Peter Boettke & David Beito on the New Deal's War on the Bill of Rights

On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Peter Boettke chats with David Beito on his latest book, The New Deal’s War on the Bill of Rights: The Untold Story of FDR’s Concentration Camps, Censorship, and Mass Surveillance (Independent Institute, 2023). Beito begins by recounting his early interests in classical liberalism, his association with then fellow student, Nancy MacLean, and his work on tax revolts and mutual aid societies. He then discusses FDR’s ideological motivations and his pragmatic approach to politics, critiques FDR’s encroachment on civil rights, including his approval of Japanese concentration camps, and explains the contrast between FDR’s legacy amongst historians and economists.

David T. Beito is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Alabama and a Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute in California. He is the author of five books including From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State: Fraternal Societies and Social Services, 1890-1967 (The University of North Carolina Press, 2000).