Since the economy, the state of the economy, the debate over the economy and all things economic are at the forefront of all discussion these days, maybe it's a good idea to take a look at some of the economic voices of the past for some perspective, or at least looking at different methods used in the past to deal with economic problems.

One such voice was Leon Keyserling, a long time Economic Adviser during the Roosevelt Administration, in fact one of the architects of the National Recovery Act of 1934, and in 1949 serving as an Economic Advisor to the Truman Administration, this time with the Fair Deal. Keyserling was one of those advocates of conservative spending and prudent growth in times of prosperity to safeguard against recession and depression.

The U.S. in 1949 was coming out of World War 2 and was in the midst of aiding in recovery throughout Europe via The Marshall Plan.

At the time of this interview, on Meet The Press from March, 1949 - Keyserling had made recommendations to Congress on Economic needs and priorities.

Leon Keyserling: “In the period after the First World War we did not concern ourselves with maintaining the prosperity of the economy. And so we had a crash. And out of that crash, and out of that experience we took one step further forward; we came to recognize the majority of people, Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, came to recognize that in the event of a large depression we should, and would take effective affirmative broad steps to deal with it. Now the policy that we have been advocating since World War 2 goes one step further, it’s more moderate it’s a preventive policy. It says we should try to take these steps before the depression comes. And the only reason, the only reason why these proposals seem extreme is because some people have not come to accept the idea that you should do anything in times of prosperity to preserve it.”

Needless to say, his recommendations weren't sitting very well with members of the Meet The Press panel. At one point Lawrence Spivak accused Keyserling of wanting to give unlimited powers to the Presidency in the area of controls and price fixing, saying if such a policy was in place were a Huey Long President, the country would head to dictatorial disaster.

Lively discussion all around. And one that gives you some idea the question of our economy is as old as our government itself. Sadly, I have no Meet The Press or its equivalent from the 1860's, but I would imagine the debate would be just about the same.

Some things will never change.

While the War was slowly turning in favor of the Allies, The groundwork for setting up The United Nations had been established. On June 7 of 1943, President Roosevelt addressed the very first United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture and discussed what role the allies would play in the Post-War world and the crucial importance of Food production.

Here is that address, complete as given on June 7, 1943.

As a reminder that media coverage of Political conventions hasn't really changed all that much since broadcasting got started, here is a one hour snapshot from June 26, 1936 at the Democratic National Convention.

On this evening there were seconding speeches, and pleas from the Chairman to keep the hyperbole down to five minutes apiece. On this evening too, there was sufficient boredom going on in the broadcast studio that such journalistic greats as H.V. Kaltenborn and Edward R. Murrow were reduced to interviewing delegates to find out which was the youngest at the convention - and in Murrow's case, interviewing the on-site barber to get the "scoop" on "just what goes on in a barber shop during a convention". Pretty weighty stuff, but no less strange than the endless trivia and human interest stories we deal with now.

So here is the last hour of the convention day for June 26th 1936, the seconding speeches, as presented by CBS Radio, hosted by Robert Trout.

Since 1938 was a Mid-Term election year, President Roosevelt embarked on a 28 day tour of the U.S., bringing his message of the accomplishments of his second term and a few words about The New Deal and the Recovery taking place in the country. The NRA had undergone a challenge in the Supreme Court and many of the programs initiated during FDR's first term were in jeopardy. So in an effort to bolster support and to campaign for incumbents, FDR did a series of whistle-stop appearances.

This one, on July 7, 1938 was from an appearance in Covington, Kentucky and was broadcast nationwide to a capacity audience.

Here is the complete address.

It almost passed by unnoticed before I was reminded that September 10th marked the 76th anniversary of Huey Long's death, the result of an assassination and one which to this day is cloaked in conspiracy theories and speculation.

