The Pros And Cons Of The Civilian Conservation Corps

     By 1933 millions of Americans were out of work. Bread lines were a common sight in most cities. Hundreds of thousands of people scoured the country in search of food, work, or a roof. There was a popular song from this era known as “Brother, can you spare a dime (Modern)?” A big step that happened for the unemployed were the Civilian Conservation Corps, a government program that brought relief to men between the ages of 18 and 25. The Conservation Corps gave jobs to young men in work camps across the country for about $30 per month. There were about 2 million men that took advantage of these jobs (The Great Depression). These men took part in a variety a jobs that included: planting trees, elimination stream pollution, creating game and bird sanctuaries, and conserving natural gases. For the other part of society work relief came in the form of the Civil Works Administration. These jobs consisted of ditch digging to highway repairs to teaching. Civil Works Administration was created in November 1933 and was ceased in the spring of 1934. Roosevelt continued to offer unemployment programs that offered pay (America).

Do you think the new deal was a success? Many say no but many say yes. One of the new deal programs was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), this program was meant to help men and woman. It was intended to help independent men and woman. I think it was very successful because, it helped the men and women to get what they needed. It did a lot for the community. The new deal was a success because it gave children food, it caused the Indian Reorganization Act, it will employ one-quarter million of the unemployed, and will ease mortgage distress.

The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Tennessee Valley Authority had positive impacts on work and the environment during the great depression. The bill proposing the Civilian Conservation Corps was voted on and passed on March 31, 1933 under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In addition, the Tennessee Valley Authority was formed May 18 of this same year to work on easing environmental strains in the Tennessee Valley. Roosevelt’s goal when he became president was to improve the economy and environment, and to help raise America from the depression. When he had been governor of New York he had created a public works program similar to the TVA on a smaller scale and it had been met with success. As a result he was encouraged to expand

Many of the New Deal’s relief programs were revolutionary; the federal government was now responsible for relieving the problems of society previously left to individuals, states, and local governments. Work relief programs, such as the popular Civilian Conservation Corps, which offered unemployed Americans a chance to earn wages while working to conserve natural resources, and the Works Progress Administration, which gave unemployed Americans

The New Deal was a set of federal programs with the principle of social-welfare liberalism. President Roosevelt was deeply compromised to help the most vulnerable in the ongoing crisis. In second inaugural address he outlines the progress of the New Deal “We have always known that heedless self-interest was bed morals…. Out of the collapse of a prosperity whose builders boasted their practicality has come to the conviction that in the long run economy morality pays.” At some extend President Roosevelt proudly tell the Nation that he was heading to the right direction to progress. Some of the New Deal successful programs that brought relief and dignify living to many Americans were Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) a direct governmental regulation of farm economy to resolve the overproduction problem. In the unemployment relief, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) that provided federal funds for state relief programs. Public Works Administration (PWA) a construction program that lead to Civil Works Administration (CWA) that provide work for more than 4 million Americans repairing, building, and constructing America's infrastructure. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) that mobilized young men to do reforestation and conservation work helping their family’s income and the country reservation. In 1935 in housing issues Works Progress Administration (WPA) Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) that help many Americans keep their

“ Our greatest task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the government itself, treating the task as we would threat the emergency of war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and recognize the use of our national resources.”

The Civilian Conservation Corps accomplishments included the restoration of resources, recreational opportunities, and the building of national state’s parks. The failures of this program were that Civilian Conservation Corps was that it gave money to a small segment of the population, it took taxpayers money ,and it was only for young white men. According to experts of the Digital History Online Textbook, many New Deal Programs discriminated against African Americans. The document said “Roosevelt feared that conservative southern Democrats, who had seniority in Congress and controlled many committee chairmanships, would block his bills if he tried to fight them on the race question.(Document B)” This is why the Civilian Conservation Corps is labeled as a success and a fail. It helps citizens but not many. The second New Deal program that had accomplishment and failures was the Tennessee Valley. The accomplishments that the Tennessee Valley made was it provided cheap electrical power to rural areas, and it provided employment in rural areas. The failures that this program had was that since they provided lots with electricity, they had to build a lot of dams, which is bad for the ecosystem. The Tennessee Valley also had many long term failures. The long-term effect is that it generates power through coal fire plants, which causes pollution that generates global

