TVATennessee Valley Authority

By: Ally Voland, Mary Lindemulder, Chappell Myers, and Irese Izore

A Short History of TVA

On May 18, 1933, Congress passed the TVA Act.

TVA faced many issues including power production, navigation, flood control, malaria prevention, reforestation, and erosion control.

TVA’s power service territory includes most of Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Virginia.

The TVA also built dams, developed fertilizers, taught farmers how to improve crops yields, helped replant forests, controlled forest fires, improve habitats for wildlife and fish.

TVA covers 800,000 square miles and serves almost 9 million people.

TVA sells electricity to 155 power distributor customers and 56 directly served industries and federal facilities.

Dam Construction and Lakes

TVA built dams to harness the region’s rivers. These dams controlled floods, improved navigation, and generated electricity.

Georgia appreciated the TVA because they created Lakes

Blue Ridge, Chatuge, and Nottely.

Criticism

TVA was hurting the private development of power companies because TVA offered cheaper energy.

There are many court cases brought against TVA by many power companies

Agriculture Adjustment ActChristine H. Yiren H. Mason V. Nicholas B.

AAA

DESCRIPTION

• Agricultural Adjustment Act (May 1933) was a farm-relief bill embodying the schemes of the major national farm organizations

• For the first time congress declared that it was “the policy of congress” to balance supply and demand for farm commodities so that prices would support a decent purchasing power for famers- known as “parity”

• Controlled supply of 7 basic crops (corn, wheat, cotton, rice, peanuts, tobacco , and milk)

• Offered payments to farmers in return for taking some of there land out of farming, not planting a crop

• Under the AAA farms sub cites went to property owners rather than to the tenant farmers

CRITICISM/ISSUES

• Farmers refused to take the government payment but most farmers could not afford to take the payments

• In 1937 the supreme court ruled that the AAA was unconstitutional, but the basic program was rewritten, and again passed back into law

• AAA did not end the depression in drought, but the legislation remained the basic for all farm programs in the following of the 70 years of the 20 th century

• Some critics point out that only 7 of the hounded, or thousands, of different crops grow by farmers are eligible for payments – no livestock producers are included

• Farmers were still continued to produced more despite the limitations the government imposed b/c the new technology made it possible to grow much more of the same amount of land

The New Deal CCCBy. Kelson Bland, Elisa Garza, Wendy Li, Gabe Fonseca

The CCC stands for Civilian Conservation Corps.The CCC was established in March 31, 1933.There main goals where to stop forestry, erosion

control, flood prevention, park development, and to employ the young hard working men.

By July 1, 1942 there were 78,000 newly employed men in 127 camps across GA.

They planted more than 22 million trees, constructed nearly half a million erosion control dams, and ran more than 3,600 miles of telephone lines.

The ccc motto was “WE CAN TAKE IT”.The CCC helped work in the Chattahoochee

National Forest .CCC workers built lakes and ponds, constructed

cabins and lodges. CCC work in GA’s national park properties

focused on the preservation of natural or historic features.

CCC also worked on the numerous other projects around the state and constructed the Appalachian Trail in Georgia.

The only down side was that the camps that the workers stayed in were segregated.

FHA (FEDERAL HOUSING ACT)

John McArthur, Sydney Hodge, Grace Peterson, Khushi Mishra

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Information

Formally known as Federal Housing Association 1937.

Created to insure banks, mortgage companies, and lenders.

Encouraged the construction of new homes, and repair of existing structures.

It was FDR’s hope that the FHA would also spur employment in the construction industry.

Senator Robert Wagner from NY was the driving force behind the Wagner-Steagall Housing Act of 1937. Wagner introduced public housing bills

FDR lent his full support to Wagner’s efforts.

Information Part 2

FDR signed the Wagner-Steagall Housing Act into law on September 1st, 1937

The Wagner-Steagall Housing Act of 1937 provided reliable security to all Americans across the country.

The Wagner- Steagall Housing Act of 1937 established the United States Housing Authority.

The homeowners loan corporation was created to provide mortgage relief to homeowners at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure.

Information Part 3

USHA provided $500 million in loans for low cost housing projects across the country.

The USHA was empowered to advance loan amounting to 90% of project costs, at low interest on 60 year terms.

By the end of 1940, over 500 USHA projects were in progress or had been completed, with loan contracts of $691 million

Information Part 4

During WWII, the USHA was instrumental in planning and constructing housing for defense workers.

Criticisms/Issues

Although the FHA met the needs of existing home owners, it did little to address the needs of the lower class.

Some politicians believed public housing initiatives were socialistic and favored big cities.

National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)

By Blake, William, Taylor, and Kevin

What was the purpose of this act?

• Was supposed to help the nation recover from the Great Depression

• Designed to help workers by setting minimum wages (the least amount an employer can pay an employee), permitting them to organize unions, and allowing factories to cut back on production

• Legislation made mainly for the textile industry

The downfall of the NIRA

• The NIRA did not protect workers’ rights• Mill owners began practicing stretch out,

which forced mill workers to do the same amount of work in an 8-hour shift that they had previously done in a 12-hour shift

• As a result of this, approximately 45,000 out of the total 60,000 mill workers in the state of Georgia left their jobs and protested their treatment.

The downfall of the NIRA (continued)

• Thousands of workers were arrested by the National Guard

• Even after the strike was called off, things were never the same

• Many workers were forced to leave mill homes and were unable to find work

• In 1935, the NIRA was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court

Statistics

• In the city of Macon, over 3,500 mill workers went on strike out on the streets

• Shortly after the NIRA’s dual labor provisions were imposed, the standard workweek was reduced from 45 hours to 30-35 hours

• This created 2.5 million private sector jobs in the summer of 1933

R.E.ARural Electrification Administration

The REA was an administration that established power lines throughout the nation and especially throughout the rural areas.

REA brought electricity to 288000 households.They encouraged private companies to provide electricity to rural areas.

In 1939, the REA established 417 rural electric cooperatives.

FDR presented the problem with a speech, in which he said after living in a small cottage in Georgia, “…I found that the charge was 18 cents a kilowatt-hour – about four times as much as I paid in Hyde park.”

The Success of REAProvided electricity to over 1.5 million farms in 45 states.75 years strong still going.

Modernized rural life within 1 century.

By 1939 25% of rural households gained electricity

By: Marlowe Pickens, Tali Lyons, Alexander Bailey, and Alex Eristavi.(The Teal Table)

THE SSA(SOCIAL SECURITY ACT)

Description• The SSA, which stands for Social Security Act, created a simple system for retirement and unemployment insurance.• The SSA started in 1935 and was made for elderly people who were over the age of 65 and could no longer work. • In 1930, 5% of the population was over 65 years old.• This was a problem because many people were not able to work.• It signified a sharp departure from American tradition.

Solution• This federal program provided old age retirement benefits. While you were still able to work, the government would take taxes out of your paycheck. Part of that tax went into your retirement fund. So, when it was time to retire, you weren’t homeless and starving. • The SSA also helped people with disabilities that had a hard time providing for their families and widows that did not have a job. • This kept people off the streets as elders, and allowed retirement to be a peaceful and seamless transition from the working life. • Although the SSA was as good as sounds, there were a few downfalls. • As of 2014, there are 59,007,158 recipients (users of the program).

Criticism/Issues• It didn’t apply to African Americans until FDR

ordered for them not to be left out of this New Deal system

•Minor children and widows weren’t included until 1939• The system took money from Payroll Taxes.