Test. Test. Test. As you see over there on the left, the salon versus the church, the way the two parties were arguing which areas should get close first or reopened first, saloons, gambling houses versus churches. In some communities that mapped on to ljous sentiment or antisemitism or anticatholicism. Because remember this is an era of rising prohibition coming out of this. So it mapped on to different areas of politics to different regions related to what got privileged to the virus but not reaction to the virus itself. We will talk about that too. And a suf rujette handing out bonbons. And Warren Harding ran on the platform of world war i pushing the return to normalcy and return to society as we know it. As we take a step back, we saw pushback, protest and reemergence in that era. You may have heard about the antimask league. It was an organized league in San Francisco in early 1990s that pushed back against mask requirements that were mandatory. Antimask league is the only really
Historical precedent . 1918 is the one that comes to mind. And we have nobody better to tell us about 1918 than my good friend christopher nichols. He is a professor of history at oregon state. Hes also director there. Oregon state center for the humanities and founder of their citizenship and crisis initiative. He also studied at harvard, waysleyan and at the university of virginia. Chris is an expert on, i would say, earliest parts of the 20th century. Of course, is he expanding out. He and i, before we came on, were just chatting about new work we have coming out on ideologies on u. S. Foreign policy. That book itself, that term, that title, was a seminole book in the field in 1987. Im really glad someone has decided to go in and update it, shall we say. Theres no better person to do it than chris. Will he talk to us about the 1918 pandemic. I would encourage you, as you look at your zoom screen, on the bottom youll see a q a button. Please, hit that button and submit your questions
Ongoing debate among historians as to whether history is influenced more by individuals or larger social, cultural and economic forces. I think it is of course both of those. Certainly it seems to me that franklin d. Roosevelt is a prime example of the significant of an individuals impact on history. It was broader social and Economic Conditions that allowed fdr to become a great leader, but in his case i believe it was force of personality that was a paramount element as i think we will see as we go along. Lets examine roosevelts presidency beginning with a brief look at the conditions in the country that led to his election in 1932. The economic collapse of 1920 9 had brought the worst conditions the country had experienced since the civil war. Herbert hoover seemed incapable of leading the way out of it despite some moderate attempts to do so. The suffering was widespread with approximately one quarter of the workforce unemployed and others having to take substantial pay cuts. The c
Hate. [laughter] it is a little daunting. Trace the arc. Im going to do a historian thing and think generally. I guess i would say if yo they e looking at american politics from the beginning, we could even go past the civil war, we are talking about paradoxes and conflict and improv. The periods but i tend to focus on more at that part, its the improvisational nature of that fascinates me more than anything else. Its because the nation was founded in the world of monarc monarchy. What that means wasnt so clear at the moment. There is a lot of improv in those early decades about what the nation is, how it functions, the tone of the f government, hp a nationon is going to stand out among the nations of the world. What does it mean to be in a world of monarchies and was the nation going to get any degree of respect and equally and if not more significant as far as the inside of the nation is concerned, what kind of nation is tha it going to be and that s true on every level you could s a
Road to civil war. Joanne freeman, youre going to hate this opening question. Trace the arc of our nations history. From 1783 to 1861, the political history of our nation. Wow, i will use the word hate. Back is a little daunting. Trace the art. Im to do the historian thing and speak generally. I guess it would save your looking an american in politics, from the beginning straight through, we could even go past the civil war, youre talking about paradoxes and conflict and prop. The period that i tend to focus on is the early part of the arc, and its the improvisational nature of the the really fascinates more than anything else. The nation was founded in a world of monarchy. The United States was a republic. What the means was was not clear at the moment and people knew the they were trying to do something the wasnt act. Were not going to be creating monetary and the president isnt going to be a king but beyond the there was open ground. Theres a lot of improv in those early decades abo