New Deal Accomplishments

Above: The New Deal's Public Works Administration (PWA) provided funding for the new and massive "Charity Hospital" in New Orleans, 1938. In total, PWA funded about 822 "hospitals and institutions for medical treatment" (Public Works Administration, America Builds: The Record of PWA , Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, p. 291 ). Photo from the National Archives . Above: Most Americans have forgotten, or have never been taught in the first place, or in some cases don't seem to care, how New Deal hospitals and health workers brought their parents or grandparents into the world, treated their injuries and broken bones, diagnosed their illnesses, provided the necessary facilities to perform life-saving surgeries, etc. The description for the photograph above reads, "Jackson Memorial Hospital, constructed by PWA in Miami, Florida. The picture shows the nursery room of the hospital." Photo from the National Archives . Above: This photo a...

Above: The New Deal's Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA) built this library for the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus, ca. 1935-1937. It is in the quadrangle behind Roosevelt Tower (also built by PRRA ) and today appears to serve other functions (these National Register of Historic Places materials suggest it was more recently used as the Registrar's Office, "Building No. 9"). Photo from the Puerto Rico Architectural Heritage Archives and the Archive of Architecture and Construction of the University of Puerto Rico; used here for educational and non-commercial purposes . Above: Workers in the New Deal's Civil Works Administration (CWA) expand the Wicomico County Free Library in Salisbury, Maryland, 1934. Walter S. Sheppard, a resident of Wicomico County, "pointed out that until the CWA came into being, the only hope Salisbury had of getting a new library was for some rich man to provide the necessary funds and... 'for the pas...

Above: Across the nation, the WPA built 805 new swimming pools and 848 new wading pools and improved another 339 and 81 respectively. The WPA swimming pool above was built in Forsythe Park, Monroe, Louisiana, 1937. The National Youth Administration (NYA), which began as a subdivision of the WPA, built 407 new swimming and wading pools and improved another 651. Photo from the National Archives . Above: A WPA-built swimming pool in Durham, North Carolina, between 1935 and 1943. During the New Deal years, many areas of the country practiced segregation, which they were constitutionally permitted to do because of the Supreme Court's ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson . In that apartheid context, which the New Deal did not create, the New Deal improved tens of thousands of African American schools, colleges, recreation facilities, hospitals, and other community public works. Most of these projects have been completely forgotten or dismissed, as an increasing number of journalists, academics...

Above: A WPA Theatre Performance of Ready! Aim! Fire! in Los Angeles, California, 1937. Hallie Flanagan, the WPA Theatre director described the play as a "satire on dictatorship" and compared the Los Angeles performances to the New York performances: "It had less sophistication and certainly less subtlety than we expect in New York. It lacked the ceramic finish, the hard glaze of a Broadway musical show. Instead it possessed zest and ebullience which Broadway often sacrifices for smartness" ( Arena , 1940, pp. 281-282). An announcement in the Eagle Rock Sentinel newspaper noted that the play "includes several important new song hits, dance numbers, comedy situations, and interesting stage effects in a merry fast-moving bill of entertainment" (November 4, 1937, p. 2). Photo from the National Archives . Above: WPA theatre performances were popular all across the country, in venues big and small. This audience is watching a WPA performance of Broken Dishe...