Photo: To promote the NRA, the government appealed to the nation's sense of patriotism. A blue eagle was designed as the symbol of the NRA, and the government used mass meetings and huge parades to promote the program. In San Francisco, 8,000 schoolchildren formed a giant representation of the NRA eagle at a local baseball park.

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

First Hour

Sunday 17 March Block A: Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress--and a Plan to Stop It byLawrence Lessig; 1 of 2

Sunday 17 March Block B: Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress--and a Plan to Stop It byLawrence Lessig; 2 of 2

The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was one of a constellation of federal agencies that made up President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal program to help Americans recover from the Great Depression. Established in 1933 in an effort to spur industrial recovery, the NRA sought to use government power to restrain competition and end the downward cycle of wage cuts and price reductions, without abolishing the free market. The administration asked businesses, labor, and consumers to help write new codes for hour limits, minimum wages, and production standards. To encourage voluntary adoption of these new codes, participating businesses were allowed to display a blue eagle logo, and consumers were urged to spend money only where the symbol was displayed. This photograph captures three unlikely spots for the display of the otherwise ubiquitous NRA eagle.

Sunday 17 March Block C: Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisisby James Rickards; 1 of 2

Sunday 17 March Block D: Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisisby James Rickards; 2 of 2

Second Hour

Sunday 17 March Block A: The New Deal: A Modern History, by Michael Hiltzik; 1 of 4

Sunday 17 March Block B: The New Deal: A Modern History, by Michael Hiltzik; 2 of 4

Sunday 17 March Block C: The New Deal: A Modern History, by Michael Hiltzik; 3 of 4

Sunday 17 March Block D: The New Deal: A Modern History, by Michael Hiltzik; 4 of 4

Third Hour

Sunday 17 March Block A: Lost Decades: The Making of America's Debt Crisis and the Long Recovery by Menzie D. Chinn and Jeffry A. Frieden; 1 of 2

Sunday 17 March Block B: Lost Decades: The Making of America's Debt Crisis and the Long Recovery by Menzie D. Chinn and Jeffry A. Frieden; 2 of 2

Sunday 17 March Block: The Darwin Economy: Liberty, Competition, and the Common Good by Robert H. Frank; 1 of 2

Sunday 17 March Block D:  The Darwin Economy: Liberty, Competition, and the Common Good by Robert H. Frank; 2 of 2

Fourth Hour

Sunday 17 March Block A : Against Thrift: Why Consumer Culture is Good for the Economy, the Environment, and Your Soulby James Livingston; 1 of 2

Sunday 17 March Block: Against Thrift: Why Consumer Culture is Good for the Economy, the Environment, and Your Soulby James Livingston; 2 of 2

Sunday 17 March Block: Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress--and a Plan to Stop It by Lawrence Lessig; 1 of 2

Sunday 17 March Block: Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress--and a Plan to Stop It by Lawrence Lessig; 2 of 2