April 10, 1933: Civilian Conservation Corps was Created

On April 10, 1933 the Civilian Conservation Corps, a tool for employing young men and improving the government’s vast holdings of western land, is created in Washington, D.C.

One of the dozens of New Deal programs created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to fight the Great Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was designed to put thousands of unemployed young men to work on useful public projects.

Roosevelt placed the program under the direction of his Secretary of Interior, Harold Ickes, who became an enthusiastic supporter.  Since the vast majority of federal public land was in the West, Ickes placed most of his CCC projects in that region.