Compromise is at the heart of almost every aspect of life. From what our family wants for dinner, to what subjects are taught in our schools, to what is included in, and left out of, congressional legislation. Yet, sometimes it seems like a “winner takes all” mentality is taking over. Many social media feeds, television shows, and podcasts glorify the winners and prompt accomplishment over compromise, and overwhelmingly our legislative process reflects this as well. In this atmosphere, it’s hard to make progress toward a more comprehensive and effective safety net.

So far in our series on the American Safety Net, we’ve examined wealth and poverty at the turn of the last century. We talked about what it meant to be poor without a safety net, and where those in need found housing, food, work, and a sense of safety and well-being. We talked about the role of government, philanthropy, and charity and we met Frances Perkins, and Franklin Roosevelt, two people who were integral in the shaping of the first American safety net--The New Deal.

In our final episode of season 1, we explore what compromises were made in order to get the New Deal through. We talk about how a grand vision for universal healthcare was scrapped, how cradle-to-grave social security was whittled down, and how bending on certain elements of the safety net created generational loss that is felt to this day.

Yet, we also discuss how monumental the New Deal was to America. It stabilized an American economic system that was in freefall during the Great Depression; it put people back to work; it instilled faith in the American government, and it restored hope in a people who had been crushed by poor working conditions, poverty, starvation, and insecurity. And still, Frances Perkins glumly appraised the accomplishments as but a few, “practical, flat-footed first steps.”

Join hosts Rebecca McInroy and Michael Zapruder and guests, Erine Gray, H.W. Brands, Robin D.G. Kelley, Tom Philpott, Mike Konzcle, Willow Lung-Amam, Marshall Auerbach, Penny Coleman, and David Kennedy, as we explore this complicated and rich history and what it can teach us today.