Changes

Liberals hailed the TVA in the 1940s and 1950s as a model for the world. That image has fallen away, leaving the dams and electricity that is now more expensive than gas or coal.

Liberals hailed the TVA in the 1940s and 1950s as a model for the world. That image has fallen away, leaving the dams and electricity that is now more expensive than gas or coal.

==TVA History==

==TVA History==

Arthur Ernest Morgan (1878-1975) was the first chairman and chief engineer of the TVA. A self-taught engineer and surveyor, in the 1910s Morgan devised a successful flood-control system for Dayton, Ohio, and subsequently became head of Antioch College. Roosevelt appointed him to head the TVA in 1933.  

Arthur Ernest Morgan (1878-1975) was the first chairman and chief engineer of the TVA. A self-taught engineer and surveyor, in the 1910s Morgan devised a successful flood-control system for Dayton, Ohio, and subsequently became president of Antioch College. Roosevelt appointed him to head the TVA in 1933.  

Morgan realized that flood control was ruining the prospects for farmers. Every spring the river pulled topsoil from the hillsides, rutting the fields and forcing farmers to move progressively higher up the less and less fertile steep slopes. More than soil was lost. Morgan wrote, "When half the land is washed away and the rest is poor, the ambitious man, the man of energy and initiative, will not stay." When the hills would not hold the soil, the soil would not hold the men, and they, too, washed downstream to cities where their limited skills found little demand. Morgan's mission was to restore the economic and cultural life of the 40,000-square-mile watershed--through flood control, electric power generation and improved river navigation. By 1935, TVA had 16,000 people --most of them locals--working at five dam sites.

Morgan realized that flood control was ruining the prospects for farmers. Every spring the river pulled topsoil from the hillsides, rutting the fields and forcing farmers to move progressively higher up the less and less fertile steep slopes. More than soil was lost. Morgan wrote, "When half the land is washed away and the rest is poor, the ambitious man, the man of energy and initiative, will not stay." When the hills would not hold the soil, the soil would not hold the men, and they, too, washed downstream to cities where their limited skills found little demand. Morgan's mission was to restore the economic and cultural life of the 40,000-square-mile watershed--through flood control, electric power generation and improved river navigation. By 1935, TVA had 16,000 people --most of them locals--working at five dam sites.

Morgan chaired the three-man board running TVA, and every day he had to battle David E. Lilienthal.<ref>The third member was Harcourt Morgan, no relation.</ref> The core issue was how to use the vast amounts of electricity the TVA's dams would produce. A fervent liberal, Lilienthal wanted to use the TVA electricity to coerce the private utilities to lower their rates or be bought out.  Opposition to TVA's grandiose plans was led by [[Wendell Willkie]], who went on to become GOP presidential nominee in 1940.  Morgan was hostile to all politicians--they introduced inefficiency and corruption into his engineering projects.  Morgan, like the [[Nashville Agrarians]], was a "ruralist" who believed that farms and small-towns offered the best prospect for human fulfillment; he saw TVA as a means of reviving the declining small-town, rural culture of the Tennessee Valley.  Roosevelt in 1938 sided with Lilienthal and fired Morgan.  

Morgan chaired the three-man board running TVA, and every day he had to battle David E. Lilienthal.<ref>The third member was Harcourt Morgan, no relation.</ref> The core issue was how to use the vast amounts of electricity the TVA's dams would produce. A fervent liberal, Lilienthal wanted to use the TVA electricity to coerce the private utilities to lower their rates or be bought out.  Opposition to TVA's grandiose plans was led by [[Wendell Willkie]], who went on to become GOP presidential nominee in 1940.  Morgan exemplified the engineering spirit of the [[Progressive Era]] and therefore was hostile to all politicians--they introduced inefficiency and corruption into his engineering projects.  Morgan, like the [[Nashville Agrarians]], was a "ruralist" who believed that farms and small-towns offered the best prospect for human fulfillment; he saw TVA as a means of reviving the declining small-town, rural culture of the Tennessee Valley.  Roosevelt in 1938 sided with Lilienthal and fired Morgan.

==Global model==

==Global model==