ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book details the new work and new questions being asked and answered about the various intersections between politics and culture. It examines the four personas FDR adopted—Sphinx, Father, Doctor, and Captain of the Ship of State—and the manner in which FDR partisans interpreted each in souvenir iconography. The book provides scholars with important clues in understanding the linkages among images as conveyed and received, politics, and the culture out of which each flowed. It demonstrates the wealth of knowledge that resulted from analysing the intersections between politics and culture. The book examines the relationship among the federal government, depression relief, and public art patronage. It illuminates aspect of New Deal political culture—the construction of new public buildings in Louisiana with Works Progress Administration funding.
