Our country has a long history of meeting such challenges: mass unemployment and dislocation of the Great Depression were successfully remedied by WPA, CCC and other federal reconstruction programs. A million GI veterans of World War II were helped by the GI Bill of Rights, which offered them housing relief in quonset huts and trailers, paid education and a chance to rebuild their lives.Not to be too picky about an email sent with the best of intentions, but, uh, wow. The GI Bill and its effects really aren't studied enough (but there are signs of hope), so maybe that explains why she so drastically lowballs the real figure. For the record, well over eight million vets took advantage of the GI Bill for various education, training, and housing benefits.
On the other hand, plenty has been written on the New Deal and the Great Depression. And I'm pretty sure none of it says that "mass unemployment and dislocation of the Great Depression were successfully remedied by WPA, CCC and other federal reconstruction programs." That statement is the American historian equivalent of a Jay Leno street interview with someone who can't find the U.S. on a map.
If Dr. Lerner thinks historians might have something to say about the role of the federal government in the reconstruction of New Orleans--and I think she's right--it might be a good idea actually to know the history of the federal government's role in 'such challenges'.
Sheesh, what's going on up there in Madison?
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I'm not at all against the federal government having a big role in the relief efforts, and on that score the New Deal did a lot of good work. Recovery was another matter. One of the things we have to be cognizant of is when the federal government should back off and allow private industry to take over. One of the lessons of the New Deal and other large scale government spending programs is that motivated private industry is a surer route to recovery.
But even more important is making sure that private industry has a goal in mind beyond just rebuilding. This might sound crass, but New Orleans and the Gulf Coast have to be rebuilt with economic reasons in mind, whether it be tourism or industry or whatever. Maybe that means just rebuilding the historic sections of New Orleans with a cheap public transportation system to bring in labor from their new homes off of the flood plains. I don't know.
I do know that after the initial stages, the longer the federal government is leading the way with the recovery, the worse off the recovery will be.
As far as New Deal programs in textbooks go, you are right, rural electrification is a huge one that does not get enough play.
As a Hamby student who had the importance of Sidney Milkis, "The President and the Parties" hammered into him, I have to mention executive reorganization as one of the most crucial and lasting legacies of the later New Deal. One example, among many, is that those reforms gave Roosevelt the power to form and maintain the Fair Employment Practices Committee during WWII.
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