--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The New Deal never rethought the…" description: "\"The New Deal never rethought the draconian racist immigration restriction policies of the 20s, of course, but its electoral base rested significantly o..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/acc/david-roediger-46399_activism_the-new-deal-never-rethought-the-draconi_568423.jpg" --- # The New Deal never rethought the draconian racist… ![“The New Deal never rethought the draconian racist immigration restriction policies of the 20s, of course, but its electoral base rested significantly on "ethnic" voters, whose activism was both hemmed in and rewarded by the Democrats. Southern and Eastern Europeans were included as secondary…” quote by David Roediger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/acc/david-roediger-46399_activism_the-new-deal-never-rethought-the-draconi_568423.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/acc/david-roediger-46399_activism_the-new-deal-never-rethought-the-draconi_568423.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/acc/david-roediger-46399_activism_the-new-deal-never-rethought-the-draconi_568423.jpg) > “The New Deal never rethought the draconian racist immigration restriction policies of the 20s, of course, but its electoral base rested significantly on "ethnic" voters, whose activism was both hemmed in and rewarded by the Democrats. Southern and Eastern Europeans were included as secondary leaders of the new industrial unions, and as entitled citizens qualified for social security, unemployment compensation, and fair labor standards protections, even as workers of color were largely left out of key areas of the welfare state.” [David Roediger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-roediger/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The New Deal expanded benefits for many but largely excluded people of color, maintaining racial inequities. **In simple terms:** New Deal helped some groups, but left out minorities. Key Takeaway Recognize and address systemic exclusions. Themes politics race welfare history Mood critical reflective Type historical political When to use this quote - government programs - immigration policy - union organizing Key Concepts racial inequality policy analysis labor rights Questions to Reflect On - How did racial politics shape New Deal benefits? - What steps can correct past exclusions? 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This will ensure we all raise our game.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sadiq-khan/i-welcome-an-arms-race-for-minority-ethnic-voters-this-will-ensure-we/) [Sadiq Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sadiq-khan/) > [As I wrote Working toward Whiteness, I came to see one historic task on the New Deal - and one in which it succeeded…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-roediger/as-i-wrote-working-toward-whiteness-i-came-to-see-one-historic-task/) [David Roediger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-roediger/) > [We're being subject to incredible amounts of surveillance, the police are taking on draconian powers and violating our rights. I think this attempt to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohsin-hamid/we-re-being-subject-to-incredible-amounts-of-surveillance-the-police/) [Mohsin Hamid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohsin-hamid/) > [Growing up in Wales was a pretty Draconian experience with religion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cale/growing-up-in-wales-was-a-pretty-draconian-experience-with-religion/) [John Cale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cale/) > [Hey Deion, Bubbelah - maybe you'd better pay a little less attention to those unfairly Draconian salary caps that only allowed you to acquire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-miller/hey-deion-bubbelah-maybe-you-d-better-pay-a-little-less-attention-to/) [Dennis Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-miller/) > [Phil Gramm had a stump speech about how his mother's devotion kept him from being an academic failure in life. She got him into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-collins/phil-gramm-had-a-stump-speech-about-how-his-mother-s-devotion-kept/) [Gail Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-collins/) > [At today's prices for medicines, doctors and hospitals-if the latter are available at any price-only millionaires can afford to be hurt or sick and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-forbes/at-today-s-prices-for-medicines-doctors-and-hospitals-if-the-latter/) [Malcolm Forbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-forbes/) > [We shuffle out of office buildings after being laid-off by draconian bosses; we sit on hold for ten minutes only to be told by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-weinstein/we-shuffle-out-of-office-buildings-after-being-laid-off-by-draconian/) [Alexander Weinstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-weinstein/) > [Our current draconian laws prohibiting the use of marijuana by responsible adults are doubly flawed. Not only does such prohibition violate fundamental freedoms but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nadine-strossen/our-current-draconian-laws-prohibiting-the-use-of-marijuana-by/) [Nadine Strossen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nadine-strossen/) > [In view of the vast size of the occupied areas in the East the forces available for establishing security in these areas will be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-jodl/in-view-of-the-vast-size-of-the-occupied-areas-in-the-east-the-forces/) [Alfred Jodl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-jodl/) > [We should be looking at putting a limit on the interest that can be charged on things like store cards.You don't want to end…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-osborne/we-should-be-looking-at-putting-a-limit-on-the-interest-that-can-be/) [George Osborne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-osborne/) > [ Our \[former\] governor \[Pat McCrory\] was supposed to be a moderate, but he found himself beholden to people who have much more draconian ideas.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-darnielle/our-former-governor-pat-mccrory-was-supposed-to-be-a-moderate-but-he/) [John Darnielle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-darnielle/) > [The Pirate Party started in Sweden in 2006, and it only had one agenda: to change draconian copyright laws. But it's changed and shifted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/birgitta-jonsdottir/the-pirate-party-started-in-sweden-in-2006-and-it-only-had-one-agenda/) [Birgitta Jonsdottir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/birgitta-jonsdottir/) > [One must take draconian measures of demographic reduction against the will of the populations. Reducing the birth rate has proved to be impossible or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-mcnamara/one-must-take-draconian-measures-of-demographic-reduction-against-the/) [Robert McNamara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-mcnamara/) > [Nature hates vacuum. Once a society is depleted of moral values, it creates a vacuum that will be filled by doctrines that hold to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ali-sina/nature-hates-vacuum-once-a-society-is-depleted-of-moral-values-it/) [Ali Sina](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-sina/) ## More by David Roediger > [The areas in which I teach are working-class history and African-American Studies and at its best the critical study of whiteness often grows out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-roediger/the-areas-in-which-i-teach-are-working-class-history-and-african/) [David Roediger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-roediger/) > [As I wrote Working toward Whiteness, I came to see one historic task on the New Deal - and one in which it succeeded…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-roediger/as-i-wrote-working-toward-whiteness-i-came-to-see-one-historic-task/) [David Roediger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-roediger/) > [The pioneer labor historian John Commons was not wrong when he wrote around World War One that exploiting and deepening such tensions as outpacing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-roediger/the-pioneer-labor-historian-john-commons-was-not-wrong-when-he-wrote/) [David Roediger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-roediger/) > [Instead of accepting what James Baldwin called the "lie of whiteness," many people in lots of different fields and movement activities have tried to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-roediger/instead-of-accepting-what-james-baldwin-called-the-lie-of-whiteness/) [David Roediger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-roediger/) > [Not surprisingly, thinkers from groups for whom whiteness was and is a problem have taken the lead in studying whiteness in this way. Such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-roediger/not-surprisingly-thinkers-from-groups-for-whom-whiteness-was-and-is-a/) [David Roediger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-roediger/) > [For radical white writers wishing to forge interracial movements of poor and working people, whiteness has also long been a problem, with Alexander Saxton…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-roediger/for-radical-white-writers-wishing-to-forge-interracial-movements-of/) [David Roediger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-roediger/) > [In some ways Jews and the various largely Catholic and often poor European immigrant groups were "white," as the historian Tom Guglielmo has recently…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-roediger/in-some-ways-jews-and-the-various-largely-catholic-and-often-poor/) [David Roediger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-roediger/) [Explore all 8 David Roediger quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-roediger/) ## More Activism quotes > [“God has a way of picking a “nobody” and turning their world upside down, in order to create a “somebody” that will remove the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shannon-l-alder/god-has-a-way-of-picking-a-nobody-and-turning-their-world-upside-down/) [Shannon L. 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