men and women to work their way out of the depression. The sense of independence once found in Manifest Destiny could now be found in a honest days labor. This new direction created a optimistic and youthful nation for Roosevelt. But more importantly, it allowed ownership in the type of work that needed to be done to recover from the depression. As Roosevelt would state in his Commonwealth Club Address, “Our government formal and informal, political and economic, owes to every one an avenue to possess himself of a portion of that plenty sufficient for his needs, through his own work.”
Photography allowed a candid look of what Roosevelt believed to be the youthful America.
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I think that what you've started is very promising. I like that you are not so much focusing on the New Deal, but the image of the Americans that participate in this deal. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that your argument is that artwork assisted in creating a visual of what Roosevelt felt the new America should look like at the time.
ReplyDeleteMy suggestion would be to just go into your argument a bit more to really clear it up. Sometimes it helps to write the rest of the paper then go back and see if your argument is still solid. Also, I think that (based on this movement against "cherrypicking" lol) you should probably move the final quote of the paragraph to a bit earlier so that you can analyze it a bit, rather than it just support your own words. Especially since it is from a primary source.
Other than that, good start and good luck! :)
You noted above the draft that you had trouble focusing on Roosevelt's ideals versus his practices; but I think I can see in your first paragraph how you want to fit in the "optimism" angle. In the final sentence of that paragraph you wrote what I think you want to be your argument, starting with, "The photographs from the '30s showed [...]." Maybe what you could do with this is say something about how the photography reflected the optimistic outlook that Roosevelt was striving to engender in the national culture through both his actions (or policies) and his words (speeches).
ReplyDeleteIn the 2nd paragraph, you hit on self-reliance. That could be an idea to explore, something about how people placed more hope in themselves to support families, get jobs, etc. rather than being depressed about the state of the nation.
There was also one point in which you followed up a sentence about government help with how the people were independent - the sentences seemed contradictory in context, so I'd watch out for that.
Your last sentence talks about "youthful America" - is this something you want to have as part of your argument? If it's not too much to analyze in one paper, you could mold your argument to say that Roosevelt's optimism was most hard-hitting with a younger America, the one doing the hard labor and being mobilized by the government policies.
I like where you started with the idea of Roosevelt's optimism, you could just carry it through more of the paper. I understand the struggle, but know that you've got a lot of great ideas so far that only need to be expanded upon!