Turning Right or Standing Still? Virginius Dabney and the New Deal in Virginia, 1930–1942

Abstract

At the onset of the Depression, Virginius Dabney, editorial writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, advocated state solutions to the South's ills. He soon realized that extreme conditions called for federal interference. At first, Dabney enthusiastically supported President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal measures and attacked anyone who opposed them. After the court-packing incident of 1937, Dabney became critical of the president and the New Deal. He came to see Roosevelt and his policies as too radical and returned to his belief that state control was best. His shift from support to criticism of the New Deal fits with historians' descriptions of southern liberals' reaction to New Deal measures. Even so, because Dabney's actions did not fit with certain aspects of his own definition of liberalism, it seems that he never was firmly on the left. The extreme circumstances of the Depression pushed him to a more progressive stance than he was comfortable holding, which accounts for his constant wavering. However, his overall position hardly changed. The leftward shift of the administration, and indeed liberalism as a whole, made Dabney appear more conservative.