Regardless of the circumstances surrounding Long's ignoble end, he has been viewed as something of a larger-than-life figure in post-World War 1 U.S. history. At the onset a staunch New Dealer, he quickly broke with FDR and went in the opposite direction to the point of being viewed by many as a Dictator-in-waiting.

In this 1935 address, on behalf of the Veterans Of Foreign Wars and the Bonus March movement, Long decried the Roosevelt Administration of being anti-veteran and subsequently anti-American in the process.

His slogan "Every Man A King" certainly had its fair share of appeal among the angry and disenfranchised during those dog days of the Depression. Long was quick to label The New Deal as a "combination of Stalinism and Hitlerism with a dash of Italian Fascism" (why does this sound so familiar??). However the irony was that Long's own state of Louisiana was viewed as a virtual Fascist Dictatorship by many and that his assassination was viewed as an attempt to overthrow a corrupt regime.

The fact that you can probably view Huey Long as something of an equivalent contemporary figure speaks to the notion there has always been a haywire fringe element in our country and it has always flourished in times of doubt and uncertainty. Comforting to know, it ain't - but better the devil you know about than the one you don't, right?

In any event, here's Huey Long from May 25, 1935.

November 9, 1943 saw the formation of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), anticipating what was going to be needed to put some semblance of order back into the world once the war was over. Even though it was a ways away, the need was already abundantly clear that the amount of relief it would take was going to be enormous. And so an agency was formed as part of the greater United Nations to deal with that eventuality.

The signing of the declaration on the parts of the 44 nations represented took place at the White House East Room on November 9, with President Roosevelt keynoting the event.

FDR: “Here in the White House, seated about the table in the historic East Room, are representatives of forty-four nations. United Nations and those associated with them. The people of these forty-four nations include approximately 80% of the human race, now united by a common devotion to the cause of civilization, and by a common determination to build for the future a world of decency and security and above all, peace. Representatives of these forty-four nations, you gentlemen who represent them, have just signed an agreement creating the United Nations Relief And Rehabilitation Administration, commonly known by a simpler word; UNRRA.”

UNRRA was in use from 1943 until the end of 1946, with the last effort ending in 1949.

Back when the FCC was . . .well, the FCC, Chairman Frank McNinch wielded a rather heavy club when it came to enforcing codes, pulling licenses and posting fines.To say he went overboard in a few places was probably an understatement - the most famous being his feud with NBC over an episode of a variety program featuring then-sex siren Mae West in a double entendre laced skit on the subject of Adam and Eve. NBC nearly lost its license to broadcast and Frank McNinch was a man to be feared. Much the same way Will Hays reeked havoc with the film industry, McNinch was a strict enforcer of morality - sometimes to the point of absurdity.

But that was the FCC back then, brought about as the result of a public communications medium in its infancy which ran the very real risk of abuse and manipulation. That was 1938. And this was Frank McNinch:

Frank McNinch: “For most of us, radio has become a vital part of our daily lives. It grows more and more important every day. Yet a host of questions surround it about which few persons altogether agree. There is not even unanimity about the value of radio as we have it today. There are millions who love it for the entertainment value and its accomplishments, which, so short a time ago, we would have called miraculous. They smile indulgently at its imperfections. Many others decry it, complain loudly and bitterly of its being too often trivial and ineffective, or that it is being abused or misused.”

Certainly a far cry from how it is today; a deregulated, ransacked shell of its former self. Sometimes things go from one extreme to the other before a semblance of balance comes about. Perhaps that's wishful thinking.

Another name from the faint, distant past. Alf Landon was the Republican candidate for President in 1936 and lost in a landslide to FDR. He supported the New Deal at first, but later condemned FDR for what he considered abandoning original New Deal principles. Landon was something of an anomaly as far as Republicans were concerned. He considered himself Progressive, fighting against the isolationists such as America First in 1939. After the war he was a vigorous backer of the Marshall Plan. Later, when China was taken over by Communists, Landon urged recognition of Red China. He also urged the U.S. to join the Common Market in 1962. All in all, not your typical Republican then, or certainly today.

