WPA Back in the News

With all the talk about the Obama program for job creation, the idea of another WPA is back in the news. You guessed it. In the great depression I spent some time on the WPA (Works Progress Administration). My very first assignment was in the National Youth Administration. From there I was sent to work for the National Desertions Bureau as a “detective.” No, I am not kidding. I even had a trench coat and a pair of gum shoes.

The Bureau was a Jewish agency that hunted down men who had deserted their wives and children. As the director, a heavy set man with a full upper lip mustache, explained, “Our objective is to get the deserter to assume financial responsibility for his family. We are not interested in sending the guy off to jail. That would be of no help whatsoever for his family.”

My very first assignment was to find a wrestler called “Sammy the Bull.” To learn how I would track Sammy down I was told to visit his wife and her son. They lived on the Grand Concourse up in the Bronx. The women answered the door in a padded over-washed housecoat and hastily retreated to her bedroom to “get properly dressed.” Her little boy stood in the kitchen doorway staring at me. Whatever sign of recognition I made sent him into rapid retreat. His mother reappeared looking like Gypsy Rose Lee of Burlesque fame. I insisted that we get right down to the business at hand. How could I trace down Sammy?

She suggested I check all the wrestling schedules in New York, Philly, Pittsburgh, etc.; which I did. And sure enough Sammy was due to wrestle at the Bronx Coliseum. This was a huge oval shaped hall that would house hockey, the circus and political rallies, including the Communist Party. It could fill the 10,000 seat arena at very short notice.

When I reported back to the Bureau office I was given a subpoena to serve on Sammy that would get him in front of the D.A. The Bureau would then suggest he be released in their custody. Off I went to the Coliseum to watch wrestling and serve the subpoena. In making my way to the locker room I had to show my detective pass. To my surprise it was instantly respected. It was in the smelly old locker room with its paint peeling walls and rickety benches that I listened to the wrestlers discussing exactly how this Kabuki called wrestling was to be performed.

Late in the program I encountered Sammy the Bull. He was a big heavyset Russian with a very sad expression on a face that seemed to express all the troubles he had seen. When I walked up to him with the subpoena he said, “Oh, so you caught up wit me. So what you want? I do the best I can. I send her what money I can. You think I make much here? Nothing. All dees guys here make nothing. The promoters make the dough, we just break our bones so they can get rich.” “Why don’t you guys organize a union and get a decent wage for your fights,” I said without thinking. Sammy looked around in a panic. “What you crazy. You get me blacklist if anybody hear you. So give me the fuckin’ paper and get the hell out of here.”

Shame and embarrassment hung over me. What the hell was I doing handing some poor bastard a subpoena who can’t even support himself. No, this wasn’t for me. I told the Bureau chief that I couldn’t do this kind of work. He said,”Yes, you’re idealistic and want to change the world. That’s fine for a young man, but you will soon learn that’s much easier said then done. Then you will be satisfied to just do little things that can help people in their everyday lives.”

And so came to an end my short detective career. I would go on to other WPA assignments like Orchard Beach and Pelham Bay Park where in both places I was shoveling dirt. A very grounding experience. And there was of course those great projects like the Triborough Bridge and Jones Beach and all those great public golf courses. And if you look around the city you will find amazing murals in old post office buildings painted by the WPA artist projects.

Thanks Kate N.H.W.Y
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PS. The Obama Administration proposals for the Greening of America as a way to create jobs certainly does compare very favorably with the WPA of the thirties. The trick is to get it moving rapidly so that the jobs will have a positive effect on the economy and the effort will help us reduce our dependence on foreign oil. A win win solution.RS