The Lasting Legacy of the New Deal

The New Deal left a lasting mark on Amrican History. The creation of the Works Project Administration (the WPA) played a major role in the country's activities at the time. The WPA created work for men and women who were previously unemployed. Not only did this give people a fighting chance of survival by finally allowing them to make an income and enabling them to provide for their families, but their jobs served the country well. The government tried to create positions for all types of workers to help them maintain the same skills they had before the Depression took away their jobs. Many men went into construction or improvment jobs for the country. They construced land marks and renovated the American society. Some people were employed through the arts. This let actors, directors, and all of those involved in the performing arts put on productions which both allowed them to make a living doing what they loved, and to provide entertainment for those struggling under the overwhelming challenges of everyday life in the Depression. A very important job, perhaps the most significant of all, was the job of historians and people who traveled the country recording the stories of different Americans. People's stories were recorded through written histories, oral histories, and photographs. Not only did this bring a greater awarness to the problems at the time, but it also gives people in modern day society an opportunity to hear and see what life was like during the Depression from people who actually endured the hardships first hand. Everyting from the architecture to the photography to the interviews from this period left a lasting mark on the United States. The New Deal made all of this possible, improving the lives of the Americans suffering in the Depression as well as providing future generations to understand the lives of Americans at the time.