When the 1944 Presidential election started heating up, Landon was called on to bring some unity to what had been a fractured party. He delivered numerous radio addresses in support of Republican candidates and this one, delivered on July 31, 1943, was in answer to an address made by vice-President Henry Wallace the previous night.

Alf Landon: “The shadow of a notable bitter election that will mean either the eclipse of the Fascist New Dealers or the American Republic is already appearing over the land. The Republican party and real Democrats are the only representatives of the great liberal principles of Jefferson, as they are being given force and vitality under the Republican leadership. And the high ideals of freedom for all peoples will be nothing put promises written on water if the Fascist New Dealers win this battle against the One Mulers.”

I hadn't heard the phrase "One Muler" before and my guess is it was one coined by Landon who referred to the middle class and the small business owner as a "One Muler" - possibly from an offshoot of slave reparations (forty acres and a mule) and certainly not a phrased used since then. I suppose you can draw all sorts of conclusions there.

Politics, it would seem, was so much different then.

(Henry Wallace - Jeffersonian ideals in 1939)

Much of what's been heard regarding Henry Wallace in recent years has mostly been centered around his unsuccessful bid for the 1948 Presidential election and his third party controversies.

But before that, when he was Secretary of Agriculture, he was an ardent New Deal supporter and a vigorous advocate for the causes of Agriculture, Labor and the blue-collar worker.

On April 22, 1939 he delivered an address at the annual Jefferson Day Dinner in Washington. His topic was "A Progressive Democracy In A Changing World".

In case you haven't heard him in this context, here he is:

Henry Wallace: “In this job of rebuilding, an essential role must fall to businessmen. This Twentieth century is the Machine Age and the Machine Age is an age of business. American life as we know it centers largely around business. And without the constructive help of businessmen, cooperating with the constructive leadership of Agriculture, the constructive leadership of Labor and the constructive leadership of government, the general welfare cannot be adequately served.”

He is introduced by Postmaster General James Farley.

Just thought you'd like to know.

(Hamilton Fish III - once observed distributing copies of The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion out of his Senate office)

Let it never be said that the Lunatic Fringe is the sole property of the past decade. It's not. Prior to World War 2 we had the likes of Hamilton Fish III who not only was a vocal opponent of FDR's New Deal, he was also a vocal opponent of FDR in general. With the Lend-Lease bill before Congress, Fish charged the country was slipping into Totalitarianism with FDR bracing to assume the Dictatorship of the country and all was headed into irreversible disaster.

Hamilton Fish: “ It is evident that the tide of totalitarianism in government which has swept over many lands has not only reached our shores, but has gone far to destroy constitutional barriers. Which, once broken down, are not likely to be restored.”

Hamilton Fish: “ A great debate is now being waged in the Congress and throughout the nation as to whether the Congress should surrender to the President its constitutional power to declare war. And in the same bill give away blank check control of the purse. The issue is very clear, and I believe that once the American people understand that the Lend-Lease bill in its present form is not primarily to aid Great Britain, but to set up a dictatorship in America, they will demand its repudiation and defeat.”

Fish was an avowed isolationist. Aligning himself with the anti-war movement, he was closely associated with a number of Pro-German sympathies in the 1930s to just prior to the outbreak of our involvement in the War. He became friends with Joachim von Ribbentop, Foreign Minister in the Hitler regime and was accused on several occasions of having pro-Nazi leanings, even to the point of distributing copies of The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion out of his Senate office and making anti-Semitic remarks with regards to Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler's Germany.

Fish is an all-but-forgotten figure now. It's doubtful anyone in the last two generations has actually heard him. He was defeated in his re-election bid and faded into the background after World War 2 and died in 1991. But as this address from January 21, 1941 indicates, he had a following and some people took the paranoia very seriously.

Paranoia, it seems, is timeless.