LIFE IS NOT A LOTTERY. NEITHER SHOULD RETIREMENT BE.

Congratulations! You worked forty years, helped build a country's wealth, raised children, paid taxes, and contributed to the economy. Your reward should not be a retirement plan consisting of a scratch-off ticket and a reassuring poster about personal responsibility. New Dealers would like a word with whoever approved that benefits package.

We are Mugwumps who ask what people should be able to count on when employment ends, markets crash, wages fail, illness strikes, or old age arrives with astonishing punctuality. Our instinct is to build durable institutions rather than rely on the occasional generous billionaire, fortunate family, or employer with a working conscience.

We are not nostalgic for every 1930s agency or policy. The original New Deal had immense achievements and serious exclusions. Our work is to study what actually provided security, identify who was left out, and see whether its modern replacement—or expansion—can withstand a budget, a constitutional challenge, and an ordinary Tuesday.

NEW DEALERS | ND

We are the social-security-and-public-capacity caucus of Mugwumps. A new deal is not merely a large government check. It is a durable bargain: people contribute to their society, and institutions provide protections against risks that individuals cannot always manage alone.

Some of us will favor universal public programs; others will defend social insurance, negotiated employer obligations, or state-federal partnerships. The caucus asks what an actual guarantee means, who qualifies, how it is paid for, and whether the promised benefit arrives without applicants needing an advanced degree in hold music.

ROOTS · AMERICA'S ECONOMY FELL DOWN THE STAIRS

The Great Depression brought mass unemployment, bank failures, lost savings, collapsing incomes, and widespread insecurity. When Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in March 1933, the federal government confronted a banking emergency and a devastating economic contraction. The New Deal was not one law, one coherent ideology, or a private invention of a president. It was a shifting set of experiments enacted through Congress, federal agencies, states, labor movements, and political conflict. (Sources 01, 02)

RELIEF, RECOVERY, REFORM · THREE WORDS, A LOT OF AGENCIES

Historians often describe New Deal activity through relief for immediate hardship, recovery of economic activity, and reform of institutions that had failed. Work programs, financial rules, labor protections, and social insurance addressed different parts of the emergency. Not all programs succeeded, and some were struck down by courts or abandoned. An emergency response is not immune to evaluation simply because the emergency was real. (Sources 01, 03)

THE BANKS · A GOVERNMENT BACKSTOP WITH TERMS

The Banking Act of 1933 created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, with federal deposit insurance beginning in 1934. Insurance supported depositor confidence after widespread bank suspensions, but it did not guarantee all investments or eliminate the need for supervision. A New Dealer's question is not whether bankers are nice people; it is how ordinary depositors can trust the basic payments system without subsidizing reckless behavior. (Source 04)

1935 · SOCIAL SECURITY BECOMES A PUBLIC PROMISE

The Social Security Act, signed August 14, 1935, created federal old-age insurance and a framework for unemployment compensation and certain forms of public assistance. Its design involved wage and employer taxes, federal-state administration, and eligibility rules. It was not a universal basic income, not comprehensive national health insurance, and not an immediate pension for everyone alive at the time. The details mattered enormously to which people could claim support. (Sources 05, 06)

THE WORKERS · THEY ORGANIZED BEFORE THE GOVERNMENT NOTICED

The National Labor Relations Act of July 1935—also called the Wagner Act—protected forms of private-sector collective organizing and created the NLRB. It emerged amid strikes, employer resistance and sustained worker organizing. Roosevelt signed the law; labor movements and lawmakers did not merely stand in line waiting for permission to receive rights. Its exclusions also mattered, including farmworkers, many domestic workers, supervisors and public employees under distinct legal arrangements. (Source 07)

THE WORK CREWS · RELIEF REQUIRED ACTUAL WORK

The Civilian Conservation Corps, Works Progress Administration and related programs employed people on roads, parks, public buildings, conservation and arts projects. They left tangible infrastructure and professional work behind. But eligibility, gender, race, geography, wages, working conditions and local administration varied. Calling every work program a perfect 'job guarantee' would misrepresent both its achievements and its limits. (Sources 01, 08)

THE ORIGINAL DEAL WAS NOT MADE WITH EVERYONE

The first Social Security system excluded large groups of workers, including agricultural and domestic laborers, occupations employing many Black workers and women. That exclusion had profoundly unequal effects. Scholars dispute the precise mixture of administrative limitations, institutional choices and racial motivations behind specific coverage provisions; a Social Security Administration historical analysis argues that administrative feasibility explains the original old-age insurance exclusions more directly than an intentional effort to exclude Black workers. The exclusion and its effects are established even where motivations remain debated. (Source 09)

