Print
Word
PDF
|
This section contains 165 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) |
|
By May 1935 Roosevelt, in council with his brain trust, decided to enter into deficit spending in drastic ways. In its day the Works Progress Administration (WPA), with an initial budget of $5 billion, was the most expensive single governmental program in the history of the United States. Ably administered by Harry Hopkins, the WPA gave millions of unemployed Americans jobs and buoyed the economy with its infusion of cash. From its creation until it was dismantled at the beginning of World War II, WPA projects employed an average of two million workers. Men were set to building or renovating bridges, post offices, roads, and schools; women were generally employed as child-care givers or in sewing or other handicraft projects. The art, theater, and writers' projects of the WPA gave men and women the chance to earn a modest living in pursuit of their creative vocations. (Fading murals in Depression-era...
(read more)
|
This section contains 165 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) |
|
