Cafe Social Science - Shaded by Fear: A New Look at the New Deal March 22, 2010

Shaded by Fear: A New Look at the New Deal
Professor of Political Science and History Ira Katznelson
March 22, 6–7 p.m.

This is a talk about democracy and fear. Few matters are as pressing today. Rather than offer a direct commentary on recent and current events, I turn to an era shaded by fear--the Roosevelt and Truman years, from New Deal to Cold War--to observe how American democracy confronted a cascade of fear-generating emergencies, and navigated dangerous borderlands. In so doing, I probe the role of the Jim Crow South in shaping the country's responses, for the region that most inspired fear, and was regarded by many citizens with fear, was instrumental in Congress in shaping domestic and international policy.