"ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY"

"We have faith that future generations will know that here, in the middle of the twentieth century, there came a time when men of good will found a way to unite, and produce, and fight to destory the forces of ignorance, and intolerance, and slavery, and war." - FDR, 1943

A Peace Army

During most of the 1930's, men were looking for work...somewhere, anywhere. Married men left families in the care of the women while they scoured the country for employment; the women waiting for word to join them or for money in the mail.

FDR's New Deal programs helped many find gainful employment and slowly, America climbed out of the depths of despair. One of the more successful programs was the Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC. This hard work program benefited parks and forests across the nation. It also benefited the peacetime U.S. Army, which administered the camps, by gaining extensive experience in mobilization and training. For the "enrollee", as they were called, this gave them a sound exposure to what would normally be part of military basic training. By the eighth year of the CCC's operation, this training would take on a whole new purpose.