New Deal Accomplishments

Above: In its 2025 Infrastructure Report, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave America's levee infrastructure a "D+" letter grade. The ASCE reports that levees protect 23 million Americans and $2 trillion worth of property, including 7 million buildings and 5 million acres of farm land, from flooding. The ASCE further notes that many levees are not up to current standards, have not undergone risk assessments, and will likely need $70 billion in funding to bring them "into a state of good repair" (" Levees ," 2025 Report Card for America's Infrastructure, American Society of Civil Engineers, accessed August 24, 2025). As sea levels continue to rise , levees and similar structures (e.g., sea walls and diversion canals) will become increasingly important. Image above from the American Society of Civil Engineers, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes . Above: The description for this photograph, taken in Indianapolis, I...

Above: "CWA Workers Sawing Piles at the Sewage Disposal Plant," a lithograph by Russell T. Limbach (1904-1971), created while he was in the New Deal's Public Works of Art Project, 1934. Image from the Indianapolis Museum of Art . Above: The New Deal's Public Works Administration (PWA) financed about 894 new or improved wastewater treatment facilities (about 873 non-federal projects, and 21 federal).  Image and statistics from: Public Works Administration, America Builds: The Record of PWA, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1939, pp. 270, 288, and 290 . Above: PWA-funded wastewater treatment plants were often massive, such as the Wards Island Sewage Disposal Plant, New York City, built in 1937. The plant is still in operation today--modernized of course--and according to the advocacy group Save the Sound, "the Wards Island plant serves more than a million people in the Bronx and Manhattan and treats about 275 million gallons of sewage a day"...

Above: A gorgeous WPA-built armory, unknown location, constructed between 1935 and 1939. Photo from: Federal Works Agency, Work Projects Administration, Report on Progress of the WPA Program, June 30, 1939, p. 22 . Above: WPA workers putting the finishing touches on an armory in Santa Barbara, California, between 1935 and 1943. Photo from the National Archives . Above: The description for this photograph--taken in Toledo, Ohio, on April 7, 1936--reads: "Lucas County, Project # 12-48-178. Exterior view showing beautiful main entrance... WPA workers building one of the most beautiful public buildings in this state in the new $700,000 U.S.N. Armory under construction Bay View Park on west land of Maumee River. This project has given work to hundreds of men." Photo from the National Archives . Above: Inside the armory in Toledo, Ohio (see previous photo). The description for this photograph reads: "... skilled WPA workers laying new parquet floor in Toledo's new $700...

Above: An abandoned mine in Allegany County, Maryland, July 8, 1936. Air enters abandoned mines, mixes with water and iron sulfides, and creates sulfuric acid. The acid then makes its way into local waterways and causes pollution problems. WPA workers would later seal this mine. Photo from the University of Maryland College Park Archives . Above: A WPA worker seals an abandoned mine in Garrett County, Maryland, April 17, 1937, in order to prevent air from entering.  Photo from the University of Maryland College Park Archives. Above: Part of a longer article in the The Pittsburgh Press , April 14, 1939, highlighting the value of WPA mine sealing work. Image from newspapers.com , used here for educational and non-commercial purposes . Above: In its 1936-1938 biannual report , the West Virginia Department of Health noted how the WPA had improved the state's sanitation with mine sealing and other activities. Above: "Coal Town," a lithograph by Michael J. Gallagher (1898-...

Above: A Social Security benefits calculator, per the Republican expansion of Social Security in the 1950s (Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate during the 83rd Congress, and President Eisenhower was also, of course, a Republican - see the next-to-last last paragraph of this blog post for more information). Image scanned from a personal copy . The fantastic but unfinished business of economic security President Franklin Roosevelt signed Social Security into law on August 14, 1935, and today, 90 years later, 74 million people are receiving Social Security benefits (see, e.g.,  here and here ). The rural and red (but formerly blue) state of West Virginia relies on Social Security more than any other state (see, e.g., here and here ), and over 476,000 of its residents were receiving Social Security benefits in 2023. In his Second Bill of Rights speech, FDR advocated for the right "to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident......

Above: This photo comes from Henry Alsberg's book, America Fights the Depression: A Photographic Record of the Civil Works Administration (New York: Coward-McCann Publishers, 1934). Alsberg reports that "Musicians were probably worse hit by the depression than any other class of white collar workers... The deflation of 1929 came only as a final knockout blow; canned music in the picture houses, and radio had already considerably reduced the number of available jobs... [But] By March 31st [1934] there were several dozen flourishing orchestras and bands throughout the country, whose members were paid by the Civil Works Administration, and which gave free concerts for the enjoyment of the general public" (p. 89). Photo from America Fights the Depression; used here for educational and non-commercial purposes . Above: The Work Division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA, 1934-1935) picked up where CWA left off. In New York state, for example, FERA helped m...

Above: A WPA poster, advertising the opening of the Mason City Art Center in Iowa, 1941. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress . Above: The Mason City Art Center prepares to open its doors. This is part of a longer article from the Mason City Globe-Gazette , January 8, 1941. Further down in the article, we learn: "Being entirely democratic in nature, art center exhibits, the workshop instruction in various phases of art and craft work, the lectures on art and on exhibits shown in its galleries are free to the public. Regardless of age, race, color or creed, all persons are encouraged to make use of the services and facilities of the art center."  Image from newspapers.com , used here for educational and non-commercial purposes . Above: A federal art center in Roswell, New Mexico, ca. 1937. The WPA constructed this building and it still exists today as part of the expanded  Roswell Museum and Art Center . Also see: Sara Woodbury, " The Art of Democracy ," Livi...