Today in History - 1933

The United States was struggling through the Depression. The major economic indices were sagging and the unemployment rolls seemed to be growing fatter by the day. With winter looming on the horizon, President Roosevelt and Henry Hopkins, one of the architects of the New Deal, moved to offer relief. They unveiled the Civil Works Administration (CWA), a program designed to secure temporary work for people who would otherwise have to endure a winter of unemployment. The CWA provided a mix of white and blue-collar jobs that promised to pay normal wages for a limited schedule of work. Though grounded more in compassion than careful planning, the program succeeded not only in helping workers through the winter, but also in giving the country a badly needed infusion of cash. According to the New York Times, the CWA had pumped $1 billion into the economy by May 1934. Roosevelt, however, never intended the CWA to be a permanent solution to the unemployment problem-he attempted to curtail the program in December 1933. So, by the spring of '34, the CWA was retired and the government began to look for new ways to keep the nation working.