Definition: WPA=The Works Progress Administration
The is a lot of talk about putting people to work. With un-employment at 9.1 percent by some accounts, there are frequent references to Pres. FDR and The Works Progress Administration (WPA) of 1929.
I wanted to find out more about the WPA and found this amazing article referenced below. With all of the positives of the program listed in the article, I strongly suspect there is a lot of nostalgia associated with it.
I am not aware of any great novel or movie associated with the era. With such a successful program, one would think it would be captured big time in some form as a positive part of our history. There should have been a least one great romantic novel about the lives of two people meeting at one of the work sites or even a love song or two and the novel and movie, "Grapes of wrath" is a different can of worms.
As far as I know, there is nothing extolling neither the positives or negatives of the WPA period that lasted, according to the article, for eight years.
At this time, the 900 pound gorilla in the room is the question of having the program return or something like it. Somewhere along the way, the only thing I
heard about the WPA program was no Blacks were in it and if unions were involved, what I heard may well be true.
It would be interesting seeing how the Obama administration is going to solve the un-employment problem facing the nation.
Fighting for the dignity of my Ancestors,
God bless Bill Gates, WPFW, C-SPAN and the spirits of the unborn for the help,
BB
P.S. I admit I do not know the relationship between WPA and the Roosevelt CCC Camps and I have perhaps made erroneous relationships:
First CCC Camp in the Nation
Excerpt:
Camp Roosevelt was the first of many camps to spring up across the country. The CCC was part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal, and was designed to provide jobs for thousands of unemployed young men to work towards conservation on a national scale. 4 When President Roosevelt took office in 1933 he faced a nation that was bankrupt in money and spirit. One of his first acts was to ask Congress for a large appropriation for emergency conservation work. This resulted in the passage, in March 1933, of the Emergency Work Act, or as it came to be called the "Civilian Conservation Corps." It was a program to recruit thousands of young men to work in forests, parks, lands and water in the preservation and use of basic natural resources.
Read more at:
http://www.ccclegacy.org/camp_roosevelt_history.htm
WPA Historical Records Survey
by Steve Paul Johnson, July 28, 1999
Excerpt:
When the Great Depression hit the United States in 1929, the American economy hit rock bottom. The value of the dollar became nearly worthless and millions of Americans lost their jobs. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced "The New Deal", a series of new programs designed to pick America back up on to its feet and get the economy moving again.
And
The WPA was responsible for building structures, such as airports, seaports, and bridges. It paved 651,000 miles of road, built 78,000 bridges, 8,000 parks, and 800 airports. The WPA also funded some programs in the humanities, including the Federal Arts Project, Federal Writers Project, Federal Theatre Project, National Health Survey, and the Historical Records Survey (HRS).
And
While critics might argue that federal money was wasted on unnecessary projects, it is clear that the work of the WPA fostered a greater appreciation for the arts and humanities. The thousands of publicly accessible paintings, writings, plays, and music, stimulated the people's appreciation of the arts. The thousands of parks and recreational facilities built by the WPA, is the reason why we have become used to having so many parks and facilities nearby.
Read more at:
http://www.interment.net/column/records/wpa/wpa_history.htm
