Musing: Mandating Beauty

Instructor: Tiaré LaMarche Holt

13min | Current Events, Beauty, Design, Architecture

Overview

Is beauty truly worth the cost? With the White House re-signing the Executive Order on Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture, Tiaré steps back in time to examine moments in U.S. history when different administrations rallied behind beauty and the arts—and how those decisions shaped our cultural identity.

We’ll explore Roosevelt’s WPA murals boosting morale during the Great Depression, NASA’s iconic branding in the ‘50s, and Nixon’s surprising influence over much of the graphic design we know today. In this latest musing, we explore the value that beauty can bring to communities and a nation.