Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a government-owned corporation created as part of the New Deal in 1933. The goals of its creation were multi-fold.
- It was part of the push for the government to take control of public utilities, which at the time were viewed as abusive to their customers.
- It was a works program, giving jobs to a part of the country that was extremely poor, even by the standards of the Great Depression. The federal government hoped this would help stimulate the economy and bring the country out of the Great Depression.
Reagan would speak out against the TVA in 1962 and, as the story goes, he was fired from his job hosting the General Electric Theater for the criticism.
The TVA is mentioned in the Press edition of Reagan's 1964 A Time for Choosing speech. As a result, numerous sources refer to Reagan "saying" things about the TVA in the speech, when in actuality, he never did.
Later in his career, the TVA would come up during his radio program. The Endangered Species Act was being used to prevent the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Tellico River, citing the status of the Snail Darter as endangered.
