Teachers consider Hoover-Roosevelt debates
Fifteen middle and high school teachers from Kentucky are currently meeting to discuss the then-controversial New Deal legislation enacted under Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidency in the 1930s.
The four-day conference is co-sponsored by the McConnell Center's civic education program and Liberty Fund, Inc., and is centered on the original arguments surrounding the New Deal. The conference runs Dec. 2-5.
Rather than debating the economic effectiveness of the New Deal, teachers are immersed in discussion bridging over 70 years of history.
Participants read Gordon Lloyd's The Two Faces of Liberalism: How the Hoover-Roosevelt Debate Shapes the 21st Century as part of the conference. The book includes original speeches address New Deal legislation by the main actors — Roosevelt and Herbert H. Hoover.
Dr. Richard Gamble, the Anna Margaret Ross Alexander Chair in History and Political Science and associate professor of history at Hillsdale College, is the conference discussion leader.
The conference is held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel located close to the University of Louisville's Belknap Campus.