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[[Image:Pwa2.jpg|thumb|500px|left|the "multiplier effect" as $1000 of new federal money is spent over and over]]

[[Image:Pwa2.jpg|thumb|500px|left|the "multiplier effect" as $1000 of new federal money is spent over and over]]

The PWA became, with its ''"[[multiplier-effect]]"'' and first two-year budget of $3.3 billion (compared to the entire GDP of $60 billion), the driving force of America’s biggest construction effort up to that date. By June 1934 the agency had distributed its entire fund to 13,266 federal projects and 2,407 non-federal projects.  For every worker on a PWA project, almost two additional workers were employed indirectly. The PWA accomplished the electrification of rural America, the building of canals, tunnels, bridges, highways, streets, sewage systems, and housing areas, as well as hospitals, schools, and universities; every year it used up roughly half of the concrete and one-third of the steel of the entire nation. <ref> PWA (1939) p 221; George McJimsey,  ''The Presidency of Franklin Delano Rooselvelt'' 2000; </ref>

The PWA became, with its ''"[[multiplier-effect]]"'' and first two-year budget of $3.3 billion (compared to the entire GDP of $60 billion), the driving force of America’s biggest construction effort up to that date. By June 1934 the agency had distributed its entire fund to 13,266 federal projects and 2,407 non-federal projects.  For every worker on a PWA project, almost two additional workers were employed indirectly. The PWA accomplished the electrification of rural America, the building of canals, tunnels, bridges, highways, streets, sewage systems, and housing areas, as well as hospitals, schools, and universities; every year it used up roughly half of the concrete and one-third of the steel of the entire nation.<ref>PWA (1939) p 221; George McJimsey,  ''The Presidency of Franklin Delano Rooselvelt'' 2000;</ref>

The PWA had its own administrative staff but all construction work was done by private contractors, who were urged--but not required--to hire the unemployed.  Reeves (1973) argues that The competitive theory of administration used by Roosevelt produced inefficiency and delays. The competition over the size of expenditure, the selection of the administrator, and the appointment of staff at the state level, led to delays and to the ultimate failure of PWA as a recovery instrument. As director of the budget, [[Lewis Douglas]] overrode the views of leading senators in reducing appropriations to $3.5 billion and in transferring much of that money to other agencies in lieu of their own specific appropriations. The cautious and penurious Harold Ickes won out over the more imaginative Hugh S. Johnson as chief of public works administration. Political competition between rival Democratic state organizations and between Democrats and Progressive Republicans led to delays in implementing PWA efforts on the local level.  Ickes instituted quotas for hiring skilled and unskilled blacks in construction financed through the Public Works Adminstration (PWA). Resistance from employers and unions was partially overcome by negotiations and implied sanctions. Although results were ambiguous, the plan helped provide blacks with employment, especially among unskilled workers.<ref> Kruman </ref>

The PWA had its own administrative staff but all construction work was done by private contractors, who were urged—but not required—to hire the unemployed.  Reeves (1973) argues that The competitive theory of administration used by Roosevelt produced inefficiency and delays. The competition over the size of expenditure, the selection of the administrator, and the appointment of staff at the state level, led to delays and to the ultimate failure of PWA as a recovery instrument. As director of the budget, [[Lewis Douglas]] overrode the views of leading senators in reducing appropriations to $3.5 billion and in transferring much of that money to other agencies in lieu of their own specific appropriations. The cautious and penurious Harold Ickes won out over the more imaginative Hugh S. Johnson as chief of public works administration. Political competition between rival Democratic state organizations and between Democrats and Progressive Republicans led to delays in implementing PWA efforts on the local level.  Ickes instituted quotas for hiring skilled and unskilled blacks in construction financed through the Public Works Adminstration (PWA). Resistance from employers and unions was partially overcome by negotiations and implied sanctions. Although results were ambiguous, the plan helped provide blacks with employment, especially among unskilled workers.<ref>Kruman</ref>

Some of the most famous PWA projects are the [[Triborough Bridge]] and the [[Lincoln Tunnel]] in New York City, the [[Grand Coulee Dam]] in Washington state, the longest continuous sidewalk in the world along 6 1/2 miles of Bayshore Blvd. in Tampa, FL,  and the [[Overseas Highway]] connecting Key West, Florida, to the mainland.  The PWA also electrified the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] between New York and Washington, DC.  The PWA did not create as much affordable housing as supporters would have hoped, building only 25,000 units of in 4½ years.  At the local level it built courthouses, schools, hospitals and other public facilities. In general its projects were larger in scope than its rival agency the WPA. The WPA hired only people on relief who were paid directly by the government. The PWA gave contracts to private forms who did all the hiring.

Some of the most famous PWA projects are the [[Triborough Bridge]] and the [[Lincoln Tunnel]] in New York City, the [[Grand Coulee Dam]] in Washington state, the longest continuous sidewalk in the world along 6 1/2 miles of Bayshore Blvd. in Tampa, FL,  and the [[Overseas Highway]] connecting Key West, Florida, to the mainland.  The PWA also electrified the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] between New York and Washington, DC.  The PWA did not create as much affordable housing as supporters would have hoped, building only 25,000 units of in 4½ years.  At the local level it built courthouses, schools, hospitals and other public facilities. In general its projects were larger in scope than its rival agency the WPA. The WPA hired only people on relief who were paid directly by the government. The PWA gave contracts to private forms who did all the hiring.

* Reeves, William D. "PWA and Competitive Administration in the New Deal." ''Journal of American History'' 1973 60(2): 357-372. Issn: 0021-8723 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2936780  in JSTOR]

* Reeves, William D. "PWA and Competitive Administration in the New Deal." ''Journal of American History'' 1973 60(2): 357-372. Issn: 0021-8723 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2936780  in JSTOR]

* Jason Scott Smith, ''Building New Deal Liberalism: The Political Economy of Public Works, 1933-1956'' (2006)

* Jason Scott Smith, ''Building New Deal Liberalism: The Political Economy of Public Works, 1933-1956'' (2006)

* Lowry, Charles B. "The PWA in Tampa: A Case Study," ''Florida Historical Quarterly'', Vol. 52, No. 4 (Apr., 1974), pp. 363-380 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/30145930 in JSTOR]

* Lowry, Charles B. "The PWA in Tampa: A Case Study," ''Florida Historical Quarterly'', Vol. 52, No. 4 (Apr., 1974), pp.&nbsp;363–380 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/30145930 in JSTOR]

* Watkins, T. H.  ''Righteous Pilgrim: The Life and Times of Harold L. Ickes, 1874-1952.'' (1990). 1010 pp.   

* Watkins, T. H.  ''Righteous Pilgrim: The Life and Times of Harold L. Ickes, 1874-1952.'' (1990). 1010 pp.