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Friday, March 25, 2011

What was the lasting legacy of the New Deal?

          The Works Progress Administration provided jobs for unemployed Americans during the depression, and the projects were useful decades after the end of the depression.  The Lincoln Tunnel, which connects New Jersey to Manhattan, sees 45 million cars a year.  Members of the WPA made ski trials in Vermont that still offer recreation today.  The  Red Rocks Ampitheatre, constructed by the WPA during the depression, provides entertainment even in modern times.  The Federal Writers Project encouraged writers to contribute to a growing body of American literature and helped preserve oral histories, which are still read today.  The Social Security Act, which was passed to provide financial security for retired people, was a starting point for modern Social Security.  Programs like the National Youth Administration gave young people work opportunities that taught them job skills that could be used in the future.  The creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority provided irrigation and flood control to southern states, as well as cheap electricity, for many years to come.  Over all, programs created as part of the New Deal were made in order to provide employment for millions of Americans, but the effects of the projects are still seen today.
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2 comments:

  1. Jason KayneMarch 25, 2011 at 6:57 AM

    I agree that the New Deal still has an effct today because so many Americans still use the programs and projects that were created then. The jobs that it created still employ Americans today which is just as important as the use of those projects today. The projects still keep Americans happy which is what I believe an important part of the New Deal. The New Deal was meant to keep Americans happy with the government and it still shows that effect today

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  2. DavidLeibowitzApril 3, 2011 at 10:12 AM

    Interesting that the product of many projects in the New Deal were primarily entertainment. From the FWP to the ski trails in Vermont, a lot of the things people built were very much in the vein of Carnegie's "philanthropy." The difference being that these projects created thousands of jobs for struggling Americans, where Carnegie created relatively few in a time when most people weren't unemployed.

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