President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order establishing the Works Progress Administration on this day in 1935. The ambitious program created jobs for men who had lost theirs due to the Great Depression. Congress had granted the president funds to help provide relief to those struggling under the tough economic circumstances. The WPA was just one such effort; in the end, it helped 3 million Americans find work.
Many of those men built infrastructure and facilities including highways, schools, and airports, or restored arts venues and constructed leisure facilities like ski lodges. Creative types were put to work writing plays, painting murals, and publishing literary works.
The program put money in people's pockets while helping improve quality of life in very material ways for Americans. Eventually, opponents of FDR's various New Deal programs forced cutbacks to the WPA. The economy surged during World War II, and the defense industry opened up a plethora of new jobs. That eliminated the need for many of the programs launched by the president, so Congress pulled funding for the WPA in 1943.
