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WPA posters (by
WPA and Work
Projects Admin-
istration Poster
Collection [public
domain], via Wiki-
media Commons).
continued to work, hours and pay rates were reduced, and to millions of unemployed Americans, boosting the economy
federal worker’s compensation ended. After the success of while removing the stigma that many people attached to be-
the CWA, a return to FERA was widely viewed as unaccept- ing on the dole. Second, it served in many ways as a precur-
able, forcing the Roosevelt administration to reconsider its sor to the best known New Deal program, the Works Prog-
relief policies. The result was the Works Progress Adminis- ress Administration (WPA). The successes and failures of the
tration (WPA), created in 1935. FERA ceased to operate at CWA were analyzed to help make the WPA an even more ef-
the end of 1935. Its work relief component was taken up by fective work relief program. Finally, the CWA’s lasting impact
the WPA, while its direct relief component was assumed by on America’s built environment remains evident today. After
other newly created New Deal programs.9 more than 80 years, CWA infrastructure projects can still be
seen in Iowa and elsewhere.
The Civil Works Administration The Works Progress Administration
(CWA) (WPA)
Relief workers predicted that the winter of 1933–1934 The Works Progress Administration (WPA), created in May
would be the most desperate of the depression for needy 1935, bore many similarities to the CWA. Like the CWA, it
families. The ranks of the unemployed continued to grow, funded labor for work projects suggested by local organiza-
and many people were out of resources, with no food, no tions and state and local governments; the pay was higher
heat, and poor clothing. Severe winter weather was expected than FERA direct relief payments; and it included both blue
to compound the disaster. On November 8, 1933, the federal collar and white collar work.12 Intended to last for the dura-
government announced the creation of the Civil Works Ad- tion of the depression, the WPA operated for nearly seven
ministration (CWA). The CWA was designed to remove heads years, much longer than the CWA. It ended in early 1942,
of household from the direct federal relief rolls and put them after the United States had entered World War II. Because of
to work on public works projects at wages higher than the the WPA’s longevity, the large number of people it employed,
amounts they were receiving on direct relief.10 and the large number of lasting work projects it helped fund,
the WPA is often thought of today as the quintessential New
The CWA was short-lived by design, intended only to provide Deal program.
work relief to four million Americans during the 1933–1934
winter. It officially ended on April 1, 1934.11 For a program
that lasted less than five months, the CWA was significant
in several ways. First, it succeeded in providing paid work
Building Jobs in Iowa—New Deal Dams of the Wapsipinicon River Watershed in Northeast Iowa 7
