Keynes's Open Letter to Roosevelt (12/31/1933)
(click image to read full text)
Replies to Keynes
Contact between Keynes and Roosevelt
- Keynes's Open Letter to Roosevelt - 12/31/1933 (typed version)This is an exact transcription of Keynes's letter in the New York Times (viewable in context by clicking the image to the left). Some students might find this version easier to read.
- "Mr. Roosevelt Experiments"Keynes's articles in the London Times (1/2/1934)
- Description of Keynes Visit with Roosevelt (5/28/1934)John Maynard Keynes met Franklin Roosevelt on Monday, May 28, 1934. Both afterward said polite things to Felix Frankfurter, who had urged the two to confer: Keynes described the conversation was “fascinating and illuminating,” while Roosevelt wrote that “I had a grand talk and liked him immensely.”
- "Sees Need for $400,000,000 Monthly to Speed Recovery"Keynes's article in New York Times (6/10/1934)
- Personal Letters Between Keynes and RooseveltKeynes's letter to Roosevelt (2/1/1938) and Roosevelt’s response (3/3/1938)
How Did the Print Media Respond?
The best way to approach newspaper articles contemporary to pivotal moments related to FDR's fiscal policy is to identify a significant event (e.g speech, proclamation, act) and search one of the historic newspaper archives below, limiting your dates to the week/month immediately following/preceding the event.
Best Bets
U.S. Newspapers
- New York Times (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new windowArchive of the New York Times from 1851-2019. Contains New York Times Index.
- Washington Post (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new windowArchive of the Washington Post from 1877-2007.
- Boston Globe (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new windowArchive of the Boston Globe from 1872-1992
- Chicago Tribune (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new windowArchive of the Chicago Tribune from 1849-2014.
U.K. Newspapers
- Financial Times Historical Archive This link opens in a new windowComplete run of this major U.K. newspaper from 1888-2021.
- Economist Digital Archive This link opens in a new windowComplete coverage of every issue of this important weekly publication from the U.K., 1843-2020.
Other Historical Newspaper Collections
- Hartford Courant Historical (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new windowArchive of the Hartford Courant from 1764-1998.
- Los Angeles Times (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new windowArchive of the Los Angeles Times from 1881-2015.
- San Francisco Chronicle (Newsbank America's Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new windowArchive of the San Francisco Chronicle from 1869-1984.
- Dallas Morning News (Newsbank America's Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new windowArchive of the Dallas Morning News from 1923-1984.
- Seattle Times Collection with Historical Archives This link opens in a new windowCurrent and archival content for the Seattle Times, 1895-present.
- Miami Herald Collection (Current and Historical) This link opens in a new windowCurrent content and archival news content from 1911-1982 of the Miami Herald.
- ProQuest Black Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new windowCollection of Historic Black newspapers including Atlanta Daily World, Baltimore Afro-American, Chicago Defender, Cleveland Call and Post, Los Angeles Sentinel, Louisville Defender, Michigan Chronicle, New York Amsterdam News, Norfolk Journal and Guide, Philadelphia Tribune, Pittsburgh Courier. Covers from 1893-2010 time period, but individual newspaper coverage dates vary.
- Chicago Defender (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new windowA major source for 20th century Black history and the perspective of Black Americans from 1910 to 1975.
- Atlanta Constitution (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new windowArchive of the Atlanta Constitution and Journal Constitution from 1868-1984.
- Detroit Free Press (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new windowArchive of the Detroit Free Press from 1831-1999.
- Times-Picayune (Newsbank America's Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new windowArchive of the Times-Picayune (New Orleans) from 1837-2002. Older editions were published as The Picayune.
Primary Sources
Best Bets
- American Presidency Project: Franklin D. RooseveltAccess speeches, correspondences, proclamations, fireside chats, etc.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & MuseumThe official Presidential Library of Franklin D. Roosevelt, containing speeches, personal papers, photographs, and audio and video recordings related to FDR, Eleanor Roosevelt, and key people in his administration. Key topics include the Great Depression and New Deal, and World War II.
Search their digital collection of material by going to "Search FRANKLIN" under the "Historic Collections" menu option.
You can also browse materials related to the Great Depression and New Deal by going to their "Featured Topics" page under the "Historic Collections" menu option. - National Archives - Franklin D. Roosevelt LibraryMaterials from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library made searchable through the National Archives Record Administration (NARA) Presidential Library Explorer.
Other Suggested Primary Source Collections
- HathiTrust This link opens in a new windowNOTE: Members must log in using Trinity credentials.
Founded in 2008, HathiTrust is a not-for-profit collaborative of academic and research libraries preserving 17+ million digitized items. HathiTrust offers reading access to the fullest extent allowable by U.S. copyright law, computational access to the entire corpus for scholarly research, and other emerging services based on the combined collection. HathiTrust members steward the collection — the largest set of digitized books managed by academic and research libraries.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Resource Guide (Library of Congress)A resource guide compiled by the Library of Congress containing links to digital collections of primary source materials and websites related to FDR.
- Great Depression and New Deal: A General Resource Guide (Library of Congress)A resource guide compiled by the Library of Congress containing links to digital collections containing primary source materials and websites related to the Great Depression and New Deal.
Finding Academic & Research Articles
Best Bets
- NBER Working Papers This link opens in a new windowPreliminary research sponsored by the nation's most prestigious nonprofit economics research organization. All working papers since 1994
- OneSearch This link opens in a new windowSearch Trinity's catalog and beyond for books, journal articles, streaming video, news articles, primary sources and more. Log in with your Trinity library account to see full results and request materials.
- Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective: 1907-1984 This link opens in a new windowCovers a broad range of subjects in the humanities and social sciences with indexing of more than 1,300,000 articles in nearly 1,100 periodicals, dating as far back as 1907, as well as citations of over 240,000 book reviews.
- Taylor & Francis Social Science & Humanities Journals This link opens in a new windowOver 1,400 online journals from ca. 1997 - present.
Other Recommended Databases
- Nexis UNI This link opens in a new windowNexis Uni™ features news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis®, including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790. Personalization features include Alerts and saved searches and a collaborative workspace with shared folders and annotated documents.
- ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global: The Humanities and Social Sciences Collection This link opens in a new windowRepository of dissertations and theses in the humanities and social sciences
- The New Republic Archive This link opens in a new windowThis database offers complete indexing & abstracting and full text for all issues back to the journals inception in 1914. The New Republic has provided an in-depth examination of American politics, foreign policy and culture.
- The Nation Archive This link opens in a new windowThe Nation Archive contains indexing, abstracting, and full text for the complete archive of The Nation, beginning with its first issue in 1865 all the way to the present. The Nation is America’s oldest weekly magazine and one if its premier journals of opinion since its inception in 1865.
Related Sources
- FDR: From Budget Balancer to KeynesianThe Franklin D. Roosevelt President Library and Museum has put scans up of several important documents that highlight FDR’s transition from trying to balancing the budget in the Great Depression to, after the crash of 1937, his ability to see that Keynesian deficit spending could help the recovery.
- "Roosevelt Surveys His Course"From New York Times. Reflections on first new Deal in anticipation of his plans for the second New Deal.
Tools to Help
- VoyantVoyant Tools is a web-based text reading and analysis environment. It is a scholarly project that is designed to facilitate reading and interpretive practices for digital humanities students and scholars as well as for the general public. You can use it to compare language used in Keynes' writings and Roosevelt's public speeches or documents to see where and how Keynes may have influenced Roosevelt's policy decisions.