Public Works Administration

For more information on Public Works Administration, visit Britannica.com.

The Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, created by Title II in the National Industrial Recovery Act of June 1933, became the first national peacetime effort to create jobs. Eventually known as the Public Works Administration (pwa), this New Deal program spent over $6 billion to shore up the nation's infrastructure while combating unemployment. Under Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes's direction, the pwa constructed or refurbished highways, dams, low-cost housing, airports, warships, and other public projects. States and municipalities provided supervision in some cases, but all had to respect pwa guidelines. No pwa projects could use convict labor or work employees more than thirty hours a week. Congress required that human labor be used "in lieu of machinery whenever practicable" to maximize employment. By the close of 1933, thirteen thousand federal projects and twenty-five hundred locally supervised projects were under way.

The pwa earned a near spotless reputation for good management, and Ickes used every avenue to guarantee Afro-Americans their share of positions at all levels. Critics, however, complained that Ickes planned too cautiously, thereby delaying projects and new jobs.

See also New Deal.

PWA-funded construction site in Washington, D.C. in 1933.

The United States Public Works Administration (sometimes referred to as the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works) a New Deal government agency headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes, was created by the National Industrial Recovery Act in June 1933 during the Great Depression.^[1] It allowed $3.3 billion to be spent on the construction of public works to provide employment, stabilize purchasing power, improve public welfare, and contribute to a revival of American industry.^[1] When President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved industry toward war production, the PWA was abolished and its functions transferred to the Federal Works Agency in June 1943.^[2]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Public Works Administration" from Teaching Eleanor Roosevelt, ed. by Allida Black, June Hopkins, et al. (Hyde Park, New York: Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site, U.S. National Park Service, 2003). Retrieved 2008-05-09.
2. ^ "Executive Order 9357 - Transferring the Functions of the Public Works Administration to the Federal Works Agency." June 30, 1943. John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters,The American Presidency Project. Santa Barbara, CA: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database); Olson, James Stuart. Historical Dictionary of the Great Depression, 1929-1940. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001. ISBN 0313306184

External links

• The past: Public Works Administration builds housing (PWA housing in Texas)

v • d • e New Deal Causes and legacy Great Depression · Coalition · Brain Trust · American Liberty League · Criticism New Deal Emergency Banking Act · Economy Act · Civilian Conservation Corps · Agricultural Adjustment Act · Federal Emergency Relief Administration · Tennessee Valley Authority · Executive Order 6102 · Homeowners Refinancing Act · Farm Credit Administration · Glass-Steagall Act (FDIC) · National Industrial Recovery Act · National Recovery Administration · Public Works Administration · Securities Act · Reciprocal Tariff Act · Civil Works Administration · Communications Act · Railroad Retirement Act · National Housing Act Second New Deal Works Progress Administration · Farm Security Administration · Rural Electrification Administration (Act) · National Labor Relations Board (Act) · Social Security · Federal Energy Regulatory Commission · National Bituminous Coal Conservation Act · Judiciary Reorganization Bill · United States Housing Authority Individuals Franklin D. Roosevelt · Harold L. Ickes · Harry Hopkins · Henry Morgenthau, Jr. · Huey Long · Herbert Hoover · Robert F. Wagner Category · Commons

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)