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The '''Works Progress Administration''' (later '''Work Projects Administration''', abbreviated '''WPA'''), was created on May 6, 1935 by Presidential order (Congress funded it annually but did not create a permanent agency.). It was the largest and most comprehensive [[New Deal]] agency, employing millions of people and affecting every locality. The WPA refused to allow any job training (which labor unions strongly opposed), with the result that WPA experience did not lead to better job opportunities. It did reduce unemplyment by finding jobs for the least employable and most needy men and women--both black and white--in the country.

It WPA continued and extended the [[FERA]] relief programs started by [[Herbert Hoover]] and continued under [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]. Headed by [[Harry L. Hopkins]], the WPA provided jobs and income to the millions of unemployed during the [[Great Depression ]]. It built many public buildings and roads, and as well operated a large arts project. Until it was closed down by Congress in 1943, it was the largest employer in the country — indeed, the largest employer in most states. Only unemployed people on relief were eligible for most of its jobs. The hourly wages were the prevailing wages in the area, but workers could not work more than 30 hours a week. Before 1940, there was no training involved to teach people new skills.

In the 1938 election Senator [[Alben Barkley]] was being opposed for the Democratic nomination in the primary in Kentucky by "Happy" Chandler, then governor of the state. During the election grave charges were made in the ''Scripps­HowardScripps-­Howard'' Republican newspapers about the manner in which WPA workers in Kentucky were being forced to support the administration candidate. A special Senate committee investigated the charges. <ref>Facts relating to the 1938 election activities of the WPA are taken from the official report of the U. S. Senate Committee on Campaign Expenditures, quoted in ''The Roosevelt Myth'', John T. Flynn, Fox and Wilkes, 1948, Book 1, Ch. 6, [http://www.rooseveltmyth.com/book/fdrmyth_Chapter_Four___Harry_the_Hop_and.htm ''Harry the Hop and the Happy Hot Dogs'']</ref>

It was the same in Tennessee where the WPA was lighting a fire under Governor Browning. <ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,931436,00.html "People Would Be Shocked!"], [[Time magazine]], Aug. 08, 1938.</ref> Reliefers who were for Browning ­if it could be proved ­were excommunicated dropped from the payroll. They were asked for contributions ­of two per cent. One man was asked to put up $5. He didn't have it. He was summoned the next day. The collector had decided to reduce his tribute to $3. He didn't have that. He was told to get it. He had to borrow it. Another, assessed twice before, rebelled. "You don't have to pay," he was told, "but if you don't you'll have a hell of a time getting on the WPA." [[African-American]]s on relief were made to put up 25 and 50 cents.

In Cook County, Illinois, where Mayor Kelly and Party Chairman Nash carried the New Deal banner, 450 men were employed in one election district and dismissed the day after election. Seventy reported to do highway work and were told to go to their voting precincts and canvass for votes for the Horner­Courtney­Lucas Horner-­Courtney­-Lucas ticket. These 450 men cost $23,268. All of them had their work­cards initialed by the campaign manager in Northern Illinois for the Horner­Courtney­Lucas ticket. ===West Virginia=== {{Cquote|I hand you herewith a list of doctors in Ohio county. Kindly separate the Democrats and the Republicans and list them in order of priority so we may notify our safety foremen and compensation men as to who is eligible to participate in case of injury."<ref>From a letter written by the State Relief Administrator of West Virginia to a county relief Supervisor, as read before the Senate by Sen. Rush Holt, Democrat of West Virginia.</ref>}} ==Senate Investigating Committee findings== This investigation covered four states. There is not the slightest doubt, however, that what happened in these four states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Illinois, happened in greater or lesser degree in most of the states of the Union. These actions were done by men in the field while [[Harry Hopkins]], who headed the program, denied all charges. But the Senate investigating committee still adhered to its findings. It called attention to an address made by Aubrey Williams, Hopkins' chief deputy administrator, at a WPA conference on June 27, 1938, in which he said: "We've got to stick together; we've got to keep our friends in power."