People lost their life’s savings, their homes and farms. In his first broadcast on the radio Roosevelt speech, declared that “This great Nation will endure as it has endured , we will revive and will prosper the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. Heeding the nation to call for action, and action now he promise to exercise broad executive power to wage a war against the emergency. The first step was to save the banks. During his first hundred days as president, FDR ordered all banks to closed to stop people from withdrawing money from the banks, until congress meeting into special session. On March 9 congress passed Roosevelt’s Emergency Banking Act, in which recognized the banks and closed the ones there were insolvent. Banks would re open immediately with government support, and the ones that were insolvent would be handed over to federal conservators who would guide them to solvency. The President urged Americans to put their savings back to the bank, when banks re open the next day, deposits exceed withdrawals. Saving the banks and financial markets meant little if human suffering continue. One work relief program proposed by FDR was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). This program consist to employed hundreds of thousands of young men from relief rolls, and sent them into the woods and fields to plant trees, build parks and fight soil erosion. During its ten years put more than three million young men with jobs. The need to alleviate starvation led Roosevelt to proposed a new giveaway program. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) which consist in gave grants to the states to operate relief programs.The main goal of the program was to alleviate unemployment by creating new unskilled jobs in local and state government. The Social Security Act, and unemployment insurance were incorporated in a separate piece of legislation. The Social Security Act sought

Americans, during the 1930s, clearly needed help. Too many were unemployed, struggling, starving, and/or homeless. One of the biggest legacies of the New Deal is that it combated unemployment with jobs in infrastructure. Many agencies and programs were set up to help increase America’s infrastructure and provide many needy people with jobs. One of those organizations was the Works Progress Administration. Incredibly, the WPA employed an average of 2.1 million people annually for a total of almost 8 million people. It had become largest New Deal program and required almost 11 billion dollars to fund it (Friedrich). The WPA was made with one goal in mind: to get people back to work so they can get money in their pockets to survive. The WPA built highways, airfields, public buildings, and did rural rehabilitation such as planting trees. In total, it had built around 110,000 public buildings, 600 airports, 500,000 miles of roads, and 100,000 bridges (“New Deal”). Like the WPA, the Civilian Conservation Corps, had been created to provide jobs, but it was mainly for younger Americans. This program had employed and put 3

The New Deal provided employment for 3 million young men. Through the Civilian Conservation Act, uniformed young men were recruited to work in various employment such as reforestation, fire fighting, flood control and swamp drainage. These jobs not only helped the people financially, but also gave a sense of accomplishment and prevented them from committing crimes.

By 1933 millions of Americans were out of work. Hundreds of thousand of men, women, and children roamed the country in search of food and shelter. Bead lines were not an uncommon sight. One of the earliest steps to aid the unemployed was the CCC, the Civilian Conservation Corps. This program designed to bring relief to the young men of America ages 18 to 25. In this program the CCC would enroll these men in camps across the country for around $30 a month. This was a semi-military style job almost two million men took place in the CCC. They took part in conservation projects such as planting trees to maintain national forest, eliminating steam pollution, creating fish, animal sanctuaries, and conserving coal, petroleum, shale, gas, sodium and helium deposits. Jobs also came from the Civil Works Administration with jobs such as teaching to highway repairs. The National Recovery Administration established with the national industrial recovery act practiced generating more jobs so more buying would come. The NRA was declared unconstitutional in 1935 because of over regulation as recovery began to come into play. Also through the NIRA workers were given the right to Bargain with their employers through unions their own choice.

In today’s time and age a person volunteers to join any branch in the United States military. Draft is still around but ever since the Vietnam times no branch has had to draft any man or woman. Even back in the draft days they became available for drafting once they turned 18. Because they are fresh out of high school at this age is a key factor in the decision, meaning they are ready to face the next chapter in their lives that life threw at them.

The new production caused an increase in the need of workers, thus causing the unemployment rate to decrease. One way the New Deal was able to give jobs to the jobless was via the Civilian Conservation Corps. This program gave jobs to civilians between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five; they were planting trees, building dams, and stopping the erosion of the soil. By August of 1933, 300,000 men were at work. Roosevelt also aided the farmers through the Agricultural Adjustment Act. This act helped farmers meet their mortgages, which went hand in hand with the Home Owners' Loan Corporation. Through these acts the government used millions of dollars to try to relieve farmers' economic crises. But by doing this, Roosevelt caused an increase in the national debt.

Once President Franklin Roosevelt was elected during the Great Depression, his first 100 days enacted what he called the New Deal. This “deal” was a series of reforms that were meant to increase available jobs, better the working conditions, and put money back into the economy. Jobs offered during this time, as well as the relief, recovery, and reform efforts gave a kick start to the American economy, helping to pull us out of the Great Depression. Some examples of these efforts can be seen in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the National Recovery Administration (NRA), and the Social Security Act (SSA).

By July of 1933, 1,433 working camps had been established and more than 300,000 men put to work. Under the guidance of the U.S. Forest Service, the National Parks Service and the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture, CCC employees fought forest fires, planted trees, cleared and maintained access roads, re-seeded grazing lands and implemented soil-erosion controls. Additionally, they built wildlife refuges, fish-rearing facilities, water storage basins and animal shelters. To encourage citizens to get out and enjoy America’s natural resources, FDR authorized the CCC to build bridges and campground facilities. During the Great Depression