Segregation and local discrimination shaped New Deal program delivery. Women frequently encountered limited access to particular jobs and benefits; Indigenous communities faced policies that often presumed federal authority over their lands and governance; Mexican Americans and other workers faced discrimination and coercive repatriation campaigns during the Depression era. Some programs improved people's circumstances while reinforcing existing inequalities. A modern caucus should never adopt 'it was better back then' as a substitute for an honest eligibility table. (Sources 08, 09)

The New Deal also did not end the Great Depression on its own. Economic historians debate the effects of specific fiscal and monetary interventions; mobilization for World War II transformed employment and production. The important lesson is not a miracle performed by one administration. It is that institutional design can reshape risk, labor power, savings protection and public capacity—and can fail or exclude people if the design is defective.

FUN FACT · THE GOVERNMENT PAID PEOPLE TO MAKE ART. THE REPUBLIC SURVIVED.

The Federal Art Project, a WPA initiative, employed artists and supported murals, posters, photography and other creative work during the Depression. Imagine recognizing that the person painting the mural also has rent due and needs to buy groceries. What an outrageous concept: an artist as a worker! Some New Deal art survives in public buildings and museums today. (Source 10)

Now for the historical correction nobody asked for but everybody needs: the New Deal's alphabet-soup agencies did not all have the same legal status, duration or purpose. Some built dams, some insured deposits, some hired workers, and some regulated markets. Please stop asking the FDIC to fix your bridge. It has a completely different desk.

→ Explore the Vault

TODAY · A GUARANTEE IS NOT A VIBRATIONAL FREQUENCY

A PUBLIC PROMISE NEEDS AN ELIGIBILITY RULE.

What counts as retirement security, unemployment support, healthcare access, education, or housing assistance? Is the program universal, means-tested, earnings-related, contributory, temporary or conditional? New Dealers insist that those questions be answered in plain language. 'We're helping families' is not a policy until you can tell a family whether it qualifies.

MAKE WORK PAY. MAKE LIFE SURVIVABLE WHEN WORK STOPS.

Work can provide income, dignity, skills and community. It can also end because of layoffs, illness, disability, caregiving or age. The economic floor must be evaluated for both people earning wages and those temporarily or permanently unable to do so. A labor program that leaves disabled people without support has confused employment with human worth.

BUILD ONCE. MAINTAIN FOR DECADES.

Schools, water systems, transit, public lands, broadband and housing need maintenance and competent public administration. Borrowing for useful infrastructure may be prudent when benefits last decades; it may also be wasteful if the project is poorly chosen or financed. A shovel and a commemorative hard hat are not a cost-benefit analysis.

WE DO NOT COUNT APPLICATIONS AS BENEFITS.

If eligible people cannot understand the website, complete the forms, reach an office, or receive the payment on time, the program is not delivering its promise. Measure successful receipt, delays, wrongful denials, appeal outcomes, fraud control, staffing and actual living conditions. Publish the bad numbers too.

WHO PAYS IS A FEATURE, NOT AN UNFORTUNATE SURPRISE.

Programs require taxes, contributions, fees, financing, prioritization, or savings elsewhere. New Dealers can argue for public spending while still accepting fiscal constraints. The more durable the promise, the more important realistic demographic, economic, and budget assumptions become. A commitment written in disappearing ink is not social security.

NEVER CONFUSE THE GREAT DEPRESSION WITH YOUR PERSONAL AESTHETIC.

We can learn from Roosevelt, Perkins, labor organizers, conservation workers and the people who administered new programs without proposing to replicate 1935 in a country whose workforce, population, economy and constitutional controversies have changed. Historical inheritance is an obligation to update the instruction manual.

WHAT WOULD A NEW DEALER ACTUALLY INVESTIGATE?

Social Security financing and benefit adequacy; unemployment insurance coverage; disability support; the cost and eligibility rules of public healthcare; labor bargaining; guaranteed or subsidized employment; housing construction and maintenance; vocational training; municipal infrastructure; deposit protection; childcare and care work; and the administrative systems that determine whether people receive what the law promises.

We would also investigate unintended effects: barriers to working or saving, administrative duplication, benefit cliffs, inflation and supply constraints, inequitable eligibility, politicized grant allocation, wasteful procurement, and programs that exist for decades without evidence of the promised outcome. Social protection is an obligation, not an immunity from audit.

