Despite Senator Harry Byrd’s opposition, the New Deal was very much in evidence in the Old Dominion. Its programs aided almost every segment of Virginia society, easing them through the calamity of depression. Because the commonwealth provided practically no money for relief, the federal programs deserve the credit for feeding and clothing Virginia’s needy. The roads and bridges, schools and post offices, hospitals and libraries they constructed were the means by which thousands of Virginians began to live better lives. The farm programs of the New Deal alleviated the immediate problem of overproduction, raising prices and restoring farmers to a position of respectability. A state park system, compliments of the Civilian Conservation Corps, social security, a minimum wage, electrified farms through the auspices of the Rural Electrification Administration, homes saved through the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, and farms saved with the help of the Farm Credit Administration extended opportunity and security to all groups. Yet for all its good intentions and money, the New Deal did not end the depression.
Further Reading
Ronald L. Heinemann, Depression and New Deal in Virginia
This Vignette Provided By
Ronald Heinemann, Old Dominion, New Commonwealth: The History of Virginia, 1607-2007
