Professor Hamilton's Diary: May 28, 1935

U.S. Supreme Court delivers a death blow to the Blue Eagle

Professor Hamilton seldom if ever mentions current events, but today was a noteworty exception. After outlining his day — giving and marking exams, taking the baby to the doctor — he wrote, “Interesting reading in N.Y. papers of Supreme Court’s decision against NRA codes — unconstitutional — the biggest event for some time in judicial history.”

How right he was. The National Industrial Recovery Act and the National Recovery Administration that oversaw it— represented by a blue eagle — was the centerpiece of the New Deal. Paid subscribers can read on about the NRA, the ruling that destroyed it, and some of the repercussions.

Merchants displayed posters like this one, from the archive of the FDR Presidential Library and Museum, to show they were abiding by the codes of the NRA.