Civilian Conservation Corps
From Freepedia
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was an organization established on March 31, 1933, during U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first month in office. It was part of the social and economic relief program provided under Roosevelt's First New Deal to combat the poverty and unemployment of the Great Depression, and was one of the first measures to be introduced during the First Hundred Days. The CCC came to be seen as a rite of passage by its enrollees, and became one of the most popular New Deal programs among the general public.
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Establishment
Roosevelt proposed the establishment of a civilian conservation corps during the 1932 presidential campaign. On March 9, 1933—six days after taking office—Roosevelt called the 73rd Congress into emergency special session to deal with the economic crisis. During this first period of Roosevelt's presidency (the "Hundred Days," for Roosevelt's first 100 days in office), the Congress, with a Democratic majority, passed much emergency legislation authorizing and funding Roosevelt's New Deal.
Senate Bill 5.598, the Emergency Conservation Work Act, was introduced in March 27. It passed both chambers of Congress and was signed into law by Roosevelt on March 31, 1933.
The Labor Department's role was to recruit participants into the program. To do this, the employment service was hastily beefed up and mobilized. Within a week the Labor Department organized a National Re-Employment Service for CCC recruitment. The first CCC enrollee entered on April 7, 1933, just 37 days after Roosevelt's inauguration. In a short time there were 250,000 enrollees working in CCC camps. Enrollment peaked in September 1935 at about 502,000. By the time the CCC disbanded in 1942, over three million young men had participated.
There was some opposition and concern about the CCC from organized labor, whose leaders feared the loss of members and the connection of the CCC with the military.
CCC projects and life
The CCC was an interdepartmental work and relief program that sent young, unemployed men from the cities to work on conservation projects in rural areas for $1 per day. The corps took part in many conservation projects, including prevention of soil erosion and the impounding of lakes. The CCC constructed many buildings and trails in state and national parks that are still used today. Other projects of the CCC included installation of telephone and power lines, construction of logging and fire roads, fence construction, tree-planting, and even beekeeping, archeological excavation, and furniture manufacture. The CCC also provided the first truly organized wildfire-fighting crews for government agencies such as the United States Forest Service.
CCC enrollees worked 40 hours a week and were paid $30 a month, with the requirement that $25 of that be sent home to family. Members lived in camps, wore uniforms, and lived under quasi-military discipline. Eventually over 4,000 camps were be established in all 48 U.S. states and in the Territory of Hawaii, Alaska Territory, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The first camp was at George Washington National Forest in Virginia.
Initially, the CCC was limited to young men age 18 to 25 who were on relief. Two exceptions to the age limits were veterans, who had a special CCC program and their own camps, and older people with needed skills, hired by the CCC to supervise the young men on the job. These older CCC members were known as "LEMs" (Local Experienced Men). In 1937, Congress changed the age limits to 17 to 23 years old, and dropped the requirement that enrollees be on relief. Members enrolled for six months, with the option of enrolling for another six months.
In Roosevelt's second fireside chat on May 7, 1933, he spoke about the CCC in a radio address:
- "First, we are giving opportunity of employment to one-quarter of a million of the unemployed, especially the young men who have dependents, to go into the forestry and flood prevention work. This is a big task because it means feeding, clothing and caring for nearly twice as many men as we have in the regular Army itself. In creating this civilian conservation corps we are killing two birds with one stone. We are clearly enhancing the value of our natural resources and second, we are relieving an appreciable amount of actual distress."
Disbandment
Despite Roosevelt's desire that the U.S. Congress make the CCC a permanent agency, Congress failed to do so. Congress did pass several bills extending the life of the CCC. The last extension passed was in 1939, extending the CCC until June 30, 1943. Due to the changing manpower and budgetary needs after U.S. entry into World War II, this was to be the last extension of the Civilian Conservation Corps. After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, all CCC work, except for wildland firefighting, was shifted onto U.S. military bases to help with construction there. The agency disbanded one year earlier than planned, after Congress voted to cut off funding for the CCC entirely after June 30, 1942.
After the CCC disbanded, the federal agencies responsible for public lands administration went on to organize their own seasonal fire crews, roughly modeled after the CCC, which filled the firefighting role formerly filled by the CCC and provided the same sort of outdoor work experience to young people.
California Conservation Corps
In 1976, the Governor Jerry Brown of California established the California Conservation Corps. This new program differed drastically from the original CCC as its aim was primarily youth development rather than economic revival. Today it is the largest, oldest and longest-running youth conservation in the world.
Corps Today
Today, corps are state and local programs that engage primarily youth and young adults (ages 16-25) in full-time community service, training and educational activities. The nation’s 109 corps operate in multiple communities across 37 states and the District of Columbia. In 2004, they enrolled over 23,000 young people. The National Association of Service and Conservation Corps - NASCC works to expand and enhance the corps movement throughout America.