POLICY TAGS · WE'D LIKE A RECEIPT WITH OUR SOCIAL CONTRACT

Social Security · Pensions · Employment Security · Unemployment Insurance · Universal Healthcare · Disability Benefits · Worker Bargaining · Economic Mobility · Public Housing · Childcare · Vocational Training · Infrastructure · Public Banking · Care Economy · Federal-State Administration · Program Evaluation · Fiscal Sustainability · Equal Access

The tags identify topics to examine across Justice and the Vault, not positions every New Dealer has already endorsed. We favor explicit tradeoffs, source-based policy arguments, and programs that can explain what happens when the first generation of funding runs out.

→ Explore Social Security From Childhood Through Retirement

→ Explore A Good Job Guarantee

→ Explore Modern Worker Voice & Bargaining

→ Explore Safe, Dignified Public Housing

→ Explore Ten-Year Fiscal Accountability

→ Explore Equal Essential Services in the Territories

→ Explore Reform Corporate Charters & Interstate Operations

→ Explore Public Banking & Postal Financial Services

SIMILAR TO · DIFFERENT BLUEPRINTS FOR A SECURE LIFE

FARMER–LABOR | FL

They start with the people producing, harvesting, repairing, caring and teaching. New Dealers study how public institutions protect those workers through unemployment, aging, disability and economic cycles. They may disagree about whether the first solution is higher bargaining power or a public benefit.

PROGRESSIVES | PG

They examine institutions and reforms through measurable public outcomes. New Dealers focus on durable social provision. A worthy rights reform can need a new delivery agency; a long-running benefit can still need modernization.

FEDERALISTS | FD

They ask which problems require coordinated national authority. We ask what that authority is supposed to guarantee. They may prefer federal standards with state implementation; we might demand direct administration when fragmented delivery creates gaps.

DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS | DS

They examine democratic control of ownership and workplaces. We focus on insurance, jobs, care and institutional continuity. A generous public program does not, by itself, change who owns a factory; ownership reform does not automatically make tomorrow's benefit payment arrive.

LESS LIKE · THE SAFETY NET IS ALLOWED TO HAVE CRITICS

'Less like' describes contrasting instincts, not a membership test. These are the people we want questioning the actuarial tables before the program becomes a permanent surprise.

LIBERTARIANS | LT

They start with the liberty cost and government coercion inherent in taxation and administration. New Dealers begin with shared economic risks and social guarantees. Their questions about privacy, compulsion and personal choice are essential checks.

BOURBONS | BO

They start with fiscal capacity, debt and the discipline of appropriations. We may start with a social need. A responsible promise must eventually pass their budget test—even when they and we dispute what the public should fund.

BARNBURNERS | BB

They are prepared to rebuild failed institutions from the ground up. New Dealers worry about the benefit checks, medical services and jobs that must continue during transition. If demolition is necessary, continuity is a condition, not a sentimental attachment.

STALWARTS | ST

They emphasize keeping proven institutions functioning. New Dealers may advocate expanding benefits or eligibility. Our disagreement is whether a change makes a durable program stronger or accidentally endangers its basic promise.

FIFTY HYPOTHETICAL NEW DEALERS · THE BENEFITS OFFICE HAS REQUESTED FOLDING CHAIRS

Ten politicians. Ten celebrities. Ten television characters. Ten literary characters. Ten wildcards. These are historical comparisons and literary thought experiments, not Mugwumps memberships, endorsements, policy rankings or claims that any living figure agrees with this caucus. Some are cautionary examples of how programs can exclude people or become entangled with power.

The question isn't 'Would they join?' It is 'How did this person or character respond to insecurity, public work, organized labor or the challenge of building durable institutions?' The dinner party has a budget committee. The cake is a public good, but its procurement will be audited.

01 · TEN POLITICIANS · THE SOCIAL CONTRACT IS IN SUBCOMMITTEE

TEN HYPOTHETICAL COMPARISONS. ZERO ACTUAL ENDORSEMENTS. Real figures and fictional characters illustrate an economic-security question, a governance lesson or a cautionary failure—not declared membership, personal policy views or support for Mugwumps.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

The central president of the historical New Deal, who signed Social Security and banking reforms. His administration also ordered Japanese American incarceration: a reminder that building public security does not erase violations of rights.

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

Advocated civil and human rights and pressed the administration over exclusions. Her public role illustrates how social programs must be judged by the people they overlook, not solely by those who receive them.

