When Franklin Roosevelt came into office as President, a quarter of America's workforce was unemployed. He saw changing that as one of his first priorities. He established the Public Works Administration and Works Progress Administration, among others to get people back to work and earning steady paychecks.
Whether it was programs like these or entry into the Second World War that finally got the country out of a Great Depression is still a matter of debate for some historians and economists. The positive psychological impact can't be denied however. Although it has been nearly a hundred years since the projects were begun, Americans still depend on them every day.
The Hoover Dam was a project that was considered years earlier than it began. It took Roosevelt to make the construction a reality. Depending of the party in power, the project was either dubbed Boulder or Hoover Dam. It cost about a million and a half dollars to complete over a five year period. Twenty thousand workers were employed at the height of the construction. The Hoover Dam is still considered an global architectural wonder.
The Grand Coulee Dam was one of Roosevelt's pet projects. He was fascinated by the idea that something as powerful as the Columbia River could be harnessed and diverted to flood the most arid regions of eastern Washington State. This in turn created arable farmland that could be worked by strapped farmers. Nine years and sixty-five million dollars later, Roosevelt's dream came to fruition. The Coulee Dam is still one of the most impressive concrete structures ever built.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most popular national park destination in the country by far. It sees around ten million visitors each year. A distant second is the Grand Canyon, coming in at just five million visitors. It is a product of many dedicated WPA workers and spans more than eight hundred acres of North Carolina and Tennessee wilderness.
Tunnels built under bodies of water are more common today than they were in the nineteen thirties. The Lincoln Tunnel was begun in 1934 and was not completely finished until twenty years later. The one and a half mile structure connecting New Jersey to Manhattan opened to traffic in 1937. Forty-two million vehicles still drive through it every year.
What began as the Triborough Bridge on Black Friday in 1929 was not completed until 1936, and it took funding by the WPA to do it. This bridge, now known as the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, connects Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx. It is actually a series of three long span bridges, several smaller ones, a viaduct, and approach roads. Approximately two hundred thousand people use the bridge every day.
The government climate has changed dramatically, and not for the better. Self-interest, gridlock, and special interest groups seem to have taken over. One wonders how Roosevelt would have handled the current climate when the country's future was at stake.
Whether it was programs like these or entry into the Second World War that finally got the country out of a Great Depression is still a matter of debate for some historians and economists. The positive psychological impact can't be denied however. Although it has been nearly a hundred years since the projects were begun, Americans still depend on them every day.
The Hoover Dam was a project that was considered years earlier than it began. It took Roosevelt to make the construction a reality. Depending of the party in power, the project was either dubbed Boulder or Hoover Dam. It cost about a million and a half dollars to complete over a five year period. Twenty thousand workers were employed at the height of the construction. The Hoover Dam is still considered an global architectural wonder.
The Grand Coulee Dam was one of Roosevelt's pet projects. He was fascinated by the idea that something as powerful as the Columbia River could be harnessed and diverted to flood the most arid regions of eastern Washington State. This in turn created arable farmland that could be worked by strapped farmers. Nine years and sixty-five million dollars later, Roosevelt's dream came to fruition. The Coulee Dam is still one of the most impressive concrete structures ever built.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most popular national park destination in the country by far. It sees around ten million visitors each year. A distant second is the Grand Canyon, coming in at just five million visitors. It is a product of many dedicated WPA workers and spans more than eight hundred acres of North Carolina and Tennessee wilderness.
Tunnels built under bodies of water are more common today than they were in the nineteen thirties. The Lincoln Tunnel was begun in 1934 and was not completely finished until twenty years later. The one and a half mile structure connecting New Jersey to Manhattan opened to traffic in 1937. Forty-two million vehicles still drive through it every year.
What began as the Triborough Bridge on Black Friday in 1929 was not completed until 1936, and it took funding by the WPA to do it. This bridge, now known as the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, connects Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx. It is actually a series of three long span bridges, several smaller ones, a viaduct, and approach roads. Approximately two hundred thousand people use the bridge every day.
The government climate has changed dramatically, and not for the better. Self-interest, gridlock, and special interest groups seem to have taken over. One wonders how Roosevelt would have handled the current climate when the country's future was at stake.
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