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The Youth of the Nation: Lyndon Johnson and the National Youth Administration

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The Youth of the Nation: Lyndon Johnson and the National Youth Administration
The Youth of the Nation: Lyndon Johnson and the National Youth Administration
By: Cheryl Boswell
HIST: 4133.01
Dr. Landdeck

The Texas National Youth Administration (NYA) was remarkably unique for various reasons. Its success was attributed to the leadership of the state’s young director, twenty-seven year-old Lyndon Johnson. Despite reservations, for example Johnson’s young age compared to the other state directors, from many New Dealers and even President Franklin Roosevelt, Johnson able to gain attention and notice among the public and even set an example for other states to follow. What will be the focus is what Johnson’s goals were as director for the Texas NYA. What will be the focus of discussion will include Johnson’s goals and what happened to the Texas NYA after Johnson left. Johnson’s primary goal, as could be expected, was to provide jobs for unemployed youths so they could continue their educations. To do this, he sought to find as much funding as possible for the Texas NYA. He strove to find and create as many projects as possible to employ as many young people as possible. To help make the NYA successful, LBJ relied upon newspapers to spread the word of NYA projects, relief and their successes to the Texas public. He worked to make innovative ideas the most successful they could be. Most of all, he wanted to put as many youths as possible to work so that they could continue their educations.
To begin, a background of how the National Youth Administration was established will be given and why it was thought to be created. In the midst of the Great Depression, not only were there millions unemployed in America, but the youth of the nation were as well. Youths, defined as being between sixteen and twenty-five years, made up one-third of unemployed people in America. President Roosevelt recognized this as a problem, and therefore attempted to help solve this dilemma. FDR established the National Recovery Act in 1933 to help alleviate this



Bibliography: 2) Rosenman, Samuel, “The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt” (8 vols.; (New York: Russell and Russell, 1938) 3) Lindley, Betty, and Lindley, Ernest K., “A New Deal for Youth,” (New York: Viking Press, 1938) 6) Borger Daily Herald, vol. 12, no. 192, July 1, 1938, accessed October 25, 2011: http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth167224/m1/3/zoom/?q=national youth administration date:1935-1939 7) The Bartlett Tribune and News, vol 8) Cox, Louise, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, “Girls Broken By Depression Get New Grip On Life At Youth Camp,” September 27, 1935 9) Richard Brown to Lyndon Johnson, January 15, 1936, NYA papers, Johnson Library 10) Governor James Allred, “Message to the Forty-Fourth Legislature, First Called Session,” October 9, 1935, James V. Allred Papers, University of Houston Library 11) Letter, Gov 14) Letter, John J. Corson to Lyndon B. Johnson, Sept. 17, 1935, File: “Administrative: Lyndon B. Johnson, Sept. 15-Oct. 1935,” Box 8 JNYA, Lyndon Johnson Library 15) Brown to Johnson, Nov 16) Johnson to Brown, Mar. 16, 1936, “Special Report of Negro Activities of the National Youth Administration of Texas…,” File: “Administrative Reports: March, 1936,” Box 5, JNYA 17) Johnson to Brown, Oct 20) letter, H.A. Zeigler to Deborah Self, March 31, 1974 Secondary Sources: 3) Lash, Joseph P. Eleanor and Franklin (New York: W.W. Norton, 1971) 4) Interview, Lady Bird Johnson, Austin, Texas, June 6, 1974 5) Steinberg, Alfred Sam Johnson’s Boy (New York: Macmillan Co., 1968) 6) Interview, Jesse Kellam, February 14, 1974 9) Arthur Goldschmidt and Elizabeth Wickenden to Paige Mulhollan, June 3, 1969 (quotation), oral history interview, AG 79-95 (transcript, LBJL) 10) Elizabeth Wickenden Goldschmidt to Michael Gillette, Nov 11) Peters, Charles Lyndon B. Johnson, 2010, Times Books, Henry Holt and Co. New York -------------------------------------------- [ 1 ]. Harry L. Hopkins, Spending to Save, (New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1936) p. 161 as cited in: Deborah Lynn Self, “The National Youth Administration in Texas, 1935-1939, (master’s thesis, Texas Tech University, 1974), p. 3 [ 2 ] [ 3 ]. Betty Lindley and Ernest K. Lindley, A New Deal for Youth, (New York: Viking Press, 1938), p. 8 as cited in: Self, thesis: NYA in Texas, p. 4 [ 4 ] [ 5 ]. Joseph P. Lash, Eleanor and Franklin (New York: W.W. Norton, 1971), pp. 537-540 as cited in: Self, thesis: NYA in Texas, p. 9 [ 6 ] [ 13 ]. October 1, 1936, The Aspermont Star, “NYA Allotments to College Students,” vol. 39, no. 12, p. 1 [ 14 ] [ 15 ]. July 1, 1938, Borger Daily Herald, vol. 12, no. 192, p. 2 [ 16 ] [ 17 ]. Louise Cox, “Girls Broken By Depression Get New Grip On Life At Youth Camp,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, September 27, 1935, p. 4 as cited in: Self, thesis: NYA in Texas, pp. 38-39 [ 18 ] [ 19 ]. Governor James Allred, “Message to the Forty-Fourth Legislature, First Called Session,” October 9, 1935, James V. Allred Papers, University of Houston Library as cited in: Self, thesis: NYA in Texas, p. 41 [ 20 ] [ 21 ]. Interview, Lady Bird Johnson, Austin, Texas, June 6, 1974; “NYA Youths at Work,” Texas Outlook, XX (March, 1936), 24; Self, thesis: NYA in Texas, pp. 41-42 [ 22 ] [ 23 ]. December 17, 1936, The Aspermont Star, “Notice” and “NYA Job Placement Committee Appointed,” vol. 39, no. 23, p. 1 [ 24 ] [ 25 ]. Interview, Jesse Kellam, February 14, 1974; letter, H.A. Zeigler to Deborah Self, March 31, 1974 as cited in: Self, thesis: NYA in Texas, p. 44 [ 26 ] [ 35 ]. Johnson to Brown, Mar. 16, 1936, “Special Report of Negro Activities of the National Youth Administration of Texas…,” File: “Administrative Reports: March, 1936,” Box 5, JNYA as cited in: Bourgeois, “LBJ, Black Texans, and NYA,” p. 162 [ 36 ] [ 37 ]. March 5, 1937, The Bartlett Tribune and News, vol. 50, no. 24, pp. 1 & 5 [ 38 ]

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