FRANCES PERKINS

As secretary of labor, helped build the Committee on Economic Security and championed workplace protections. One of the best historical reminders that an institution needs architects who understand how labor markets function.

ROBERT F. WAGNER

Sponsored major labor and social-security legislation. His work underscores that labor rights and benefits emerged through congressional negotiation and organizing, not just presidential speeches.

HARRY S. TRUMAN

Advocated national health insurance and a Fair Deal, extending debates about economic security beyond Roosevelt. The history of an unpassed proposal is not the same as an enacted guarantee.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

Signed Medicare and Medicaid into law in 1965. His record invites questions about eligibility, provider access and how public insurance operates decades after passage.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

Expanded Social Security coverage during his presidency and supported major infrastructure. Social provision and national investment have histories that cross party labels.

BERNIE SANDERS

Has advocated broad public health and social programs. A hypothetical illustration of the universal-benefit argument, not a Mugwumps endorsement; the financing and transition questions remain central.

ELIZABETH WARREN

Advocates consumer financial protection and other household economic safeguards. The New Dealer question is how rules about credit connect to actual security for ordinary people.

RONALD REAGAN

Signed the 1983 Social Security amendments after a bipartisan negotiation. Also a reminder that maintaining an existing public program can involve choices fiercely contested on their effects.

02 · TEN CELEBRITIES · THE GREEN ROOM HAS A PENSION QUESTION

TEN HYPOTHETICAL COMPARISONS. ZERO ACTUAL ENDORSEMENTS. Real figures and fictional characters illustrate an economic-security question, a governance lesson or a cautionary failure—not declared membership, personal policy views or support for Mugwumps.

DOLLY PARTON

The Imagination Library offers books through a sustained distribution network. A real philanthropic operation—not proof that charity alone can provide universal education.

OPRAH WINFREY

Built educational philanthropy and a major media enterprise. The example tests where private opportunity-building meets the public obligation to reach everyone.

LEVAR BURTON

Helped make literacy and learning accessible through television. National educational access requires creators and funders as well as charismatic hosts.

JANE FONDA

Has moved between entertainment and sustained political activism. Fame can support organizing, but the policy still requires evidence and implementation.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

Songs about factories, towns and work capture insecurity in human detail. An anthem is not unemployment insurance; it can tell us whose experiences a policy should examine.

WILLIE NELSON

Helped establish Farm Aid with fellow artists, drawing attention to family farmers' financial pressures. Concert proceeds cannot replace coherent agricultural policy.

TAYLOR SWIFT

Re-recorded albums over rights disputes and gained control of her masters. Illustrates a form of individual bargaining leverage, not a substitute for protections available to less powerful creators.

RUPAUL

Helped bring drag labor into a large entertainment market. A New Dealer might ask what retirement, healthcare and income stability remain available when booking demand declines.

BEYONCÉ

Runs demanding large-scale productions with many contributors. A reminder that creative prosperity must be assessed through compensation and continuity for the entire workforce.

MR. ROGERS

Used public media to make early-childhood education feel personal. A lasting public service should not depend on one beloved individual being available forever.

03 · TEN TV CHARACTERS · PLEASE TAKE A NUMBER, WE ARE REBUILDING SOCIETY

TEN HYPOTHETICAL COMPARISONS. ZERO ACTUAL ENDORSEMENTS. Real figures and fictional characters illustrate an economic-security question, a governance lesson or a cautionary failure—not declared membership, personal policy views or support for Mugwumps.

LESLIE KNOPE · PARKS AND RECREATION

Will design the park, apply for grants and arrange a public hearing before the ribbon is ordered. Somebody still has to maintain the playground after the episode ends.

RON SWANSON · PARKS AND RECREATION

Doesn't think government should do much. Essential dinner-table opposition when a New Dealer proposes a federal department to certify sandwiches.

DOROTHY ZBORNAK · THE GOLDEN GIRLS

A teacher who knows the gap between a cheerful institution and the people whose lives depend on it. Will demand the actual benefits booklet in readable type.

ROSE NYLUND · THE GOLDEN GIRLS

Has stories about community obligation and economic vulnerability. She would bring a casserole and accidentally identify a flaw in the pension eligibility rules.

PHILIP BANKS · THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR

A judge and father whose household demonstrates different routes to security. He'd ask whether the law works beyond families with money and connections.

LISA SIMPSON · THE SIMPSONS

Can explain why children, schools and the environment require long-term investment. Needs occasional reminders that a sound policy needs both coalition and funding.

