4.88 billion dollars. Enough money to bankrupt Ross Perot. Enough money to take one-third of what Bill Gates has. But think of the impact 4.88 billion dollars would have in the 1930s. It could fund many programs to rehabilitate America during the Depression. It could revitalize a nation deep in economic trouble. The funding of the Works Progress Administration came via 4.88 billion dollars from the Emergency Relief Appropriation. It was unarguably the biggest economic stimulus in the history of America.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was established in 1935 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1939, the program was renamed the Works Project Administration under allagations of mismanagement, and abuse charges of the programs' funds led to a reduction in Congressional appropriations. Strikes by workers proven unsuccessful. World War II provided many jobs, and by 1943 the WPA expired. It was a work program for the unemployed during the Depression. The project existed for eight years and employed 8,500,000 people at a cost of $11 billion.

The program had many branches that specialized in the humanities area. The Federal Arts Project, the Federal Writers Project, and the Federal Theater Project were established to give everybody a way to work. The Federal Arts Project, the project that we are mainly studying, involved over 5,000 artists. Half of those artists were from New York.

There were four different divisions to the Art Project. There were murals, sculpture, graphics, and teachers of art. During this program the teachers were the most needed because by the end of the Project there were 2 million art students.

The artists had to go through a selection process to get in to the Art Project. The artists had to be voted on by their peers. They also had to be in financial need.

Workers in the WPA would earn any where from $15-$90 a month. The average salary was $54.33 a month.

Over the years the WPA produced 651,000 miles of road, 125,110 public buildings, 78,000 bridges, 8,000 parks and 800 airports. The Art Project produced many paintings, drawings, sculptures and more than 2,500 murals for public buildings.

The WPA brought many new opportunities to ethnic and minority groups. Many blacks found new employment. Many women and older children were given jobs also.

The Work Project Administration ended its operation on June 30, 1943, because most of the unemployment was reduced. Although the WPA gave many wonderful jobs and opportunities to many unemployed people, it was still criticized. Some people said it was a waste and that there was lack of planning. In the beginning it was also criticized because many people thought it was created to get people to join the Democratic Party.