"...the WPA came along and Roosevelt came to be a god. It was really great. You worked, you got a paycheck and you had some dignity. Even when a man raked leaves he got paid, he had some dignity. All the songs they used have about the WPA:
I went to the poll line and voted
And I know I voted the right way
So, I'm askin' you Mr. President
Don't take away this WP and A
They had lots of verses. We used to sing them:
Oh, I'm for you, Mr. President
I'm for you all the way
You can take away the alphabet
But don't take away this WPA
...There was some humanity then. We don't have humanity today."
--Sociologist Horace Cayton, from the book "Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression," by Studs Terkel, Random House, 1970.
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