Audio file
Title: Alan Lomax discusses Roosevelt and the arts with Jerre Mangione and Joseph Alsop
Date recorded: December 31, 1981
Contributor(s): Contributor: Alsop, Joseph; Contributor: Mangione, Jerre; Contributor: Lomax, AlanBelongs to: Alsop/Mangione/Lomax, 1981
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Date recorded: December 31, 1981
Contributor(s): Contributor: Alsop, Joseph; Contributor: Mangione, Jerre; Contributor: Lomax, Alan
Subject(s): Roosevelt, Franklin Delano; Federal Writers Project; Lomax, John A.
Genre: interview/commentary
Location:
Physical form: Cassette Tape
Tape number: T3686
Track Number: 1
Archive ID: T3686a
Note: Jerre Mangione complains that no one wants to talk about the 1930s. Alan Lomax: For me, it's a conspiracy to knock out all the progressive art in this country. Life Magazine and the New York Times have enthroned Truman Capote and put all the fairies in charge. Jerre Mangione: George Biddle, the artist, was a friend of the Roosevelts. He first talked about employing artists. Alan Lomax remembers three percent as being set aside for arts in buildings. Graphic and visual arts. In 1939 Projects were taken from federal sponsorship and put under states. Jerre Mangione recalls conversation with FDR at a small Writers' Project dinner. With the coming of war FDR lost interest in the arts and concentrated on the upcoming war. He knew that they had killed Spain and only England now stood between us and fascism. He never dared to take a position on Spain. That was one of his two biggest mistakes. The other was the mass internment of the Japanese. Alan Lomax: Eleanor comes off as a better human being. FDR never could take a strong position on blacks. He left that to Eleanor. She was hated for it and he never could speak out in defense of her. They discuss the Federal Writers Project and the guides [to the states]. Alan Lomax: Did people like the books? Jerre Mangione: No. there was no popular feeling for it. The academic world is partly to blame and the press, which was 90 percent Republican. They were attacked on the front page and given rave reviews on the back pages. Didn't sell well. They are some of the finest books ever published. The result of the federal arts projects was that the center of the art world moved from Paris to New York. All the major figures in American art who later became very famous (except Franz Klein) got their apprenticeship in the federal programs. Many writers also: Saul Bellow, Ralph Ellison, Richard Wright, Jack Conroy, Nelson Algren, who wrote "The Man With the Golden Arm." They talk about John A. Lomax and his role in writing the protocols for the Slave Narrative project (which was started by another agency). Then Sterling Brown took over. It turned out to be the greatest thing ever done. Alan Lomax planned to write a book about it. Alan Lomax feels that Benjamin Botkin, who had never been in the field, didn't do it justice. Jerre Mangione: In "An Ethnic At Large" I talked about your father, but not too creditably. I hope you are not offended. Alan Lomax: My father was a fucking genius at getting blacks to sing, he loved it more than life itself. It was so dangerous. Mangione: Your father was at a party where Lead Belly performed. Everybody was shocked that your father had him pass the hat - speaking from a student's point of view. Alan Lomax: No one understands that Lead Belly was dying to pass his hat. No one understands Jimmy Carter. When Carter gives that Southern smile, everybody thought he was a crook. Remarkable discussion with Joseph Alsop, a cousin of Eleanor and Franklin on both sides and an art connoisseur, about what he considers the Roosevelts' "philistinism." Alan Lomax: I was raised on the rumor that "Home on the Range" was his favorite song. Joseph Alsop: That was the sort of thing they liked. I don't think I can contribute a damned thing [to your program] except for the rather depressing information that they were rather philistine. Alan Lomax (rather shocked): What about FDR's reading of "A Christmas Carol" to his family? Joseph Alsop: Oh, that was only because the Rector did that. Alan Lomax: I'm sorry, I must be hard of hearing? Joseph Alsop: The Rector of Groton used to read that to the whole school before the Christmas holiday. Alan Lomax: My father did that, too. I'm sorry, but I think that's literature, too. Joseph Alsop: Their dinners were rather bad. Eleanor had a bad cook. Alan Lomax: Thank you, Mr. Alsop. I've always admired your columns.
About the session: Alan Lomax discusses Roosevelt and the arts with writer Jerre Mangione and journalist Joseph Alsop.
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