Final paper

1 Runni ng Head: CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS The Civilian Conservation Corps Ashley Ford History 206: American History since 1877 Ashford University January 1, 2015 Title Page  Title of paper  Name of student  Course name and number  Ashford University  Date 2 CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS Header Title of paper and page number The Civil ian Conservation Corps (CCC) was an important New Deal program that had a significant impact on many Americans. In 1933 when the CCC was created, the United States was experiencing the widespread economic hardship that came with the Great Depression, with un employment at 25% throughout the country (Kennedy, 1991, p. 163). The CCC was created specifically to address unemployment and before it ended in 1942, the program put more than three million young men to work at hard physical labor in the nation’s nationa l forests and parks (Kennedy, 1991, p. 144). While the CCC was only one of many New Deal Programs created to deal with the causes and fallout of the Great Depression, it had many positive impacts on the individuals who participated in it and for American society . Certainly, the CCC aided many men and their families who had fallen victim to lack of income resulting from the greatest economic disaster of the 20th century. Many of the young men who joined the CCC had experienced hunger and deprivations as a result of the Great Depression and were undernourished, prone to illness and physically weak. The Army’s Office of the Surgeon General estimated that 75% of the men who joined the CCC during the 1930s were underweight and many thousands of them were suffering from illnesses like Tuberculosis and hook worm ( Maher, 2002, p. 441 ). In fact, enrollment in the program was restricted to single, unemployed men between eighteen and twenty -five years old whose families were on relief. The men were required to agree to send the majority of their monthly pay, approximately three quarters of it, to their families ( Maher, 2002, p. 437 ). Although the CCC enrolled only a relatively small proportion of the American population, it drew its enrollees from a section of the Thesis Statement A one to two sentence summary of the main point of your pap er. Citations Paraphrased and summarized information is cited according to APA style. 3 CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS Header Title of paper and page number nation that was both in need of relief and young enough to do very physical work, even if it was questionable whether or not they were healthy enough. In addition to offering the enrolled men an income, the CCC also met other needs. The CCC men were housed in camps across the nation, where they received food, clothing and medical and dental care (Watkins, 2000, p. 160). In addition, educational activities were offered at many CCC camps and approximately 52% of the enrollees took advantage of them (Watkins, 2000, p. 165). A 1937 Army study of CCC enrollees who had been in the program for several months showed that the percentage of underweight e nrollees decreased by around 35% and the instance of Tuberculosis was approximately 20% lower in the CCC men than in the corresponding population in the general public (Maher, 2002, p. 444). Clearly, the men who participated in the CCC experienced signifi cant physical improvements. While CCC enrollment was restricted to only men, it was not restricted to only white men. Racial and ethnic minorities were eligible for the program and many enrolled. During a period when racial discrimination was endemic, the inclusion of non -whites, especially African Americans, represented a notable achievement of the Roosevelt Administration (Kennedy, 1991, p. 378). However, African American men made up only around 7% of total CCC enrollees and CCC recruiters in the Sou th regularly rejected African American applicants. In addition, the majority of the CCC camps were segregated, with strictly white or non -white camps. All but two of the African Americans camps were led by white officers and had many fewer doctors, teach ers and chaplains tha n did the white camps (Watkins, 2000, p. 167 -168). As in the larger society, “separate but equal” proved to be separate but unequal . Despite the racial segregation and unequal treatment, non -whites still benefitted from the CCC. P.I.E Structure Point: The topic sentence that tells the reader what the paragraph will be about. Information: Provides evidence to support the point. Use examples, statistics or other specific information here Explanation: The author’s analysis or concl usion. 4 CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS Header Title of paper and page number The deployment of millions of men to work in the national parks and forests had a significant impact on the nation’s physical landscape. As historian T. H. Watkins wrote, … there i s no denying the utilitarian value of a small army of generally young and healthy men, most of whom were willing to do as told and grateful to do it, and the Departments of Interior and Agricult ure found plenty for them to do (2000, p. 163). In the year s that CCC was active, 1933 to 1942, the enrollees participated in a huge variety of projects, like reseeding forests, combatting erosion, and restocking fish. They built picnic tables and portable toilets as well as museum s and amphitheaters (Watkins, 20 00, p. 164). So, while the CCC helped the individual men who participated in the CCC, the nation also benefitted through material improvements to public lands. At the same time that the CCC men were participating in conservation and construction projects, they received substantial on -the -job training, with effects that lasted long after the program ended. Enrollment in univ ersity forestry programs saw a significant increase, fueled largely by former -CCC enrollees. Many of the CCC enrollees went on to find careers in fields related to the work they had done in the program, often in federal agencies but also in conservation o rganizations that they founded (Maher, 2002, p. 452 -3). Historian Neil M. Maher argues that, “… the Corps’ on -the -job training made numerous converts to the conservationist cause” (2002, p. 451). These new converts then went on to form an important part o f the conservation movement that emerged in the years after World War II (Maher, 2002, p. 453). The CCC had significant long -term effects on the men themselves but also on American politics. Quoted material  Must be enclosed in quotation marks  Source of quote must be cited  Citation must contain page or paragraph number Block Quote Quotes of 40 or more words should be in block quote format. 5 CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS Header Title of paper and page number Although only a relatively small percent of Americans directly participated in the Civil Conservation Corps, the positive effects of the program were substantial on both an individual and societal level. The CCC enrollees benefitted economically, physically, and professionally, often translating their experience into careers or lifelong involvement in conservation efforts. The nation benefitted from the material results of the Corps’ proj ects. And, the political landscape was changed by the number of former -CCC participants who embraced the conservationist ethos. So, while the CCC originally developed to address the problem of unemployment during the Great Depression, its effects rippled far beyond that and can still be seen today. Concluding Paragraph  Rephrase thesis statement  Summarize maj or points  Do not introduce new information not mentioned earlier Remember! You can find tutorials, templates and assistance at the Ashford University Library and Ashford Writing Center . 6 CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS Header Title of paper and page number Reference list Kennedy, D. M. (1999). Freedom from fear [electronic resource] : the American people in depression and war, 1929 -1945 / David M. Kennedy. New York : Oxford University Press, 1999, Ashford University Library Ebook Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed December 11, 2014). Maher, N. M. (2002). A New Deal Body Politic: Landscape, Labor, and the Civilian Conservation Corps. Environmental History, (3). 435, Available from: JSTOR Journals, Ipswich, MA. Accessed December 11, 2 014. Watkins, T. (2000). The hungry years: A narrative history of the Great Depression in America. New York: Henry Holt Publishing. Reference List  All sources of information used in the paper are listed here, according to APA style.  Any source cited in the paper must be listed here  Only sources cited in the paper should be listed here.