Public Works Administration

Examples of Public Works Administration in the following topics:

• Relief for the Unemployed

  • To Public Works Administration was established to finance major public works throughout the United States.
  • To cut unemployment, the NIRA created the Public Works Administration (PWA), a major program of public works.
  • Under Roosevelt, many unemployed persons were put to work on a wide range of government-financed public works projects, including building bridges, airports, dams, post offices, courthouses, and thousands of miles of road .
  • Major programs that addressed their needs included the Resettlement Administration (RA) and the Rural Electrification Administration (REA).
  • The Farm Tenancy Act was created, which in turn created the Farm Security Administration (FSA), replacing the Resettlement Administration.

• Relief Measures

  • The "First 100 Days" was a period of productive activity for the new Roosevelt administration.
  • The National Industrial Recovery Act (1933) gave Roosevelt broad powers to regulate industry and launch public works projects.
  • Pursuant to the latter goal, the NIRA created the Public Works Administration (PWA), a public works construction agency.
  • It built large-scale public works such as dams, bridges, hospitals, and schools.
  • Other agencies undertook a wide range of government-financed public works projects, building bridges, airports, dams, post offices, courthouses, and thousands of kilometers of road.

• Relief and Conservation Programs

  • In 1933, Congress passed the National Industrial Recovery Act, giving Roosevelt broader powers to intervene in the economy and establish public works projects.
  • The act also created the Public Works Administration (PWA), an agency in charge of public works projects.
  • These public works programs provided relief by employing millions of under-and-unemployed Americans.
  • These boys were among the millions of Americans who were employed in Public Works Projects as part of the New Deal.
  • The Public Works projects provided relief for the unemployed while upgrading the nation's infrastructure.

• Industrial Recovery

  • It aimed "to encourage national industrial recovery, to foster fair competition, and to provide for the construction of certain useful public works."
  • Title II established the Public Works Administration (PWA), an agency that would create jobs through public work projects.
  • It also provided funding  for a series of transportation projects, local initiatives that would battle unemployment through public work projects, and necessary acquisitions of property that would make such projects possible.
  • NIRA gave the administration the power to develop voluntary agreements with industries regarding work hours, pay rates, and price fixing.
  • At the center of NIRA was the National Recovery Administration (NRA), headed by Hugh S.

• Neglected Americans and the New Deal

  • Black workers participated in all the major programs that created employment, including the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Public Works Administration, and the Works Progress Administration.  
  • Under the provisions of the latter, the youth coming from the families that had at least one member working for WPA also received support that allowed them to continue high school or college education (program known as the National Youth Administration).  
  • In 1937, the Roosevelt administration finally addressed some challenges faced by black farmers.
  • For example, the 1935 Works Progress Administration (WPA) employed mostly the women who could not rely on the support of male family members (household heads).
  • Other common stereotypical female jobs, like teaching or administrative support, were aimed at more educated middle class women and thus remained beyond the reach of the poor working class women.

• The Environment

  • The Bush administration was often criticized for discounting the human influence on global warming and refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol.
  • In the same speech, he also promised to work with Congress, environmental groups, and the energy industry to require a reduction of the emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury, and carbon dioxide into the environment within a "reasonable period of time."
  • Administration officials claimed the changes were appropriate because existing rules, which were approved by the Clinton administration two months before Bush took office, were unclear.
  • He also maintained that regardless of that debate, his administration was working on plans to make America less dependent on foreign oil for both economic and national security reasons.
  • In his 2007 State of the Union Address, President Bush renewed his pledge to work toward diminished reliance on foreign oil by reducing fossil fuel consumption and increasing alternative fuel production.

• America and WWI

  • Food Administration.
  • As part of Wilson's War Cabinet, Baruch worked closely with Hoover.
  • While the WIB consisted of military personnel and public servants, the NWLB was composed of civilians, mainly from labor unions, industrial management, and the general public.
  • Food Administration.
  • Food Administration.

• Competing Solutions

  • Furthermore, lowering taxes, public work projects, and loosening credit policies by the Federal Reserve aimed to energize the economy.
  • The Tennessee Valley Authority (1933) was the first large-scale public work project.
  • The program was replaced by the Works Progress Administration in 1935.
  • Civil Works Administration (1933/34) provided temporary jobs to millions of unemployed.
  • Photograph of Works Progress Administration Worker Receiving Paycheck, Records of the Work Projects Administration, National Archives

• Civil Rights Under Nixon

  • The Nixon administration, prioritizing a return to "law and order," did not advance civil rights to the extent of the previous administrations.
  • The Nixon administration did not prioritize civil rights to the extent of the previous Kennedy and Johnson administrations.
  • The Nixon years witnessed the first large-scale integration of public schools in the South.
  • Soon after Nixon's inauguration, he appointed Vice President Spiro Agnew to lead a task force to work with local leaders—both white and black—to form a plan for integrating local schools.
  • Agnew had little interest in the work, so most of it was done by Labor Secretary George Shultz.

• The Second New Deal

  • In 1935, the Roosevelt administration unveiled legislation that would be known as the Second New Deal.
  • The work programs of the "First New Deal" were solely meant as immediate relief, destined to run less than a decade.
  • Roosevelt nationalized unemployment relief through the Works Progress Administration (WPA), headed by Harry Hopkins .
  • The WPA employed more than 8.5 million workers who built 650,000 miles of highways and roads, 125,000 public buildings, as well as bridges, reservoirs, irrigation systems, parks and playgrounds.
  • The National Youth Administration was a semi-autonomous WPA program for youth.