What was the Works Progress Administration?

Answer 1

The Works Progress Administration was New Deal agency created in 1935. It was part of the 2nd New Deal. Overall, the New Deal addressed the Great Depression by offering relief, attempting to stimulate recovery and by enacting reforms to hopefully prevent a future Great Depression. The purpose of the WPA was recovery. The WPA was a jobs program, principally involved in large public construction projects but also in the arts through the Federal Project Number One which employed musicians, writers artists and actors in various projects and performances. The WPA was headed by Harry Hopkins, one of President Roosevelt's closest advisors, and was shut down in 1943.

Answer 2

It was a New Deal program that would allow thousands of Americans to get jobs and complete building projects across the country, during the Great Depression. Instead of the government giving money, they would earn the money by working.

Answer 3

As a response to the Great Depression which put millions of family breadwinners out of work, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order in 1935. The WPA was primarily a public works endeavor in which the federal government hired unemployed men to build public works structures like schools, libraries, roads, and hospitals, for subsistence wages. This aspect of the WPA is the most well known, possibly because these structures are still in use today in most American cities. However, the WPA also had programs for “skilled” workers like artists, actors, and writers. The WPA ended in 1941 when it was determined that work for so many breadwinning men was not needed as millions of men were conscripted and unemployed women flooded the munitions factories.