1. Social Security
Above: FDR signed Social Security into law in 1935. As of December 2022, there were over 1.5 million residents of Tennessee receiving Social Security payments (OASDI - Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance). Above is a Social Security benefits sliding calculator, highlighting increased benefits enacted by the Republican-controlled 83rd Congress and Republican President Eisenhower, 1953-55. This is an interesting contrast to the modern agenda of the Republican Party, which is to privatize and/or cut Social Security (see, e.g., "Congressional Republicans want big cuts to Social Security," MarketWatch, July 11, 2023).
Above: Residents of Tennessee can deposit money in their banks, without fear of financial calamity, thanks to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), created by FDR and the New Deal Congress in 1933. Such insurance had long been advocated for, but it was the New Deal that finally made it happen. Images above are from a matchbook, scanned from a private collection.
3. The Wagner Act of 1935 and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
Above: Working class Tennesseans benefited from New Deal labor legislation, especially the Wagner Act (1935) and the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938). With these laws, Tennesseans and other working class folk across the country could enjoy things we take for granted today, such as overtime pay and the right to collective bargaining. Image above is a Franklin Mint sculpture, scanned from a private collection, and used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
(Special Note: By 1964, nearly a quarter of Tennessee's workers were in unions. This figure held fairly steady until about 1982 when it began to rapidly decline, all the way down to 5.1% in 2014 (see, "50 Years Of Shrinking Union Membership, In One Map," Planet Money, NPR, February 23, 2015). Union membership has recently increased in Tennessee, but it's still abysmally low. And this decades-long union deterioration has coincided with extreme income & wealth inequality. Unfortunately, Tennessee and other states have developed political and business philosophies that prioritize executive pay and shareholder returns over the wages & benefits of workers, over the affordability of goods, and, in some cases, over product quality.)
Above: The New Deal's TVA controls flooding, offers many recreation opportunties, employs about 10,000 people, and "provides electricity for 153 local power companies serving 10 million people in Tennessee and parts of six surrounding states, as well as directly to 58 large industrial customers and federal installations" (Tennessee Valley Authority, "About TVA"). Image scanned from a private collection.
5. REA and Electric Cooperatives
Above: In order to distribute electricity to rural areas, the New Deal created the Rural Electrification Administration (1935-1936), which made low-interest loans to communities that wanted to set-up their own, locally-controlled power companies - "electric cooperatives." Middle Tennessee Electric (MTE, see photo above) was one of those cooperatives and still operates today. MTE's website explains that the private sector was uninterested in providing affordable power to rural areas, so "Farmers and rural residents, encouraged by REA and TVA, took on the job of getting power themselves." Photo above (unknown photographer, ca. 1940) scanned from a private collection.
Above: A lapel pin from Appalachian Electric Cooperative (AEC) in New Market, Tennessee (scanned from a private collection). AEC was formed with a loan from REA in 1940. As of 2024, there are at least 20 New Deal, REA-started electric cooperatives still operating in Tennessee, serving at least 1.2 million customers (see Electric Cooperative directory here). In addition to AEC, they are:
Caney Fork Electric Cooperative, Inc.; Chickasaw Electric Cooperative; Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation; Duck River Electric Membership Corporation; Forked Deer Electric Cooperative; Fort Loudoun Electric Cooperative; Gibson Electric Membership Corporation; Holston Electric Cooperative, Inc.; Meriwether-Lewis Electric Cooperative; Middle Tennessee Electric; Mountain Electric Cooperative; Pickwick Electric Cooperative; Plateau Electric Cooperative; Powell Valley Electric Cooperative; Sequachee Valley Electric Cooperative; Southwest Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation; Tri-County Electric Membership Corporation; Upper Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation; Volunteer Energy Cooperative.
(Note: Republican presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan both attempted to sabotage the REA's low-interest loan program, in order to please Corporate America. This would haved hiked electric bills for rural Americans. See, e.g., "Co-op Loan Action Spurs Lobby Move," The Tennessean (Nashville, Tennessee), January 24, 1973, p. 41; and "Plan would boost rural electric bills," The Jackson Sun (Jackson, Tennessee), February 19, 1981, p. 4A.)
