Federal Theater Synthesis Essay

In the 1930’s, the United States was faced with the Great Depression which caused unemployment and poverty to skyrocket. To implement change, Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) was elected with his plan of the New Deal. An organization created by FDR was the Civil Works Administration. Their main goal was to provide work relief to unemployed Americans. The arts program struggled during the Great Depression and debatably needed financial backing to stay in business. Sponsoring performances in hospitals, schools, camps, parks, and in streets, the Federal Theatre Project (FTP) was created to support the arts. Although the FTP had some success, their ultimate goal became diluted with government restrictions, censorship, and unconstitutional activities. While the Federal Theatre Project had successful productions, the government became too involved. The government started to influence local authors to produce plays about social and economic issues. Franklin Roosevelt believed in using the control over the arts to educate the people of America. As stated in text 1, “The affinity of this concept with the philosophy of social service was made clear by the president’s emphasis on the educational purpose in these project.” This states that the president’s intent was to tamper with production to brainwash the public. They felt entitled to

At first, the government only censored miniscule complications, but ultimately led to the termination of projects. Harry Hopkins, Works Progress Administration Chief, states, “What we want is free, adult, uncensored theater.” This provides clear evidence that the FTP initial goals were corroded. The project promised people uncensored theater, when in fact they were already implementing censorship guidelines. This interfered with American's freedom of speech by not allowing them to produce the content they