C. J. CREGG · THE WEST WING

Can explain a complicated federal initiative publicly and insist on accountability for its implementation. Excellent at finding the question the press release avoided.

JOSIAH BARTLET · THE WEST WING

Knows government can act at national scale, but inspiring remarks do not appropriate money. He'd bring an economist and forget to invite the eligibility specialist.

DR. MIRANDA BAILEY · GREY'S ANATOMY

Understands that healthcare involves staff, training, patients and institutional systems. A new coverage card means little if nobody can provide the appointment.

MICHAEL SCOTT · THE OFFICE

Would promise every employee a retirement yacht without doing the math. A cautionary exhibit on why generous rhetoric needs an actuarial review.

04 · TEN BOOK CHARACTERS · THE LIBRARY HAS APPLIED FOR HEATING ASSISTANCE

TEN HYPOTHETICAL COMPARISONS. ZERO ACTUAL ENDORSEMENTS. Real figures and fictional characters illustrate an economic-security question, a governance lesson or a cautionary failure—not declared membership, personal policy views or support for Mugwumps.

JEAN VALJEAN · LES MISÉRABLES

His punishment for stealing bread raises questions about poverty, punishment and the social structures that turn survival into a legal crisis.

FANTINE · LES MISÉRABLES

Shows how lost wages, care responsibilities and predatory work can make one family's security collapse. The benefit has to arrive before desperation does.

JO MARCH · LITTLE WOMEN

Pursues income through writing and negotiates the terms of her work. A model for asking whether irregular cultural earnings can provide long-term security.

MATILDA WORMWOOD · MATILDA

An extraordinary child whose basic need is a competent and safe school. Public services shouldn't require every student to develop telekinesis.

KATNISS EVERDEEN · THE HUNGER GAMES

Lives amid state-engineered scarcity and coercion. A cautionary example of government provisioning used to maintain domination rather than guarantee dignity.

WINSTON SMITH · NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR

Demonstrates what a state can become when centralized administration lacks rights and independent scrutiny. He is invited to the safeguards committee, not the utopia brochure.

JANE EYRE · JANE EYRE

Demands self-respect while navigating limited economic choices. Security affects how freely a person can reject an unequal bargain.

ELIZABETH BENNET · PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

Understands that inherited wealth can determine opportunity before anybody demonstrates merit. She would read the distributional tables instead of trusting the drawing-room speech.

TOM JOAD · THE GRAPES OF WRATH

A displaced worker whose family faces collapsing agricultural livelihoods and migration. A historical literary case for studying work, land and public relief together.

MA JOAD · THE GRAPES OF WRATH

Holds a struggling family together during displacement. Care work is work, even when no employer has added it to a payroll system.

05 · TEN WILDCARDS · THE NEW DEAL HAS ENTERED A VERY STRANGE TALENT SHOW

TEN HYPOTHETICAL COMPARISONS. ZERO ACTUAL ENDORSEMENTS. Real figures and fictional characters illustrate an economic-security question, a governance lesson or a cautionary failure—not declared membership, personal policy views or support for Mugwumps.

MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE · EDUCATOR AND OFFICIAL

Worked within New Deal institutions and pressed for opportunities for Black Americans. Illustrates both the promise of public programs and the unequal access they had to address.

A. PHILIP RANDOLPH · LABOR ORGANIZER

Organized Black workers and pressed federal officials to confront employment discrimination, a reminder that social programs are influenced by outside pressure.

HARRY HOPKINS · FEDERAL ADMINISTRATOR

Oversaw major relief and work programs. Implementation is labor too: someone has to match funding, staff, and actual projects.

GRACE ABBOTT · SOCIAL REFORMER

Worked on child welfare and labor issues before the New Deal. Public protection had a long prehistory; the 1930s did not invent the idea that children deserved rights.

IDA B. WELLS · JOURNALIST AND ORGANIZER

Documented racial terror and official failures. A warning that a welfare promise cannot compensate for a government unwilling to protect basic civil rights.

ROSA PARKS · CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZER

Participated in sustained organizing against segregation. Material security and equal public access are connected, but neither replaces the other.

ROBIN HOOD · FOLKLORE

Famous for redistribution by heroic outlawry. A New Dealer asks how to build a lawful, repeatable system that still works after Robin retires.

THE LITTLE RED HEN · FOLKLORE

Does the planting, harvesting and baking while everyone debates who deserves bread. Our favorite reminder that production, care and shared obligation need actual rules.

