Social Welfare History Project Eras in Social Welfare History Page 4

Disability Rights & Universal Design

Disability rights originated in Boston, Massachusetts in 1846 with Samuel Gridley Howe. Howe was an advocate for education of the blind, and a supporter of the “feeble-minded.”

The March (1963) Film

The March (1963) Film Directed by James Blue. Introduction by Carl Rowan. Courtesy of the National Archives (National Archives Identifier 47526) Note: The audio from 23:13 to 29:44 in this film has been redacted due to a copyright restriction by Dr. King’s family. In 2008, The Motion Picture Preservation Lab completed a full digital restoration of James…

Current Issues and Programs in Social Welfare: 2001 – 2017

Note: This entry is an update to Dr. Marx’s previous article, “Current Issues and Programs in Social Welfare.”
George W. Bush took office as the 43rd President of the United States in 2001. It was only the second time that the son of an American president had later also become president. Bush, a Republican like his father, had defeated Democratic candidate Al Gore from Tennessee in one of the closest and most contested presidential elections in U.S. history.

Healy, Bishop James Augustine (1830-1900)

James Augustine Healy: The First African American To Be Ordained a Roman Catholic Priest

Brown, William Wells (1814-1884)

William Wells Brown – Anti-Slavery Lecturer, Groundbreaking Novelist, Playwright and Historian Introduction: William Wells Brown was an African American anti-slavery lecturer, groundbreaking novelist, playwright and historian. He is widely considered to have been the first African American to publish works in several major literary genres. Known for his continuous political activism especially in his involvement with the anti-slavery…

Wilson, Woodrow, 28th President of the United States (1913 – 1921)

Woodrow Wilson, a leader of the Progressive Movement, was the 28th President of the United States (1913-1921). After a policy of neutrality at the outbreak of World War I, Wilson led America into war in order to “make the world safe for democracy.”….Like Roosevelt before him, Woodrow Wilson regarded himself as the personal representative of the people. “No one but the President,” he said, “seems to be expected … to look out for the general interests of the country.” He developed a program of progressive reform and asserted international leadership in building a new world order. In 1917 he proclaimed American entrance into World War I a crusade to make the world “safe for democracy.”

Harding, Warren G., 29th President of the U.S. (1921-1923)

Behind the facade, not all of Harding’s Administration was so impressive. Word began to reach the President that some of his friends were using their official positions for their own enrichment. Alarmed, he complained, “My…friends…they’re the ones that keep me walking the floors nights!”….Looking wan and depressed, Harding journeyed westward in the summer of 1923, taking with him his upright Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover. “If you knew of a great scandal in our administration,” he asked Hoover, “would you for the good of the country and the party expose it publicly or would you bury it?” Hoover urged publishing it, but Harding feared the political repercussions.

Coolidge, John Calvin, Jr. – 30th President of the U.S. (1923-1929)

Coolidge was “distinguished for character more than for heroic achievement,” wrote a Democratic admirer, Alfred E. Smith. “His great task was to restore the dignity and prestige of the Presidency when it had reached the lowest ebb in our history … in a time of extravagance and waste….”

Hoover, Herbert: Another View of His Career

He was elected thirty-first President of the United States in a 1928 landslide, but within a few short months he had become a scapegoat in his own land. Even today, Herbert Hoover remains indelibly linked to an economic crisis that put millions of Americans out of work in the 1930s. His 1932 defeat left Hoover’s once-bright reputation in shambles. But Herbert Hoover refused to fade away. In one of history’s most remarkable comebacks, he returned to public service at the end of World War II to help avert global famine and to reorganize the executive branch of government….By the time of his death in October 1964, Hoover had regained much of the luster once attached to his name. The Quaker theologian who eulogized him at his funeral did not exaggerate when he said of Hoover, “The story is a good one and a great one. . . . It is essentially triumphant.”