6. Electric Home and Farm Authority
Above: The Electric Home and Farm Authority (EHFA, created by FDR's Executive Order No. 6514, December 19, 1933) gave residents of Tennessee and other states the ability to buy electric appliances with low-interest financing. This program was even more valuable when REA and electric cooperatives began greatly expanding electric service in rural America from 1936 onward. Above, we see two employees of EHFA checking out the EHFA showroom in the James Building, Chattanooga, Tennessee, 1934. Photo from The Chattanooga Times, September 18, 1934, and newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial puprposes.
7. Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Above: FDR in Tennessee, dedicating Great Smoky Mountains National Park, September 2, 1940. FDR's Civilian Conservation Corps was largely responsible for the development of the park. Today, Tennesseans can camp, fish, hike, view wildlife, go horseback riding, and more at the park. Also, Great Smoky Mountains is the most-visited national park, thus creating a strong tourism economy in Tennessee: "A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 12.9 million visitors to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2022 spent $2.1 billion in communities near the park. That spending supported 32,590 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $3.3 billion" (National Park Service). Photo above from the Tennessee Virtual Archive, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
8. Lake Isom National Wildlife Refuge
Above: A Fish & Wildlife Service brochure for Reelfoot and Lake Isom National Wildlife Refuges (NWR). FDR created the Lake Isom NWR (Tennessee's first NWR) with Executive Order 7953. Today, Tennesseans and others can hunt, hike, boat, fish, and bird-watch at Lake Isom NWR, as well as at nearby Reelfoot NWR (est. 1941, under different legal mechanisms). Image from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
9. The Civilian Conservation Corps
Above: The Glee Club (vocal group) of CCC Company 3462, at Camp SCS-2, Collierville, Tennessee, ca. 1938. Company 3462 worked with the New Deal's Soil Conservation Service and "have as their task stopping the forces of erosion and teaching the people in the vicinity... how to conserve the soil... They build terraces, outlet channels, plant trees, and place sod to stop gully washes." Quote and photo from Civilian Conservation Corp Annual, District D, Fourth Corps Area, pp. 171-173 (Army and Navy Publishing Company, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1938), used here for educational and non-commercial purposes (also see, "Collierville's Soil Soldiers," Morton Museum).
Above: Members of CCC Company 1473, near Bristol, Tennessee, ca. 1935. Between 1933 and 1942, the CCC gave jobs to over 72,000 Tennesseans, planted 36 million trees, stocked 1.8 million fish, created state parks, fought fires, and much more (Perry H. Merrill, Roosevelt's Forest Army: A History of the Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1942, Montpelier, VT, 1981, pp. 176-177). Photo above from the Tennessee Virtual Archives, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
10. Fall Creek Falls State Park
Above: A map of Fall Creek Falls State Park, in east central Tennessee (Bledsoe and Van Buren counties). Tennessee State Parks explains: "Fall Creek Falls State Park is one of Tennessee’s largest and most visited state parks... In 1937, the federal government began purchasing the badly eroded land around Fall Creek Falls. The following year, the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) began restoring the forest and constructing park facilities. A few years later in 1944, the National Park Service transferred ownership of the park to the State of Tennessee." Today, visitors can enjoy hiking, arts & crafts, music, golf, and more at the park. Image from Tennessee State Parks.
11. The National Youth Administration
Above: The New Deal's National Youth Administration (NYA) gave jobs to many young men and women in Tennessee, both in-school and out-of-school, 1935-1943. During the war, the NYA trained many future Rosie-the-Riveters, Wendy-the-Welders, and other women who worked in the defense industries. The description for this 1942 photo reads, "Knoxville, Tennessee (Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)). Training for war production at NYA (National Youth Administration) school." Photo by Arthur Rothstein, Farm Security Administration, and provided courtesy of the Library of Congress.
12. Bridges
Above: The New Deal greatly improved Tennessee's infrastructure. The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded many large projects, like the bridge above. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) contributed mightily too, for example, engaging in 5,127 projects to build or improve bridges and viaducts in Tennessee (Federal Works Agency, Final Report on the WPA Program, 1935-43, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1947, p. 135). Image from The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee), November 29, 1936, and newspapers.com, used for educational and non-commercial purposes.
