“Texas and the New Deal”
For my essay question, I choose “Describe three New Deal work programs and how they impacted Texas during the Great Depression.” During the Great Depression times were tough and people struggled to maintain their daily lives. While all this was going on President Roosevelt came up with a program called the “New Deal.” The “New Deal” helped to produce some work programs to help Texans get back to work and to try to help with the economic hardships. In the next part of my essay, I will talk about some of the work programs that the “New Deal” provided and what impact they had on Texas during the Great Depression. One of the programs, which came out of the “New Deal”, was the Public Works Administration (PWA), which was created in 1933. The PWA hired Texans to built things like bridges and damns. There were a total of 922 projects and over 100 million dollars was spent on these projects. The Public Works Administration helped bring jobs to Texas and helped to put Texans back to work. Another program, which was produced by the “New Deal”, was the Civilian Conservation Corp, which employed thousands of Texans. The Civilian Conservation Corp pursued men ages 18-25 who families were on assistance. The men that ended up employed by the Civilian Conservation Corp worked on things like soil and water conservations. The men lived on camps and made $30 a month, which $25, of the money they made, went back to their families. Although the Civilian Conservation Corp ended up failing it helped to get Texans back to work. One more program that was formed from the “New Deal” was the Works Project Administration. The Works Project Administration provided lasting work support from 1935 to 1943 and employed 600,000 Texans. The Works Project Administration built things like pools, bridges, sidewalks and stadiums. The great thing about the Works Project Administration was it hired unskilled Texans without regards to their gender or race. The Works Project Administration paid between $45 and $75 a month. Although the “New Deal” had its share of problems it had a tremendous effect on Texas. Not only did the “New Deal” bring employment to hundreds of thousands of Texans it helped Texans be able to spend money on goods, which really helped to boost the economy in Texas, and also helped to reduce homelessness. Another way that the “New Deal” work programs impacted Texas was that the work programs helped to develop Texas by building things like damns, bridges, sidewalks, and stadiums. This, in the end, helped to make Texas a more desirable place to come. If more people came to Texas that meant that more money would be spent in Texas, which would ultimately help boost Texas economy even more. Texas had a hard time surviving during the Great Depression, but with the coming forth of the “New Deal” and the influence of Texans in the Congress, times soon began to change for Texas. While not every part of the “New Deal” was perfect, the work programs that were brought about by the “New Deal” helped to get Texas back on track and brought back hope for a better tomorrow.