Herbert Hoover was elected president in 1928, when the country was enjoying the booming economy of the Roaring Twenties. It wouldn't last long. The stock market crashed just a year later, and a full-scale economic depression set in. The Hoover administration became deeply unpopular, and Franklin D. Roosevelt emerged as the Democratic nominee for president, offering a new vision for the future. Roosevelt argued that while limited government had worked for an agrarian society, it could not meet the demands of the industrial age. He claimed that the Depression demonstrated that "the day of enlightened administration had come."
Roosevelt instituted sweeping reforms and innovative programs that put the country back on the road to recovery. On this date in 1933, he created the Electric Home and Farm Authority. Electricity had come to be associated with modern conveniences. By the 1920s, more than half of all urban homes had electric lights, but bringing power to rural areas was expensive, and less than ten percent of farm families had electricity. Roosevelt was convinced that access to electricity would improve the lives of rural Americans. Running water in the home would improve sanitation, and refrigeration would lower food costs. There was also an economic advantage: rural housewives would want conveniences like electric washing machines. The purchase of appliances would help create jobs and spur the economy.
By the late 1930s, electric lines began snaking across North Dakota with the help of electric cooperatives. The initial sign-up fee was five dollars, which would amount to more than eighty dollars today. There was also a minimum monthly fee of $3.50. Still traumatized by the economic uncertainty of the Great Depression, many farmers were reluctant to make the financial commitment. However, farm wives quickly realized that every household chore would be easier with electricity. Electric pumps would bring water into the home, eliminating outhouses and improving sanitation.
With the help of farmers, who provided land for the lines and labor to put them up, the lights came on in North Dakota. One woman described how she went to school in the morning, and when she returned home, "the day was overcast, cloudy and dark enough that we could see light in the house as the school bus turned off the highway. What a glorious feeling!"
Dakota Datebook by Dr. Carole Butcher
Sources:
- Teaching American History. “Campaign Address on Progressive Government at the Commonwealth Club.” https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/campaign-address-on-progressive-government-at-the-commonwealth-club/ Accessed 10/30/2024.
- Encyclopedia.com. “Rural Electrification Administration.” https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-and-education-magazines/rural-electrification-administration-1934-1941 Accessed 10/31/2024.
- ND Studies. “North Dakota Electric Co-Ops.” https://www.ndstudies.gov/gr8/content/unit-iv-modern-north-dakota-1921-present/lesson-3-building-communities/topic-2-cooperatives/section-3-north-dakota-electric-co-ops Accessed 10/31/2024.
