More Rugged Individualism

The pioneering hard-fisted, hard-boiled American Male will cheer campaign speeches on the benefits of rugged individualism and whistle laissez-faire whenever he has to keep up his courage in a financial crisis. He will grow turgidly eloquent on the benefits both to himself and society of doing just what he sees fit when and if he pleases. He will battle to his last breath against any code prescribing a uniform way of running his business, auditing his accounts, educating his children or divorcing his wives. Any form of regulation is to him a symptom of Bolshevik tyranny. But the one moment when he is terrified of freedom is when he buys his clothes. He is more afraid of wearing a bright orange necktie to his office than of carrying a red flag in a communist parade. —Harper’s Bazaar, 1934

"Oklahoma City Massacre"

The "Oklahoma City Massacre"in The Petrified Forest is based on the Kansas City Massacre, which occurred in the summer of 1933 when a gang tried to free Frank "Jelly" Nash.  During a shootout at KC's Union Station between Nash's gang and law enforcement officers, four officers died. Nash was also killed during the shoot out.

Afterwards, the FBI tracked down and killed, in yet another shoot out, Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd in October of 1934.  It is still unknown whether Floyd was involved in the Kansas City Massacre or not, but he became the most important celebrity outlaw and the biggest focus for the FBI after Dillinger was located and killed in Chicago in July of that year.

Rugged Individualism

Herbert Hoover, POTUS 1923-33

As suspected, the term "rugged individualism" is not unique to the play.

We first hear the term used by the 1st Lineman in the opening moments of The Petrified Forest and, again, later on the play, to describe Alan Squier and Duke Mantee -- the last two apostles of rugged individualism.

Rugged individualism is a term coined by Herbert Hoover that describes a libertarian economic and political philosophy, even in times of economic depression. President Hoover felt that "rugged individualism" would be the best way for the Great Depression to end and that the government shouldn't intervene with social and economic programs or policies.

Liberty Bonds

Liberty Bonds were a war bond sold during World War I to finance the war.  Like all government bonds, Liberty Bonds allowed the government to borrow money from citizens at a low interest rate in order to finance military operations abroad. This sort of borrowing also controls inflation and, perhaps most importantly, gives citizens a way to participate in war operations even if they cannot enlist in the military. 

The campaign posters for Liberty Bonds capitalized on patriotism and the sense of patriotic duty for Americans to participate in this way.

Citizens who cashed their war bonds after 1934, however, had to deal with the problem of inflation and the now-illegal original term of the bond:  Originally, bond holders were supposed to redeem their bond for payment in gold, but that had become illegal a year before. 

Gold Hoarding

In April of 1933, FDR signed Executive Order 6102, otherwise known as "The Roosevelt Gold Confiscation Order," and the entirety of it can be found here.

In times of economic downturn, like our current one, the price of gold rises as a result of increase investment in it because it doesn't lose its value the way that dollars (or other currency) do during times of economic depression.

However, the hoarding of gold (whether in bullion, coin, or certificate), as the Roosevelt Administration saw it, banks potential wealth rather than circulating it, thus, causing further economic depression and stalling economic growth.

After FDR signed Exec Order 6102, individual citizens and corporate businesses holding an excess of $100 of gold coins had four months to exchange their gold for dollars at the rate of $20.67/troy ounce (which is about $350 in 2012).

This order eventually led to the Gold Reserve Act of 1934, which directed all Federal holdings of gold to  the Treasury.

"Nevada Tech"

Boze's school, obviously, doesn't exist nor does it appear to have ever existed.  In the '30s, Nevada only had the flagship university of the state -- The University of Nevada. The fact that both Gabby and Duke say they've never heard of does not mean that Boze is making it up, but rather than he played for a smaller state university (Cal State - Northride) or polytechnical college (Cal Tech) rather than a larger, better known football school (UCLA or Cal). In the movie version, he attends "Moby Tech," an equally fictional university.

Dufy?

Raoul Dufy, Interior with an Open Window, 1928

Raoul Dufy was a French Fauvist painter who began exhibiting his work in 1901/02 and eventually became a great mural painter for the public and on public buildings. Fauvism is most associated with the  work of Henri Matisse:  Early 20th c. modern artists who emphasized painterly qualities (brush strokes and the like -- the paint form of lo-fi, if you will) and strong color over the realism and verisimilitude of the Impressionists. 

The Electric Fairy, Building Mural for the Electric Company, 1937

Taos in the early 20th c.

William Herbert Dunton, The Horse Wrestler c. 1915

By the 1930s, Taos had an established community of artists, although some of the most famous artists we associate with Taos (i.e. Georgia O'Keefe) didn't settle there until the 30s. Artists began settling there shortly after the turn of the 20th century.  By 1915, an artists' collective had formed and in 1917 Mabel Dodge Luhan, a wealthy heiress settled in Taos, set up a European style salon, patronized artists, and began personally inviting artists such as O'Keefe and Ansel Adams. 

The works of these modern artists concentrated on the landscape of the Southwest and on Native American themes.