Changes

The original idea was proposed by [[Henry Ford]] and conservative businessmen in the 1920s, but was blocked by liberals led by Senator [[George Norris]] who feared business. Norris, although nominally a Republican, supported President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and sponsored the TVA in 1933, even though it had no impact on his state of Nebraska.

The original idea was proposed by [[Henry Ford]] and conservative businessmen in the 1920s, but was blocked by liberals led by Senator [[George Norris]] who feared business. Norris, although nominally a Republican, supported President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and sponsored the TVA in 1933, even though it had no impact on his state of Nebraska.

The project successfully modernized most of Tennessee, which was hard hit by the [[Great Depression]].  Today Tennessee conservatives support the TVA.  However the economic growth of Tennessee  since 1933 closely parallels neighboring Kentucky, even though Kentucky has far less TVA activity, and trails Georgia as well.<ref>See William U. Chandler, ''The Myth of the Tva: Conservation and Development in the Tennessee Valley, 1933-80'' (1984) for a conservative economic critique</ref>

The project successfully modernized most of Tennessee, which was hard hit by the [[Great Depression]].  Today Tennessee conservatives support the TVA.  However the economic growth of Tennessee  since 1933 closely parallels neighboring Kentucky, even though Kentucky has far less TVA activity, and trails Georgia as well.<ref>See William U. Chandler, ''The Myth of the TVA: Conservation and Development in the Tennessee Valley, 1933-80'' (1984) for a conservative economic critique</ref>

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.

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 statist plans was led by [[Wendell Willkie]], who went on to become GOP presidential nominee in 1940.  Morgan, a religious man who deeply believed in the [[Social Gospel]], 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==

Liberals proposed in the 1930s to create a grandiose Arkansas Valley Authority (AVA), patterned on the TVA, which would have contained all of the states Arkansas and Oklahoma and large parts of Missouri, Louisiana, Kansas, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado. The AVA was supported by New Dealers and legislation was proposed in Congress in 1941. By now the [[Conservative Coalition]] had matters well in hand. Opposition, led by Colorado Governor Ralph Carr and including all Colorado Congressmen and Senator Alva B. Adams as well as the Southwestern Interstate Coal Operators' Association and the Denver Chamber of Commerce, helped defeat the AVA. Opposition centered on possible loss of Colorado's water rights and fear of increased Federal powers.<ref>Mary Farley, "Colorado and the Arkansas Valley Authority," ''Colorado Magazine'' 1971 48(3): 221-234 </ref>  

Liberals proposed in the 1930s to create a grandiose Arkansas Valley Authority (AVA), patterned on the TVA, which would have contained all of the states Arkansas and Oklahoma and large parts of Missouri, Louisiana, Kansas, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado. The AVA was supported by New Dealers and legislation was proposed in Congress in 1941. By now the [[Conservative Coalition]] had matters well in hand. Opposition, led by Colorado Governor Ralph Carr and including all Colorado Congressmen and Senator Alva B. Adams as well as the Southwestern Interstate Coal Operators' Association and the Denver Chamber of Commerce, helped defeat the AVA. Opposition centered on possible loss of Colorado's water rights and fear of increased Federal powers.<ref>Mary Farley, "Colorado and the Arkansas Valley Authority," ''Colorado Magazine'' 1971 48(3): 221-234 </ref>  

==Further reading==

==Further reading==

* Chandler, William U. ''The Myth of the Tva: Conservation and Development in the Tennessee Valley, 1933-80'' (1984), a conservative economic critique

* Chandler, William U. ''The Myth of the TVA: Conservation and Development in the Tennessee Valley, 1933-80'' (1984), a conservative economic critique

* Colignon, Richard A. ''Power Plays: Critical Events in the Institutionalism of the Tennessee Valley Authority'' (1997)

* Colignon, Richard A. ''Power Plays: Critical Events in the Institutionalism of the Tennessee Valley Authority'' (1997)

* Creese, Walter L. ''TVA's Public Planning: The Vision, the Reality.'' (1990). 388 pp.

* Creese, Walter L. ''TVA's Public Planning: The Vision, the Reality.'' (1990). 388 pp.