THE “N

EW DEAL”

PROGRAMS OF T

HE

“TVA”

AND “FHA”

B Y CL A I R

E MO N G E N A S

The term was coined during Franklin Roosevelt’s 1932 Democratic presidential nomination acceptance speech, when he said, "I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people."

The New Deal programs were born in Brain Trust meetings prior to Roosevelt’s inauguration, and also were a grateful nod to Theodore Roosevelt's "square deal" of 30 years earlier.

WHAT WERE THE “NEW DEAL” PROGRAMS?

He proposed an ambitious "New Deal" to deliver relief to the unemployed and those in danger of losing farms and homes, recovery to agriculture and business, and reform, notably through the inception of the vast Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).

Roosevelt summarized the New Deal as a "use of the authority of government as an organized form of self-help for all classes and groups and sections of our country."

BIRTH OF “TVA”

The federally funded TVA provided jobs, cheap electricity, and flood control in 1933 to poor rural areas of seven states through dam construction on the Tennessee River and its tributaries.

The TVA was praised as a bold experiment in government intervention to meet regional needs.

It was attacked as "creeping socialism."

TVA – TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY

The new dams they built fertilized crops and made farming flourish once more

When the dams they built showed great success, they began to seek out other energy sources for their benefit

TVA built seven of the world’s biggest coal-burning power plants because its hydroelectric dams were no longer enough to supply the region’s electricity. TVA dominated the eastern coal market and demanded low prices. The result was strip-mining that devastated Appalachia’s land and water.

TVA began building the nation’s largest system of nuclear power plants. It still operates four of them; several others were started, then scrapped in the 1980s at huge expense. Some reactors were hastily built, then idled for years for costly repairs because TVA couldn’t prove they were safe.

1950’S 1960’S

“TVA” began getting “out of control” environmentally wise, they became too damaging

Picture of all the dams built along the Tennessee River

A government agency created to combat the housing crisis of the Great Depression.

Designed to regulate mortgages and housing conditions.

FHA - FEDERAL HOUSING ADMINISTRATION

FHA was created to make it easier for people with low wages to buy property.

They were there to understand what people were going through with the struggling economy.

The large number of unemployed workers combined with the banking crisis created a situation in which banks recalled loans.

I’m trying to imagine a realistic, plausible scenario in which the FHA isn’t essentially doomed to be the next big Federal bailout, and I’m afraid to say, I’m coming up empty.