.
Eleanor Roosevelt wrote:
As I look back over
the actual measures which were undertaken...I
realize that the one in which my husband took the greatest pleasure was the establishment of
the Civilian Conservation Corps...
-
Noble Peace Prize winner - George C. Marshall
The 1930s saw the arrival of another enemy at America’s door: the Great Depression.
Marshall took a
pay cut in order to remain in the Army and was posted in 1933 to South Carolina, many soliders were unable to feed their families
on army pay. Marshall taught his men to grow their own food, and helped establish Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
projects throughout the South. The CCC was part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal, and its goal was simple: put young
men to work. It was overseen by the Army, and Marshall continued the program in Washington State.
While many of his peers didn’t like the CCC, Marshall once again decided that personal glory was less important
than the needs of the country. He saw the CCC as a means of creating
strong, hardworking citizens.
As tensions rose in Europe, George Marshall was nearing the end of his military career. He’d only recently
become a general, and at 58 his dream of heading the entire U.S. Army seemed out of reach, especially with 30 other generals
ahead of him in line for the job. However, his many talents made him stand out among his peers and President Roosevelt made
Marshall Army Chief-of-Staff in September 1939, promoting him from a one-star to a four-star general overnight.
http://www.nobelpeacelaureates.org/pdf/ms_GeorgeCMarshall.pdf
James Albert
Michener wrote for re-establishment in his book - This Noble Land:
"I was
favorably impressed by the Civilian Conservation Corps, which had, so far as I could see, a faultless program in which young
people could do constructive work for their communities while earning a modest salary. I would have hopes for such a program,
were one to be reinstituted now."
Historian Howard Zinn wrote: "The CCC was not only one
of the greatest innovations of the New Deal, but it provides a model for us today. It is the answer to the double problem
of unemployed youth (who turn to drugs, who end up in prison) and the persistence of war, with its enormous drain on the national
wealth. The young, instead of being recruited to kill and be killed, or to come home maimed in body or in mind, could be put
to work in government programs like the CCC, doing all sorts of constructive things to make our environment cleaner and safer.
Such work would have the opposite effect of military action -- that is, it would foster healthy bodies and healthy minds as
these young people make a great contribution to the nation. The situation today, with a trillion dollars wasted on war, with
young men and women coming home damaged, with a crumbling infrastructure making us vulnerable to more Katrina's, and more
human disasters, cries out for such a solution."
John McCutcheon sings "Boys In Green"
from his latest album "Untold"
Manual start of Song
This photograph of a young CCC worker epitomizes the agency’s
emphasis on the morally and physically curative powers of vigorous outdoor life. “Building strong bodies is a major
CCC objective,” the accompanying caption states. “More than half of the enrollees who entered CCC during the last
year were seventeen years of age. Work, calisthenics, marching drills, good food, and medical care feature the CCC health
program.”
