Above: The Walker-Johnson Building, at 1734 New York Ave., Washington, DC, between 17th and 18th streets, just a few blocks west of the White House, March 1938. According to information from various sources--for example, the description accompanying this photograph and a "New Deal Washington Walking Tour Guide" (Humanities Council of Washington, DC, 2009)--this is the building where FDR's federal relief administrator, Harry Hopkins, supervised the big work-relief programs of the New Deal: The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA); the Civil Works Administration (CWA); the Works Progress Administration (WPA); and the National Youth Administration (NYA). From this building, jobs and paychecks were facilitated for somewhere around 15-20 million struggling Americans (the WPA alone employed 8.5 million); and from this building, America's infrastructure was repaired & modernized like never before or since (and we're still using much of that infrastructure today - see The Living New Deal). Photo courtesy of the National Archives.
Above: The site today. According to information in the walking tour guide (cited in the previous photo caption), and from "Emporis," a buildings information website, the Walker-Johnson building was constructed in 1913, then demolished at some point (year not specified), and replaced with today's "United Unions Building" (above; now listed as 1750 New York Ave, NW). And according to Emporis, the Walker-Johnson Building had 10 floors (including its below-ground floor) and was 95 feet tall; and the United Unions Building has 8 floors, "above ground," and is also 95 feet tall. Photo by Brent McKee, September 2018.
Above: The description for this photograph, taken on August 24, 1937, reads: "WPA workers stage march in fight for reinstatement, Washington, DC... Police were as numerous as the marchers today when over 2000 dismissed W.P.A. workers, assembled here by the Workers Alliance of America, staged a march to the White House, Capitol, and Harry Hopkins' office in their fight for reinstatement to their old jobs." This photo is in front of the Walker-Johnson Building (compare the arched window on the building to the right, to the first photo of this blog post). The reason for the dismissal of these workers is not given, however, this was during the so-called "Roosevelt Recession," where FDR gave in to his budget hawk advisers (and also to his own concerns about deficits) and supported a scaling-down of work-relief. The results were not good. About a year later, work-relief was returned back to its former level, and the recession dissipated. Lesson: Businesses need consumers, and consumers need paychecks (duh!). Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Above: Hopkins talking with reporters on November 1, 1935. The description for this photograph doesn't specify the location, but given Hopkins' relaxed posture at the desk, and the room itself, this would seem to be his office at the Walker-Johnson Building. Chronicling the beginnings of the WPA's Federal Theatre Project (FTP), author Susan Quinn writes: "[Soon-to-be Director of the FTP] Hallie Flanagan traveled to Washington, entered the great unadorned Walker-Johnson Building, and took the rickety elevator to Harry Hopkin's tenth-floor office, with its whitewashed walls and exposed pipes [notice both features in the photo above]. 'All the lines in the room,' [Flanagan] wrote later, 'focused on the clean-swept desk, and on the man behind the desk, whose head and shoulders stood out sharply against the city gleaming from the uncurtained windows back of him. His lean, brown face flashed into a sudden somewhat satiric smile. 'This is a tough job we're asking you to do.'" (Flanagan took the job and ran the FTP until Congress shut it down in 1939) (story from, Furious Improvisation: How the WPA and a Cast of Thousands Made High Art out of Desperate Times, 2008, p. 47). Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Above: New York Governor Herbert Lehman meets with Harry Hopkins, in the latter's probable office in the Walker-Johnson Building. Note again the whitewashed walls, exposed pipes, and also the window behind Hopkins' desk that Flanagan noted (see previous caption). One of Hopkins' staff, Elizabeth Wickenden, recalled that Hopkins "had the shabbiest-looking office in the whole place, and he did that on purpose. He had an old wooden desk, this sort of ragged rug on the floor, wooden chairs, the really worst looking place. And he used to explain it, he said, 'I don't want any senator coming in here, when I'm asking for millions of dollars for the unemployed, and see me in a luxurious setting'" (from the documentary Harry Hopkins: Lord Root of the Matter, produced by the Education Film Center, narrated by Walter Cronkite, 1989). Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Above: Harry Hopkins, again in his probable office at the Walker-Johnson Building, December 1934. For those, like myself, who like to nerdily examine & compare photos, note that the windows in these last three photos don't match the windows on the top floor of the Walker-Johnson Building. And the top floor would seem to be the 10th floor (counting the bottom level--below the main entrance--that appears to be partially under ground). Recall that Susan Quinn (see two captions above) notes that Hopkins' office was on the 10th floor. But it seems more likely that his office was below the 10th floor, perhaps just below it. Of course, it's hard to know for sure, unless one could see the interior set-up of the building, especially the first few levels. But perhaps Hallie Flanagan did not correctly recall the floor where Hopkins worked, and Quinn is merely relying on that mis-recollection. Ultimately this is unimportant of course... but still interesting to nerdy photo sleuths! Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.
No comments:
Post a Comment