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"One thing is sure. We have to do something. We have to do the best we know how at the moment... If it doesn't turn out right, we can modify it as we go along." -- FDR
Roosevelt's response to the Depression transformed the role of the government in the economy. Before the New Deal, for the most part government stayed out of the economy and did not actively respond to economic downturns. FDR modeled the government response to the economic crisis to that of preparing war. No president had ever before intervened in the economy as extensively and aggressively as FDR did in the 1930s. Central to his response was to give people jobs.
Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our natural resources…
FDR, First Inaugural Address
When Roosevelt took office one in every 4 workers were unemployed. Every class of worker was affected: laborers, factory workers, construction workers, secretaries, teachers, women, architects, engineers, etc.. Roosevelt focused on creating jobs for the unemployed through the government projects focused on building infrastructure that would benefit the nation in the long term such as roads and bridges. Most jobs required workers to be certified as poor and in need of help. These programs were designed to put money in the hands of the people who needed it the most while at some time creating a worthwhile product for the nation. Below is a description of the more important programs created to provide work.
The WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION was the largest of all the New Deal job programs. Employing 9 million people on local public construction projects such as roads, bridges, schools, and post offices, it was at the time the largest employer in the United States. Almost every community in the United States had a WPA project. WPA rules specified that 90% of the project must be spent on labor and jobs would go to people certified as poor and needing help.
The NATIONAL YOUTH ADMINISTRATION and CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS provided 6 million jobs to the youth of America aged 16-25. The NYA focused on part time jobs for high school and college students. The CCC provided unskilled manual labor related to conservation and development of natural resources to unemployed men out of school. Subject to military style discipline, the workers lived in camps in the country side. Work projects focused on improving federal lands by fighting soil erosion, planting trees, cutting fire breaks, and building infrastructure such as roads and cabins to promote outdoor recreation. Listless youths were removed from streets and given paying jobs and room and shelter. Below is the account of the experience of one CCC worker-
"You must go through the actual experience before you can really understand the hopeless state of mind most of the prospective members of the CCC were in when we put on our 'G.I.' clothing and tramped halfheartedly into the forests and fields to plan and cut trees, build dams firebreaks and trails...But our don't-care-what -happens attitude didn't last long...I am making my own way and that is sufficient for the present. What is probably more important is the fact that I am not the undernourished, furtive-eyed, scared kid that went in...In short the CCC has equipped me with the weapons necessary to cope with the innumerable problems that are bound to obstruct my path through life and that must be surmounted before success can be attained"
The CIVIL WORKS ADMINISTRATION and PUBLIC WORKS ADMINISTRATION employed millions of people on large construction projects to build the nation's infrastructure including public buildings, highways, bridges (e.g., San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge), and dams for water and power. The Grand Coulee and Hoover Dams built by the PWA were the largest dams in the world at the time.
PWA workers building a flood control project on the Arkansas River.
In addition to the construction projects, the WPA's Arts Program employed thousands of unemployed artists and academics. Examples of these WPA programs included
historians interviewing the last remaining former slaves
writers conducting literacy classes
musicians giving music classes and hosting concerts and music festivals
actors creating and producing plays
photographers (such as Dorthy Lange) documenting the impact of the Depression
artists creating 200,000 works of arts ranging from the posters to murals, such as the one below Construction of the Dam by William Gropper for the Department of Interior building in Washington.
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