The War to Save the Forgotten Man
The War to Save the Forgotten Man
Gender, Citizenship, and the Politics of Work Relief
This chapter examines the politics of federal relief and its implications for gender, race, and citizenship. It considers how the figure of the forgotten man came to represent unemployment during the Great Depression, and particularly for jobless white men dependent on relief. It presents civic stories of forgotten manhood to elucidate how a particular, emotionally charged narrative about collective white masculine identity contributed to the hegemonic power of the New Deal state. Focusing on the Civil Works Administration and the Works Progress Administration, the book shows that the institutional history of federal emergency relief is intertwined with the broader narrative of forgotten manhood.
Keywords: politics, federal relief, gender, race, citizenship, forgotten man, unemployment, Great Depression, civic stories, New Deal
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