See America
(May 2020)
The Politics and Administration of Federal Tourism Promotion, 1937-1973 Mordecai Lee - Author
The first history of the US Travel Bureau, which set the precedent for federal involvement in promoting tourism and travel, an activity which continues today.
Created in 1937 by Interior Secretary Harold Ickes and given formal status by Congress in 1940, the US Travel Bureau played a seminal role by setting the precedent for federal involvement in tourism. Business, otherwise hostile to FDR’s New Deal, enthusiastically su...(Read More)
Get Things Moving!
(October 2018)
FDR, Wayne Coy, and the Office for Emergency Management, 1941-1943 Mordecai Lee - Author
Recounts the forgotten but important work of Wayne Coy, the Office for Emergency Management’s Liaison Officer, during the early years of World War II.
Shortly after Hitler’s armies invaded Western Europe in May of 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt activated a new agency within the Executive Office of the President called the Office for Emergency Management (OEM). The OEM went on to house many prewar and wartime agen...(Read More)
The Philosopher-Lobbyist
(February 2015)
John Dewey and the People's Lobby, 1928-1940 Mordecai Lee - Author
The history of John Dewey’s leadership of the progressive People’s Lobby.
John Dewey (1859–1952) was a preeminent American philosopher who is remembered today as the founder of what is called child-centered or progressive education. In The Philosopher-Lobbyist, Mordecai Lee tells the largely forgotten story of Dewey’s effort to influence public opinion and promote democratic citizenship. Based on De...(Read More)
The history of FDR's Office of Government Reports.
This book explores a forgotten chapter in modern U.S. history: the false dawn of the communications age in American politics. The Office of Government Reports (OGR) was created in 1939 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, but after World War II Congress refused President Truman's request to continue funding it. OGR proved to be ahead of its time, a predecessor to the n...(Read More)
