The New Deal Around DC: Jacob Baker's apartment

Above: Jacob Baker (1895-1967), at a theatre house in Washington, DC, December 1, 1936. Baker was an important administrator in the work & construction programs of the New Deal, especially with projects involving plays, music, writing, and art. He wrote in the New York Times: "It has been recognized that when an artist or musician is hungry he is just as hungry as a bricklayer and has the same right as a bricklayer has to be employed at his own trade. For the first time in our history, our government has become a patron of the arts, officially and quite unashamed" (November 11, 1934). Read Jacob Baker's biography on the website of the Living New Deal. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: According to the "New Deal Washington Walking Tour Guide" (Humanities Council of Washington, DC, 2009), Jacob Baker lived in apartment 903 at the "Park Central Apartments," 1900 F Street, NW (above). The building is now the "Mabel Nelson Thurston Hall," George Washington University. Photo by Brent McKee, September 2018.

Above: A closer look at the front of the building. The walking tour guide (see previous caption) notes "the fine Art Deco details over the front entrance of this building, constructed in 1930." Photo by Brent McKee, September 2018.

The New Deal Around DC: The White House and Executive Avenue

Above: Long before the White House became a den of corruption, deceit, and incompetence, and long before it became a branch office of Corporate America, it was the epicenter of profound and positive changes in America. With FDR in the White House, the New Deal created policies and programs that still benefit the middle-class & poor today, for example, Social Security to help senior citizens; unemployment insurance to help those who are laid-off; PWA and WPA projects to modernize our infrastructure; the CCC to create or improve state parks; the SEC to police stock market fraud; protections for unions; and much, much more. Photo by Brent McKee, September 2018.

Above: Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) boys removing snow from the White House area. The CCC provided jobs, paychecks, a strong work ethic, and the ability to get along well with others, to many young American men from 1933-1942. Photo by the Associated Press, scanned from personal copy, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: Past all the fences, trees, and shrubs, you can just barely see the White House's West Wing Executive Office Building. Much or all of this building was created with funding from the New Deal's Public Works Administration (PWA). Photo by Brent McKee, September 2018.

Above: The description for this photograph reads, "Enlarging the Executive Offices of the White House, Washington, DC. This work is being done with PWA funds." Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: Men working on the West Wing Executive Office Building, ca. 1933-1940. The PWA facilitated well-paid work for millions of Americans, on projects that still benefit us today. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: "A picture of the completed addition to the White House." Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: A view of the White House, from the south. Photo by Brent McKee, September 2018.

Above: Today, with all the threatening signs, Jersey barriers, fences, and heavily-armed law enforcement personnel and vehicles, the White House more closely resembles a military compound. It has a very uninviting, "stay away" feel to it. This is the price we pay (fear and paranoia) for starting military adventures all across the globe, and also for creating an angry and despondent citizenry. Our plutocratic government is now always looking over its shoulder for the next attack. Photo by Brent McKee, September 2018.

Above: The description for this photograph reads: "West Executive Avenue is re-surfaced in Washington, DC. The White House is in the background." This was either a PWA or (perhaps more likely) a WPA project, and the photo appears to have been taken before work began on the West Wing Executive Offices. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: West Executive Avenue today - closely guarded, public not allowed. Notice the Washington Monument in the background. Photo by Brent McKee, September 2018.

Above: Public architecture was much more important to our ancestors than it is to us. Heck, even street lights and lamp posts were very decorative back in the day. Today, with almost everything, we go with cheap and ugly. I'm convinced that when our current era is looked back upon, by historians and future generations, they will find us to be completely boring and unremarkable. Glued to our televisions and iPhones, and addicted to giving repeated tax breaks to people who don't need them, we are creating a shallow, forgettable legacy. If future Americans have any sense to them, any spirit, they'll smash down most of the buildings, bridges, and other eyesores that were made between about 1980 and today, and start anew. They'll build things that are inspiring and grand instead. Photo by Brent McKee, September 2018.

New Deal Art: "The Washington Monument as Seen from the Pan American Union"

Above: "The Washington Monument as Seen from the Pan American Union," an oil painting by Mary P. E. Saltzman (1878-1974?), created while she was in the New Deal's Public Works of Art Project, 1933. I couldn't find much information on Saltzman on the Internet, but it seems likely that she is the Mary Peyton Eskridge Saltzman who died in 1974, and lies at rest at Arlington National Cemetery with her husband Charles McKinley Saltzman (1871-1942). Charles was a major general in the U.S. Army. The couple seems to have had at least one child, Charles E. Saltzman, who also ended up being a general in the U.S. Army. The younger Charles had three children, so it's possible, if all of this information is accurate, that Mary P. E. Saltzman has grandchildren and great-grandchildren living today. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.