The WPA Is Established (1935)

Part of US President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal program, the Works Progress—later Projects—Administration aimed to stimulate the economy during the Great Depression and preserve the skills and self-respect of unemployed persons by providing them useful work. By the time it was terminated in 1943, the WPA had employed 8.5 million people and funded the construction of roads, buildings, bridges, parks, and airports—as well as the production of art. What did critics pejoratively call the WPA? More...