Salem, Illinois, 1930s

Rothstein was hired by the federal government to produce emotionally-manipulative photographs justifying New Deal policies. Still, a lot of his pictures offer striking images of the American past. Anthony Luke photo site.

From (NSFW) Fred Lapides.

Really, when you think about it, Barack Obama ought to be hiring scads of photographers to run around the country photographing people laid off and unable to find work, foreclosed houses, property auctions, closed businesses and other evidence of what his Second-Major-Attempt-at-Bringing-Socialism-to-America has achieved. Maybe with luck, we, too, could have a drought and a Midwestern Dust Bowl, too.