Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945), The Reign Of Three Studies Involving The Environment

While Franklin D. Roosevelt was to be the U.S. President, America was suffering from the Great Depression, and its natural resources had been seriously abused which needed to be protected and restored as soon as possible. For this reason, Roosevelt took active measures to conserve natural resources when he was fighting against economic disaster.When Roosevelt was still the governor of New York State, he realized that planting trees could provide jobs for the unemployed. His idea was the prototype of the Civilian Conservation Corp. After a serious of debates and discussion, this idea had become more and more practical. Having become the host of White House, Roosevelt suggested before the legislation that the Civilian Conservation Corps should be founded to provide jobs and conserve natural resources. On March 31, 1933, the Corps was founded with the direct and joint instruction of Department of the Interior, Department of the Agriculture, Department of the War and Department of the Labor. In its operation, Robert Fechner, Director of the Civilian Conservation Corps, did much to make the Corps more independent. Besides, Roosevelt made great efforts to institutionalize the Corps, but he failed and the Corps was finally dismissed. The Corps had two functions in its operation. On one hand, the Corps had enlisted many unemployed American youth and had relieved lots of families. On the other hand, it also contributed to the conservation movement, such as the excellent operation and achievement in the forestry, the soil conservation and ranching. Through studying the Corps, the paper analyzes how Roosevelt administration protected natural resources from being abused.The second case was the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the paper researches how Roosevelt administration developed regional economy by exploiting natural resources. The establishment of TVA could date back to the attitude and resolution of Federal government to the issue of chemical plants and dam in the Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Roosevelt considered TVA as a means of regional planning and the Tennessee Valley should be developed in multiple-purpose. At the beginning of TVA, the private electric power corporations tried to sue it but they didn't succeed. TVA's electric policy was "yardstick of power", which means "small profit and cheap price". TVA brought down the price of electricity while the private electric power corporations could also make profits. In the end, the consumers got increasingly cheap electricity. On fertilizer program, TVA promoted demonstration farm program. This program was to establish experimental farms that could not only make profits but also conserve soils. TVA protected and developed the land around the dams. Its forestry policy encouraged farmers to plant trees in their farms and popularized the knowledge how to guard against fires. TVA accentuated the cooperation with other departments. However, the Dam built by TVA led to negative ecological sequence which has brought lots of mosquitos. With local health departments' cooperation, TVA succeeded in resolving the problem.TVA was an attempt for the federal government to develop a region. Roosevelt constantly tried to spread TVA's model all over the country, but he didn't succeed.During of the era of the Great Depression, serious ecological crisis took place in the Great Plains. That is the Dust Bowl. In the case of the Dust Bowl, the paper researches how America overcame the ecological crisis. The Dust Bowl had lasted for ten years and seriously affected the Great Plains, especially the public life and agricultural production of the southern Great Plains. On the Great Plains, the farmers reclaimed too much grassland in order to make more money, which has devastated the ecological system of grassland. With the coming of drought period 1930s, the Dust Bowl took place in the end. The First World War and agricultural machines that were widely used in 1920s also contributed to the outbreak of the Dust Bowl.Roosevelt administration believed that the wrong practice of reclamation led to Dust Bowl and tried to set up a new kind of agricultural model that can undergo long-term drought period. Among all the measures, the Soil Conservation Service took charge of providing techniques and guides. The federal government disseminated agricultural knowledge to conserve soil and strengthened the cooperation with local government and farmers by establishing the Soil Conservation Districts. The federal government also temporarily alleviated the damage of Dust Bowl through emergency listing program, and it adjusted agricultural market through Agriculture Adjust Act as well as encouraged farmers to conserve soil. Moreover, the federal government relieved cattle producers through the Emergency Cattle Purchase Program. Finally, some other measures were also taken by the federal government to resolve the problem of Dust Bowl, such as buying marginal land, planting shelterbelt, rehabilitating people and carrying out Taylor Grazing Act.In all, the paper has come to following conclusions by studying the three cases above. Firstly, the Great Depression helped to promote the conservation movement of America and the conservation movement became an effective way of overcoming the Great Depression in Roosevelt's era in turn. Secondly, the conservation movement should be based on the long-term planning and the active support of the public. Lastly, the conservation movement during Roosevelt's administration helped to stop abusing natural resources in some areas and restore the damaged environment. All these contributed to protecting the ecology of the whole nation. It could be also inferred that Humans have paid more attention to natural rules and tried to keep harmony with the nature.