CCC HISTORY - INVESTING IN HUMAN CAPITAL

CCC History

Investing in Human Capital

March 1933 - June 1942

Our greatest task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our national resources.

First Inauguration speech of President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Saturday, March 4, 1933.

FDR's first hundred days in office were a flurry of activity, with 15 major bills signed into law.

I propose to create a civilian conservation corps to be used in simple work, not interfering with normal employment, and confining itself to forestry, the prevention of soil erosion, flood control and similar projects. I call your attention to the fact that this type of work is of definite, practical value, not only through the prevention of great present financial loss, but also as a means of creating future national wealth.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent this message to the 73rd Congress March 21, 1933.

United States Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The CCC provided work and vocational training for unemployed single young men through conserving and developing the country's natural resources.

In 1932, President Franklin Deleno Roosevelt was elected promising a America a New Deal. In response to the depression that hung over the nation in the early 1930s, President Roosevelt created many "Alphabet Soup" programs designed to put Americans back to work. Roosevelt was not interested in the dole. He was was determined, rather, to preserve the pride of American workers in their own ability to earn a living, so he concentrated on creating jobs.

The first 100 days of his administation he called a special session of Congress on March 9, 1933. He shepherded the first "Alphabet Soup" legistlation for the Emergency Conservation Work Act (ECW), better known as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) through both houses. It was signed into law on March 31, 1933. The CCC was the first government agency with a clause that prohibited discrimination in hiring. FYI - SELECTED DRAFT LEGISLATION, LEGISLATION, AND EXECUTIVE ORDERS AFFECTING THE CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS

The men lived in government camps, food, transport, and clothing were provided and also recieved added benefit of education and vocational training. The Army mostly supervised the camps. Men were paid a dollar a day and were required to send 83.3 percent of their pay of $30 back to their families. By July 1933, over 250,000 work boots where on the ground from Hawiaii to the Virgin Islands.

Over the next nine years, this popular New deal "alphabet soup" government program helped create our middle class from the depths of the Great Depression and conserved our environment. The CCC program enrolled a total of 3,465,766 men and employed 263,755 military personnel, educational advisors, work supervisors, and non-enrolled personnel. At its peak in 1935, the organization had more than 500,000 members in over 2,600 camps. These were usually operated by the War Dept., but the men were not subject to military control. In 1939 the CCC was made part of the Federal Security Agency. Beginning in 1940, greater emphasis was placed on projects aiding national defense. It served America well for nine years from 1933 to 1942. After Pearl Harbor, the CCC men went off to war and its budget was cut against President Franklin D. Roosevelt's request, Congress abolished the CCC in 1942.

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We have a real opportunity, the first since 1942, to bring back this rugged shovel ready program.

H.R. 4318 - The 21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps Act

Investing in Human Capital

76 Years Later

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"Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy."

President Barack Obama, Inaugual Address, January 20, 2009.

I want generations that follow to see that we used this moment to encourage a 21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps for our young people.

President Barack Obama's address at the

160th Anniversary Celebration of the Department of the Interior
March 3, 2009

A solemn reminder Mr President:

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. Martin Luther King, Jr

CCC Enrollee Oath

(Upon entering the CCC, each enrollee subscribed to the following oath. It is a contract between the enrollee and the U.S. Government, and should be lived up to in each respect.)

I, _______________ , do solemnly swear that the information given above as to my status is correct. I agree to remain in the Civilian Conservation Corps for the period terminating at the discretion of the United States between ..................... unless sooner released by proper authority, and that I will obey those in authority and observe all the rules and regulations thereof to the best of my ability and will accept such allowances as may be provided pursuant to law and regulations promulgated pursuant thereto. I understand and agree that any injury received or disease contracted by me while a member of the Civilian Conservation Corps cannot be made the basis against the government, except such as I may be entitled to the Act of September 7, 1916(39 Stat. 724) ( an act to provide compensation for employees of the United States suffering injuries while in the performance of their duties and for other purposes), and that I shall not be entitled to any allowances upon release from camp, except transportation in kind to the place at which I was accepted for enrollment. I understand further that any articles issued to me by the United States Government for the use while a member of the Civilian Conservation Corps are, and remain, property of the United States Government and that willful destruction, loss, sale, or disposal of such property renders me financially responsible for the cost thereof and liable to trial in the civil courts. I understand further that any infraction of the rules or regulations of the Civilian Conservation Corps renders me liable to the expulsion therefrom. So help me God.

From: "Your CCC Handbook For Enrollees" Happy Days Publishing Co., Washington , D.C.

CCC Camp Information (1933-1942)

Average number of camps operating in U.S. per year: 1,643

Total number of different camps: 4,500

Highest elevation of CCC camp: 9,200 feet above sea level in Colorado

Lowest elevation of CCC camp: 270 feet below sea level, Death Valley, Calif.

Camp locations: Every state in the Union, plus Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Total cost: $3,000,000,000

Approximate cost per enrollee per year for food, clothing, overhead, and allotments to dependents: $1,000

Allotments to Dependents: $662,895,000

Number of people directly benefited from enrollees’ checks: 12 million to 15 million

Value of Work in 1942 Dollars: $2 billion

Miles of roads built: 125,000

Miles of telephone lines strung: 89,000

Miles of foot trails built: 13,100

Farmlands benefited from erosion control projects: 40 million acres

Stream and lake bank protection: 154 million square yards

Range revegetation: 814,000 acres

Firefighting days: More than 8 million

Number of enrollees who died fighting Fires: 79

Overall death rate: 2.25 per thousand

State parks developed: 800

Public campground development: 52,000 acres

CCC crew member loading a hole under a stump with dynamite, Lolo National Forest (Montana)

STUMPS

I hope that I shall never see,

A Stump outside the CCC;

A Stump whose wiry roots are found,

Deep in the earth's tenacious ground.

A stump at which I slave away,

All during a torride summer day,

Stumps are dug by guys like me

And others in the CCC.

D.E.M., Arcardia, RI