Civilian Conservation Corps

Civilian Conservation Corps

Introduction

Things had never looked so bleak for the American people as in the early 1930s. By 1932, unemployment had skyrocketed to more than 20 percent, and the despairing country was ready for a change in leadership. To that end, the people elected Franklin D. Roosevelt, who immediately set to work implementing programs aimed at alleviating the hurting economy. And we do mean immediately -- he called Congress into an emergency session to push through such programs during his first 100 days in office. Though not all of these initiatives worked out as well as he had hoped, one stands out as especially successful and popular: the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

Civilian Conservation Corps

The CCC was a kind of pet project for FDR, who had already established his dedication to conservation projects when he was the governor of New York. As the CCC Legacy Web site explains, the program was a way of solving the problems of two "wasted resources": unemployed youths and the environment. The idea was to put young men to work on special projects that pertained to land conservation. Not only could needy families benefit from a son's steady paycheck, but the work itself could offer a facelift to communities while improving the local environment. What's more, the program was one solution to authorities' worries about the dangers of idle youths. Officials reasoned that if they kept young boys busy with work in the great outdoors, it would prevent these young men from slipping into an "underworld" life of crime. It seems to have worked, as some officials credit the CCC with lowing the crime rate in communities(Sherraden 1981 ).

Most consider the CCC a smashing success. In its nine years' existence, the CCC put nearly 3 million men to work. It also earned high approval ratings from the public on both sides of the political aisle. But, because such a program was unprecedented and needed to be put together so fast, it was no easy task. The speed at which the government implemented the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was phenomenal. It took the cooperation of several departments and branches, but by the time of the first enrollment on April 7, 1933, it had been less than 40 days since Franklin Delano Roosevelt's inauguration. It helped that the CCC (originally known as the Emergency Conservation Work program, or ECW) didn't face much opposition. Among its few critics were those from organized labor, who worried that the CCC would steal jobs away at lower wages.

To ease labor unions' worries, FDR hand-picked Robert Fechner, the vice president of the American Federation of Labor, to be the national director of the program. FDR also established an advisory council made up of representatives from the cabinets of war, labor, interior and agriculture to oversee the program. Rcruitment wasn't difficult. Qualifying CCC candidates needed to be single males between the ages of 18 and 25 (the age range was later expanded between 17 and 28). Beyond that, they just had to ...