12. The Civil Works Administration (CWA) was a short lived program, yet in retrospect was one of the most successful. It began in November 1933 and was terminated in March 1934. What was the main reason for its demise?
From Quiz The New Deal
Answer:
Too costly
The CWA was created by emergency act and with a short term goal of helping the nation through the winter of 1933-34. Harry Hopkins was appointed director. The goal was to pay competitive wages to participants from professional engineers to unskilled labor.
About four million workers benefitted from the program. The CWA's workers laid 12 million feet of sewer pipes, built or improved 255,000 miles of roads, 40,000 schools, 3,700 playgrounds, and nearly 1,000 airports. They also found time to upgrade 250,000 outhouses in rural areas.
However, the cost of the program was nearly a billion dollars (about eighteen billion in today's economy). When Roosevelt realized the cost, he moved swiftly to end it and develop less expensive alternatives.