The Legacy of the New Deal: Public Works Projects in Ohio

Background on the New Deal and Public Works Projects

Written instructions: In a thoughtfully conceived, clearly written, and carefully edited primary source analysis of 2-3 pages double spaced, 12 point font with standard margins, respond to the following: The innovations of the New Deal were controversial in their own time and remain so. Politicians continue to discuss their position on the New Deal

–whether they want to roll back the policies and promises of it or carry on its legacy.

The New Deal had both great achievements and limitations. One of its greatest legacies is the imprint it left on the built environment. Federally sponsored programs put millions of jobless Americans to work through the creation of hundreds of thousands of projects from public roads to pieces of artwork. According to the Living New Deal website: “No city, town, or rural area was untouched by the New Deal.”

Your task this week is to go to the and locate a public works project in your hometown or current residence (state of Ohio). Discuss the public work agency that built it (give some historical background on the agency using Lepore, lecture notes or the Living New Deal website), discuss your relationship to the project have you used this project?

Were you aware that it was a product of New Deal Reform?, and explore its function today: Is it used for the same purpose or a new purpose? Next, put public works project in the context of the letters you read. Did public works address the needs of Americans who suffered from the Great Depression? Why or why not?