The Works Progress Administration (WPA) created jobs for laborers who were unemployed, but it wasn't just "make work" labor, it actually helped the nation build roads and bridges along with needed public buildings. The Public Works Administration (PWA) helped build dams and other reclamation projects; this served to create jobs and at the same time provide "less expensive electricity, flood control, and irrigation water for farmers" (Etulain 324). The Hoover Dam on the Colorado River and Grand Coulee and Bonneville Dams on the Columbia River, were extraordinarily helpful in many practical ways in the western U.S.
Whereas Hoover was unable to see the need to put the federal government's full power of assets to work for the citizens - his conservative background kept him from doing what needed to be done in an urgent way - FDR did see the need; and by using his office as a bully pulpit, and having "fireside chats" with the American people listening on their radios, he showed leadership. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) put people to work clearing brush, building roads and trails, conserving forests...
Johnson (LBJ). After President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Johnson made it his goal to pass the legislation that Kennedy had hoped could be passed. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which "outlawed discrimination in public accommodations" (www.stanford.edu),was a major accomplishment. Under the Voting rights Act of 1965, which provided that the federal government could enforce any voter registration, and outlawed "literacy tests," was another of Johnson's bills that became law. "It is not enough to just open the gates of opportunity," Johnson said. "All our citizens must have the ability to walk through the gates."
Works Cited
Etulain, Richard W. (2006). Beyond the Missouri: The Story of the American West.
Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
Johnson, Lyndon Baines. (2007). King Encyclopedia. Retrieved September 12, 2007, at http://www.stanford.edu/group/king/about_king/encyclopedia/johnson_lyndon.htm.
