FDR Launches Civil Works: Jobs for 4 Million
Franklin Roosevelt created the Civil Works Administration on November 8, 1933, as an emergency measure to put 4 million unemployed Americans to work before winter. Harry Hopkins, who ran the program, accomplished this in 30 days. The CWA hired workers directly rather than funneling money through state agencies, paying them $15 per week for 30 hours of work. Projects included building or repairing 255,000 miles of roads, 40,000 schools, 3,700 playgrounds, and 1,000 airports. Criticism came from both sides: conservatives called it make-work socialism; progressives said the wages were too low. Roosevelt himself worried about creating dependency and shut the program down after just five months. But it proved that the federal government could act as an employer of last resort, and its successor, the WPA, operated until 1943.
November 8, 1933
93 years ago
Key Figures & Places
Franklin D. Roosevelt
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt
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Great Depression
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New Deal
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Civil Works Administration
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Great Depression
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New Deal
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Franklin D. Roosevelt
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Civil Works Administration
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1932 United States presidential election
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President
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Herbert Hoover
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Great Depression
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