Who Cares?: Public Ambivalence and Government Activism from the New Deal to the Second Gilded Age

Why major changes to America's social safety net have always required bold presidential leadership

Americans like to think that they look after their own, especially in times of hardship. Particularly for the Great Depression and the Great Society eras, the collective memory is one of solidarity and compassion for the less fortunate. Who Cares? challenges this story by examining opinion polls and letters to presidents from average citizens. This evidence, some of it little known, reveals a m...