Appropriating Thomas Jefferson, 1929-1945: We Are All Jeffersonians Now

Description

This study counters the view that Franklin D. Roosevelt hegemonically exalted Thomas Jefferson to iconic dominance during the Great Depression. It analyzes the diversity of those who appropriated Jefferson to find answers to the socio-economic crisis and modern industrial capitalism. This discourse analysis, spanning the ideological spectrum between 1929-1945, reveals that the creation of the Jefferson icon--in various forms of representation--generated counterhegemonic varieties of Jefferson because the appropriators grafted their values onto the historical figure which led to its transformation. These competing versions of Jefferson expressed a reformed sense of national values not only through commonalities but through the flexibility of interpretative and representational differences. Appropriating Thomas Jefferson, 1929-1945: We Are All Jeffersonians Now Acknowledgments Contents Introduction - “We Are All Jeffersonians Now” 1 The First Blossoms of a New Bloom: The Southern Agrarians 1.1 Davidson’s Jefferson: The Home-Grown “Aristocrat” 1.2 Owsley’s Jefferson: The Adversary of Alexander Hamilton 1.3 Fletcher’s Jefferson: The Natural Aristoi or “Intellectual Elite” 1.4 Nixon’s and Wade’s Jefferson: The Father of Populism and Practical Philosopher 1.5 Lytle’s Jefferson: Subsistence and Independence as “Pursuit of Happiness” 1.6 Tate’s Jefferson: Caught in between Praise and Derision 2 Memorializing Jefferson 2.1 Construction of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C. 2.1.1 Moral Entrepreneurs of Thomas Jefferson The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Commission (TJMC) 2.1.2 The Site(s) – Picking Sites, Choosing Sides 2.1.3 The Purpose and Design of the Jefferson Memorial Utilitarian Memorial Proposals Architectural Competition Proposal 2.1.4 Cornerstone Laying of the Memorial, November 15, 1939 2.1.5 Inscriptions in the Memorial Room: Frieze and Panels The Committee of Three: Senator Thomas, Stuart Gibboney, and Brigadier General Jefferson Randolph Kean 2.1.6 The Statue and the Pediment The Pediment: Telling a Story 2.1.7 Dedication of the Memorial, April 13, 1943 2.2 (Jefferson) National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis (JNEM) 2.3 Memorializing Jefferson’s Birthday: April 13, 1743 2.3.1 Declaring Jefferson’s Birthday a Holiday 2.3.2 Celebration of the Bicentennial of Jefferson’s Birth 2.3.3 Library of Congress Symposium on the Dedication of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial 2.3.4 New Masses Special Jefferson Issue, 13 April 1943 Creative Portion: Poetry Contest Winner and Louis Lerman’s Allegory 3 Appropriating Jefferson 3.1 The Political and Rhetorical Tradition of the Jefferson Day Speeches From 1830 to the 1930s 3.2 Jefferson Attributions—Appropriating Jefferson 3.2.1 Jefferson as Humanitarian Humanitarianism in the Jefferson Day Address of Joseph B. Shannon (D-MO), 1934 James Beck’s Republican Version of Jefferson’s Humanitarianism, 1934 Jefferson Appropriation in 1935 – Humanitarianism Expanded Humanitarianism in 1936: Rebuffing the American Liberty League Humanitarianism and Antislavery Sentiments Humanitarianism and Asylum Humanitarianism – Pacifism, Neutrality, and Trade 3.2.2 Jefferson as States’ Rights Advocate and Strict Constructionist Elected vs. Appointed Officials and the Issuesof Patronage and the Spoils System Jefferson as Opponent of Bureaucracy – the Hatch Act Jefferson and the Courts: Constitutional Checks and Balances Third and Fourth Term Controversy and the Elective Office of the Presidency Checks and Balances: The Supreme Court and the Democratic Party Anti-Lynching Bill 1938 – States’ Rights and the Aftermath of Slavery Debt – Centralization, Bureaucracy, and War 3.2.3 Jefferson as Communist or Socialist? “A Century of Progress in Applying Jefferson’s Philosophy of Education” Practical Idealism and Education as Bulwark against Intolerance Education in American History Survey 1943 – Lessons of History Republican Appropriation: James Davis and the American History Survey Practical Idealism’s Relation to Agriculture and Conservation Practical Idealism and the National Agricultural Jefferson Bicentenary Committee (NAJBC) Practical Idealism of Scientific Advancement and the Patent System Science and its Relation to Liberty and Freedom of the Press 3.3 FDR’s Undelivered Jefferson Day Speech of 1945 Conclusion Appendix List of Figures Works Cited Works Analyzed Works Consulted Index Backmatter