13. Water and Sewer Lines
Above: The caption for this 1936 photo reads, "Nashville Tenn... 80 WPA workers laying 12" water mains, sewers, and paving street at Mahr Ave and W. Gaines St." The WPA installed 179 miles of new water lines and 158 miles of new storm and sanitary sewer lines in Tennessee (Federal Works Agency, Final Report on the WPA Program, 1935-43, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1947, p. 136). Photo from the National Archives.
14. Airports
Above: The WPA had several airport projects in Tennessee, for example, at Memphis, Knoxville, Nashville, and Chattanooga. The above scene shows a WPA landing field expansion project at the Chattanooga Airport, 1936. Photo from the National Archives.
15. Public Buildings
Above: The New Deal provided labor and funding for many new or improved public buildings in Tennessee. Above is the PWA-funded Nashville Courthouse and City Hall, ca. 1937. Today, it is called the Davidson County Courthouse and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Photo from the National Archives.
16. Schools and Colleges
Above: The New Deal was frequently limited in what it could do in terms of racial integration, thanks in large part to the U.S. Supreme Court's approval of segregation (Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896). But all across America, the New Deal created better facilities for African Americans, such as the Douglass School (above) in Memphis, Tennessee, 1936. The WPA had 734 project to build or improve schools in Tennessee (Federal Works Agency, Final Report on the WPA Program, 1935-43, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1947, p. 135). Photo from the National Archives.
Above: The PWA funded several new buildings at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, such as this administration building, ca. 1936. Photo from the National Archives.
17. Post Offices
Above: The New Deal built many post offices in Tennessee, such as this one in the town of Ripley (constructed in 1937). For more examples, see this search result from the Living New Deal. Several of the post offices were adorned with murals, from the New Deal's Section of Fine Arts. Image from Google Streetview, March 2024, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
18. Farm-to-Market Roads
Above: WPA workers in Tennessee constructed or improved 34,690 miles of roads, and much of it was in the form of "Farm-to-Market" roads - roads that helped farmers sell their produce and goods. The caption for this 1936 photo reads, "Tenn. Fourth District. Dickson Co. Farm-to-Market Road... WPA workmen constructing culverts and building bridge on White Bluff Road where Jones Creek and Buttry Creek join. Bridge replaces a ford which is impassable for four months of the year and after every rain." Statistic from: Federal Works Agency, Final Report on the WPA Program, 1935-43, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1947, p. 135. Photo from the National Archives.
19. Additional Farm & Agricultural Assistance
Above: A grain elevator near Memphis, Tennessee, constructed with PWA funds, ca. 1935. In addition to large-scale infrastructure improvements--such as roads, bridges, and buildings--farm & agriculture in Tennessee benefited financially from New Deal agencies like the Farm Security Administration and the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation (the latter bought their excess produce and goods), and also from New Deal legislation like the Farm Credit Act and the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act. Photo from the National Archives.
20. School Lunches
Above: Across the nation, the WPA served well over 1 billion school lunches. The description for this 1936 WPA photo reads, "Tenn. Fourth District. Lawrence Co. Hot Lunch Program... children of the West Point School enjoy hot lunches daily at school and are better fitted for work and play. Many of them are from homes hard hit by depression where a properly balanced hot lunch would be very uncertain." Statistic from: Federal Works Agency, Final Report on the WPA Program, 1935-43, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1947, p. 134. Photo from the National Archives.
21. Healthcare
Above: Children receiving vaccines from the WPA, Memphis, Tennessee, 1937. A little over a year into the WPA program it was reported: "In Tennessee, 1,061 persons have been immunized against typhoid with the aid of WPA nurses, over 5,000 homes have been visited and more than 2,500 children in nursery schools have been given health examinations and treated with first aid" ("Berry Cites Records Against WPA Critics," The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee), October 6, 1936, p. 13). Photo from the National Archives.
Above: The PWA-funded John Gaston Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, ca. 1936. While not the most ornate of buildings, it provided a lot extra beds for Tennesseans in need of hospital care. According to the University of Memphis, "It remained one of Memphis' busiest hospitals until it was demolished in 1990 to make way for the growth of the Regional Medical Center 'The Med'." Photo from the National Archives.
