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EVOLUTION OF AMERICAN ENGINEERING 28 The Tennessee Valley Authority. The great experiment in social engineering of the 1930s was the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) program. The Tennessee River basin, encompassing an area of some 40,000 square miles, had been subject to recurrent flooding; the river itself, an important link to the Mississippi, was difficult to navigate. In 1933 President Roosevelt established the TVA to solve these and many other problems of the region through a coordinated program based on the construction of a system of hydroelectric dams. Sixteen major dams were built, and five older dams were modified. A 9-foot channel was dredged in the river. TVA provided flood control, power generation, soil conservation, fertilizers, improved public health, and reforestation. This was the largest single construction program ever undertaken in the United States up to that time (Armytage, 1961). It supplied 15 percent of the nation's hydroelectric capacity and 5 percent of the electrical power generated from any source for public use. It reversed the severe erosion in the region, and restored some three million acres to conservation or productive use. Civil and electrical engineers by the hundreds worked on the project, and thousands of other workers were also provided employment. As an example of government mobilization of technological know-how in the service of civilian social and economic needs, the TVA may be unparalleled even up to the present-day. The Rural Electrification Administration. An important outgrowth of TVA and the larger government role it portended was the establishment of the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in 1935. The electrification of the farm had a revolutionary impact on agricultural production, as it provided farmers with low-cost power to light and heat their homes, pump water, milk the cows, and otherwise increase the output that human labor could produce. In addition, it brought urban-style communication to great numbers of Americans and thus broadened the demand for manufactured goods that electrified homes were now equipped to use. World War II. Throughout history, technology has had a decisive effect on warfare. World War II was no exception. Even before the United States entered the conflict, it was apparent to the federal government that science and technology should be mobilized to contribute to a prospective war effort. Perhaps the most significant move was the formation of the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) in 1941, with engineer Vannevar Bush as its director (Pursell, 1981). Research carried out by this agency created the basis for today's "electronic warfare." The war produced such new technologies as
