Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Race and politics have played an important part in shaping the history of the United States, from the first arrival of African slaves in the early seventeenth century to the election of an African-American president in 2008. The Great Depression and the New Deal represent a period that was no exception to the influence of race and politics. After Franklin Roosevelt succeeded Herbert Hoover to the American presidency, there was much faith and hope expressed on the editorial pages of the Indianapolis Recorder that African Americans would be treated fairly under the New Deal. Hope began to wane when little political patronage was dispensed, in the form of government jobs, once the Democrats took office in 1933. As the first incarnation of the New Deal progressed, African Americans continued to experience prejudice, segregation, unfair wages, and generally a “raw deal.” But what was more, African-American women and men were not given a fair opportunity to ensure for themselves better political, social, and economic standing in the future. This struggle for full-fledged citizenship was further underscored when Congress failed to pass anti-lynching legislation in 1934 and 1935. The New Dealers, Franklin Roosevelt chief among them, did not seize the opportunity presented by the Great Depression to push for civil rights and social justice for African Americans. Their intent was not necessarily malicious. A more nuanced view of the issues shows that political expedience, and a measure of indifference, led the New Dealers to not treat civil rights as the pressing issue that it was. Roosevelt and the New Dealers believed that they faced the potential for significant resistance to their economic recovery program from Southern Democrats on Capitol Hill if they tried to interfere with race relations in the South. This thesis examines the first years of the Roosevelt Administration, roughly 1933 through 1936. This timeframe was carefully chosen because it was a period when the issues surrounding race and racism were brought to the fore. In the initial period of the New Deal we can see how Roosevelt met and failed to meet the expectations of African Americans. The prevailing view among the African American leadership in 1935, argued Harvard Sitkoff, was that the federal government had “betrayed [African Americans] under the New Deal.” Sitkoff referred to these “denunciations of the New Deal by blacks” as commonplace from 1933 to 1935. But beginning with the Second New Deal in the middle 1930s the criticism turned to applause.

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British influence on the diplomacy of WWII, as it relates to postwar planning, is underappreciated. This work explores how the use of astute tactical maneuvering allowed Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden to impact the development of the post-war world in a greater degree than is typically portrayed in the narratives of the war. Detailing how the study of business negotiations can provide new insights into diplomatic history, Yalta exposes Britain’s impact on the creation of the post-war order through analyzing the diplomacy of WWII as a negotiation. To depict WWII post-war planning diplomacy as a negotiation means that the Yalta Conference of 1945 must be the focal point of said diplomacy with all the negotiations either flowing to or from the conference. This analysis reveals that Britain harnessed the natural momentum of the negotiation process to create bilateral understandings that protected or advanced their interests in ways that should not have been afforded the weakest party in the Grand Alliance. By pursuing solutions to the major wartime issues first and most stridently through the use of age-old British diplomatic tactics, they were able to enter into understandings with another member of the Grand Alliance prior to the tripartite conferences. Creating bilateral understandings with the Americans on the direction of military operations and the Soviets over the European settlement produced the conditions under which the tripartite negotiations transpired. Options available to the excluded party were thus limited, allowing for outcomes that aligned more favorably to British interests. A synthesis of diplomatic documents, diaries, and memoirs with historical writings as well as research on business and international negotiations brings to life the diplomatic encounters that led to the creation of the post-war order. To provide the reader a basis for analysis of wartime diplomacy, this work is broken down into two parts. Part I focuses on the strategies created for Yalta. Part II (future doctoral dissertation) will use these strategies to evaluate the performances of each party. Combined the two parts expose that British diplomatic maneuverings is an undervalued aspect of wartime diplomacy.

This thesis explores the architecture, interior design and furniture design of Greta Magnusson Grossman (1906-1999), a pioneering Swedish Modernist who emigrated to the United States in 1940 and became part of the design movement California Modern in Los Angeles. Despite a productive and acclaimed career, her work was more or less forgotten until rediscovered in the early 2000’s.In this thesis, Greta Magnusson Grossman’s broader context is understood through literature studies of the 1930 Stockholm Exhibition, the introduction of Swedish Modern at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, the postwar design movement California Modern, and the International Competition for Low-Cost Furniture Design organized by the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1948. Similar needs for well designed, low cost housing and furniture in the two countries are found.To further examine the work of Magnusson Grossman, her 1949 residence at Waynecrest Drive in Los Angeles is visually analyzed and compared with contemporary Case Study House #8 by American design couple Charles and Ray Eames from 1949, and Swedish furniture designer and architect Bruno Mathsson’s Exhibition Hall from 1950. Several correlations between the three environments are identified, and confirms Greta Magnusson Grossman’s progressive contributions in the fields of architecture, interiors and furniture design.