Well, the election is over and now what will happen? In 1932, that is. I so wish we were at that point right now. Don’t you wish we had a fast forward button through the next six months or so? But alas, we must fully live these troubling times in order to get to the other side. And on the other side, I have a feeling we might be asking the same questions as Sid was in December of 1932.

Now what?

Sid’s man Roosevelt had won the election handily, but now Sid was wondering what the Democrats would accomplish. Elsie had clearly asked some questions about his socialist leanings, and Sid wrote to her that over Christmas he will tell her about the Socialist Party, although he once again reminds her that he did vote Democratic. He explains that some of the Socialist principles have already been accepted and put into practice, but he wonders if the Democrats in Washington will have the courage to do what needs to be done.

So familiar, this debate – what is a socialist principle and what is a democratic principle? We could be listening to any one of the many Democratic debates over the 2020 election cycle. And as I sat reading this I couldn’t help wondering, would Sid have been a Bernie man? Or would he have seen the pragmatism of electing the safer candidate and vote for Biden? (It takes absolutely no imagination to figure out what Sid would have thought of Trump…) A few phrases in this letter hint that he would have been interested in Bernie and his ideas. Sid saw a wealthy nation facing a major readjustment of the standard of living, and speculated how much this “docile nation” could take before there was unrest. “There is plenty in this country but it is not distributed fairly enough.”

I was also struck – especially so as we face our own global crisis – by just how global his view was of the situation. Maybe it was a perspective gained by having served in World War I, or maybe it was just his intellectual approach to life, but Sid clearly believed that dealing with the Depression was not just an American issue. How other countries fared during this time would effect the United States, and the immense power of the U.S. meant that its choices would effect the rest of the world. We might be owed millions by our allies in WWI, but collecting at the risk of bankrupting other countries just wasn’t going to work. He didn’t pretend to know the answer to the troubles, but I like the way he was thinking about it.

And that way of thinking is often lost when times are hard. As we close our boarders today – unfortunately a necessary step during this pandemic – I hope that we will keep our hearts and minds open to the rest of the world. We may be making our individual worlds small to stop the spread of the virus, but can we, at the same time, keep our perspective wide? Like Sid, I believe that only global thinking will solve the biggest challenges of our day.

Dec. 2, 1932


Dear Elsie,
Now that the election is safely tucked away to the satisfaction of a few million people we can think about other things for a time. And at the present, it seems to be the Christmas season. I can scarcely realize that in two weeks from tomorrow I will be starting home for a two week vacation. It doesn’t seem at all like the holiday season, but when I contemplate all the things I have to do in preparation I know it will be upon me before I know it. As far as I can plan, I am going to drive up to Buffalo on the 17^th with Mrs. Corry (Virginia’s mother) and her son. This is a fine arrangement as he usually makes the trip in about 9 hours unless weather conditions are hopelessly bad; this is just as the train does it. Down here there isn’t a sign of snow and the cold weather of a few days ago has turned too much warmer. If anything, rain is the prospect.
I rejoice in warm weather for this week-end as I am going over to Phila[delphia] to see the Army-Navy game with a party. We were fortunate in getting good seats when one considers that 78,000 seats have been sold. It is always quite a spectacle, and in addition, this year there is the prospect of a much better foot-ball game than usual. This will be my second game this season.
It would have been most pleasant to have been home for Thanksgiving and had the chance to visit family and friends but with Christmas so soon to follow I decided to wait until then. I am counting on seeing you then, Elsie. You haven’t decided to go tripping away to other climes at this time, have you?
Then I will have to explain the socialist party to you – or rather what I know about it, for I must confess I am not too firm of a supporter, having voted for Roosevelt. After all it is a relative sort of thing because some of the aims of of S. Party have already been carried out and are recognized principles now. I voted for R[oosevelt] because I considered that the Democratic party would more likely carry out social reforms than the Republicans. It remains to be seen what it will all come to. This debt question is a very puzzling one; because we were a very wealthy nation we paid much more that our share of the cost of the war. And now that payment means near bankruptcy  of the other nations we don’t know what to do. It seems unfair that we should lose all, but as our existence & prosperity is so inextricably bound to that of other nations it is vital that some solution be reached – and soon. It requires a genius, and all we have are Hoover and Roosevelt and a lot of Congressmen, who are just people! What to do? It looks as though we were due for a lot of readjustment in standards of living. Fortunately we are a very docile nation, otherwise there would have been plenty of disorder before this. It is a question how many more bad winters we can survive before outbreaks will occur. Personally I should consider it quite unfair and useless if I had to go to bed to keep warm, or to stay home because I had no clothes, or to starve because I had no food. There is enough in this country but it is not distributed fairly enough.
When I read “Judith Paris” I was interested in following her career & that of others in “The Fortress”, but when I read it this week I was disappointed. It seemed too much like the former story. Walpole is clever, however, in working up interest for his next book which he has again done in his last. The work did not fulfill the promise in my opinion. I haven’t read “Inheritance.”
All going well I shall see you soon, El. Christmas will be quite a time for you with such a large family; I am afraid we won’t be able to muster up very many this season.
My best,
Sid