SCROOGE · A CHRISTMAS CAROL

A spectacular private conversion to generosity. Nice for his employees, but everyone's pension cannot depend on the boss experiencing a ghost-induced ethical breakthrough.

MR. POTTER · IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE

A cinematic warning about concentrated control of local credit and housing. Public financial safeguards must still be specific, transparent and accountable.

OUR NO-BENEVOLENT-DICTATOR CLAUSE · A BENEFIT IS NOT A LICENSE TO CONTROL PEOPLE

New Dealers do not treat government provision as permission for arbitrary eligibility exclusions, surveillance without legal limits, forced labor, institutional discrimination, denial of due process, or indefinite executive rule. Social programs exist to protect people's practical security, not demand gratitude, political conformity or obedience to the office distributing the benefit.

We reject the notion that every 1930s policy deserves revival. Public investment requires democratic authority, procurement integrity, independent audit, protection of individual and collective rights, and opportunities to challenge mistakes. Our goal is material stability subject to constitutional government—not the world's most beautiful bureaucracy with a locked exit.

THE NEW DEALER TEST · BEFORE YOU PROMISE EVERYBODY EVERYTHING

WHAT EXACTLY IS GUARANTEED?

Define the service or benefit, the population eligible for it, exclusions, time limits and whether it is insurance, assistance, a public service or direct employment. Do not sell universality when the fine print says otherwise.

WHO PAYS—TODAY AND THIRTY YEARS FROM NOW?

Publish revenues, contributions, program costs, demographic assumptions, debt exposure and sensitivity to recessions. A promise can be worth funding without pretending it is free.

WHAT PROBLEM DOES THE GUARANTEE ACTUALLY SOLVE?

Specify poverty reduction, income stability, health access, housing security, employment or another measurable target. Explain why this approach is preferable to feasible alternatives.

WHO GETS LEFT OUT?

Audit eligibility and access across disability, age, family structure, race, geography, immigration status where relevant, care responsibilities and forms of employment. Include those whom the historical New Deal excluded.

WHO DELIVERS IT AND WHO CAN APPEAL?

Name the administering bodies, staffing, technology, delivery standards, privacy protections, adjudication, and independent review. People should be able to correct errors without knowing a senator.

HOW DO WE KNOW IF IT WORKS?

Publish outcome data, administrative costs, service timeliness, fraud findings, unwanted consequences and scheduled review. Change a policy when the evidence changes. Loyalty to a program is not a substitute for results.

EXPLORE · THE FORMS ARE OPTIONAL. THE QUESTIONS ARE NOT

→ Explore Mugwumps

→ Explore All Thirteen Caucuses

→ Explore The Five Pillars of Justice

→ Explore The Vault

→ Explore Membership

SOURCES & HISTORICAL NOTES

01 · Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library — The New Deal, major initiatives and historical overview.

https://www.fdrlibrary.org/new-deal

02 · National Archives — The New Deal: Recovery and Reform, primary documents and federal programs.

https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents

03 · Library of Congress — The Great Depression and the New Deal, overview and collections.

https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/great-depression-and-world-war-ii-1929-1945/

04 · FDIC — Historical Timeline: Banking Act of 1933 and federal deposit insurance.

https://www.fdic.gov/90years

05 · National Archives — Social Security Act (1935), text and historical explanation.

https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/social-security-act

06 · Social Security Administration — The Social Security Act of 1935, original titles and provisions.

https://www.ssa.gov/history/35act.html

07 · National Archives — National Labor Relations Act (1935), collective bargaining and NLRB.

https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/national-labor-relations-act

08 · Library of Congress — New Deal and the Arts, federal arts and employment projects.

https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/newdeal/

09 · Social Security Administration — Larry DeWitt, The Decision to Exclude Agricultural and Domestic Workers from the 1935 Social Security Act, 2010.

https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v70n4/v70n4p49.html

10 · National Archives — Franklin D. Roosevelt and New Deal Legislation, archival overview.

https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/

11 · Social Security Administration — Congressional Debates on Social Security, 1935: legislative votes and text.

https://www.ssa.gov/history/tally.html

12 · National Park Service — Civilian Conservation Corps: the CCC and its work.

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/civilian-conservation-corps.htm

Historical subjects and fictional analogies are illustrative, not statements of contemporary Mugwumps affiliation. The modern caucus may debate public program design without agreeing with the personal politics of any figure used above.

WE ARE ONE.  ·  E PLURIBUS UNUM.