Above: In 1936-1937, WPA workers helped build the Knox County Crippled Children's Hospital. The next image and caption shows how this facility has been greatly expanded. Photo from The Knoxville News-Sentinel, May 16, 1937, and newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
Above: The East Tennessee Children's Hospital (ETCH) in Knoxville. ETCH explains: "The original 28-bed Knox County Crippled Children’s Hospital is today the 152-bed East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, a group of dedicated professionals operating a series of medical facilities that provide the best in pediatric health care to the children and adolescents of the region." ETCH has put together an incredibly detailed timeline of its history, highlighting the WPA's original help, WPA-assisted expansion in 1938, and then continued improvements and expansions over the decades, leading to today's modern facility. ETCH also explains (here and here) that the doctor's who planned the original facility (Jarrell Penn, Henry Galbraith, and Oscar Schwarzenberg, Sr.) wanted care without discrimination and "Since our first day in 1937, we have had an 'open-door' policy that no child will be denied care because of race, religion or their parents' ability to pay their child's medical bill." Image from Google Streetview, 2019, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
22. Clothing for the Those in Need
Above: A WPA sewing room project at Hume-Fogg High School, Nashville, Tennessee, 1936. WPA sewing rooms in Tennessee produced 3.5 million items of clothing for Tennesseans in need of assistance (Federal Works Agency, Final Report on the WPA Program, 1935-43, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1947, p. 134). Photo from the Nashville Banner, November 28, 1936, p. 7, and newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
23. Archaeology and Historic Restoration
Above: These workers were funded by the New Deal's Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), and are working on an archaeology project in Tennessee. Photo is from: Smithsonian Archaeological Projects Conducted Under The Federal Emergency Relief Administration, 1933-34, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1935.
Above: A newspaper clipping, highlighting a TVA archaeology project, employing workers from the New Deal's Civil Works Administration (CWA). This is part of a longer article in the Johnson City Staff-News (Johnson City, Tennessee), February 9, 1934. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
Above: The description for this 1936 photo reads, "Restoration of Fort Negley, Nashville, Tenn... 800 men under direction of WPA are restoring old Fort Negley situated on a hill overlooking Nashville..." Today, you can enjoy the Fort Negley Visitors Center and Park. Photo from the National Archives.
24. Historic Preservation and Family History
Above: The WPA's Historical Records Survey (HRS) completed several projects in Tennessee. In the above publication, the reader learns (among many other things) that the Hall of Holography at Lincoln Memorial University (Harrogate, Tennessee) contains photos and/or autographs of famous people, for example, Napolean Bonaparte, Chiang Kai-shek, Alfred Dreyfus (the French officer who was wrongfully imprisoned on Devil's Island), Thomas Jefferson, Rudyard Kipling, and Mark Twain. Image above scanned from a private collection.
Above: The WPA's HRS also helped locate and preserve records important to family history. The above examples show HRS projects in Tennessee for vital records (birth, death, marriage, and divorce records), church archives, and "Bible, Family and Tombstone Records." Also see, "The WPA and Its Impact on Family History," Legacy Tree Genealogists. Images above from Hathitrust, except for the Sumner County book, which is scanned from a private collection.
Above: The WPA interviewed former slaves, and the collected materials are not only important from a general U.S. history perspective, but can also provide family history information. See, e.g., "African American Slave Narratives Collected by the WPA," FamilySearch. Image above from Amazon, showing the R. Christopher Goodwin compilation/edition. Used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
25. Music, Writing, and Art
Above: Between 1935 and 1942, the Memphis WPA Band (part of the Federal Music Project) performed at special events, churches, community centers, auditoriums, parks & playgrounds, medical institutions (such as the Memphis "Home for the Incurables"), and at parades for departing soldiers. Photo from the National Archives.
Above: The WPA's Federal Writers' Project produced the Tennessee guide in 1939 (New York: Viking Press), as part of the nationwide, and now famous American Guide Series. The Tennessee guide covers topics such as "The First Americans" (American Indians), industry, agriculture, TVA, African Americans, and the arts. It also includes a removable folded map of the state and 16 recommended driving tours with detailed descriptions of what tourists and vacationers can find along the way. Image scanned from a private copy.
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