During the Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) presidency came WPA, The Works Progress Administration 1935-1939 / Work Projects Administration / 1939-1943, one of the first times the US Government helped masses of people on a grand scale, showing that government really could work for more than the rich and powerful. Roosevelt and his crew managed to do many good things in the middle of the Great Depression, preventing the USA from deteriorating into fascism or violent anarchy.
The WPA's legacy includes rich cultural materials via the Folklore Project specifically and the Federal Writers' Project in general; murals; infrastructure maintenance and improvement; and so on.
In 2009, a similar program is underway in France: "It is a French twist on how to overcome the global downturn, spending borrowed money avidly to beautify the nation even as it also races ahead of the United States in more classic Keynesian ways: fixing potholes, upgrading railroads and pursuing other 'shovel ready' projects" (Nelson D. Schwartz, "France, Unlike U.S., Is Deep Into Stimulus Projects," New York Times, 7/7/2009).
Let's not forget the FDR era's Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) that lasted from 1933 until 1942. Young men otherwise unable to find work were employed developing state and national parks and so on. The 1940 military draft and US entry into World War II did the rest. Though working in areas separately from whites, blacks and American Indians were also enrolled in the CCC, and all were paid equally across the board by the federal government.
Pertinently, Nick Taylor's American-Made, The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work (2008, 2009) recently came out in paperback.
Today's Rune: Protection.
3 comments:
There are still a lot of bridges and stuff down here with WPA or CCC on them. Kinda cool.
I've witnessed my fair share of young men (and young women too)trying to better themselves educationally, not for the sake of learning a new skill or making their work environment a better place, no no no, but for the sake of the almighty dollar. Nevermind how everyone else is doing. Seems to be the mentality of our younger workers nowadays.
Now if the states would quit using the money intended to put people to work on "shovel ready" projects to balance their state budgets there would be more affect to the massive dollars given.
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