On April 21, 2009, President Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, amending the 1990 act that created Americorps. The Serve America Act provides staged expansion of Americorps from its current 75,000 members to 250,000 by the year 2017. It also increases federally-funded senior and school age service programs. The Serve America Act is being passionately debated, much like the initial creation of Americorps and its predecessors.
Opposition to federally-funded public service is not new.

Many aspects of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal of the 1930s also faced resistance, deemed socialism and public charity. Others did not. Today, the legacy of those programs is recognizable on the Northwest landscape. Bonneville Dam, built with concrete poured bucket by bucket under New Deal funding, is one example, as is Timberline Lodge, built by WPA emergency relief workers.

Yet another federally-funded program, the Civilian Conservation Corps, focused on public service, relief, and conservation. Between 1933 and 1942, this organization employed upwards of 3 million young men, ages 18 to 25, around the nation. They were known as the “CC Boys,” the 2 C’s, or Roosevelt’s “Tree Troopers.”

The CCC, one of the first of Roosevelt’s many national aid measures, had a two-fold goal — “to build men and forests.”
As the dustbowl created havoc in the Midwest, the CCC simultaneously addressed the nation’s conservation needs, put young men to work, assisted poverty-stricken families, and stimulated local economies.

As Roosevelt noted, “The overwhelming majority of unemployed Americans, who are now walking the streets and receiving private or public relief, would infinitely prefer to work.”

It is the CCC, along with the U.S. military, that serves as the model for the Americorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC), a full-time, team-based residential program for men and women ages 18-24.

Congress authorized 250,000 CCC members on March 31, 1933. By April 7, 1933, the first enrollee signed up. While the Department of Labor coordinated the enrollees, the Departments of Agriculture and Interior provided work projects and personnel to manage them.

The U.S. Army, the only organization that could mobilize such large numbers, ran the 100 to 200 man camps. As one former enrollee put it: “The army fed you, clothed you, housed you, gave you medical attention, dental attention. Whatever your needs were, the army provided.”

Throughout April 1933, Congress authorized enrollment of various groups to engage in conservation work. A few women’s camps and some WWI veteran’s camps were authorized. There were also segregated CCC camps on regional Indian reservations. Integrated companies from Fort Sheridan, Illinois brought African American CCC enrollees to the Northwest in 1933 and 1934. Later, Northwest companies were segregated.

Induction began at Vancouver Barracks in April 1933, and young came from all around to join the CCC. These young men worked five days a week for room, board, and $30 per month. But they didn’t keep all the money. CC boys received $5.00 a month for spending. The Army sent the rest home to their families by allotment — no small contribution for struggling families.
The managing agencies—the USDA Forest Service, the National Park Service, and the newly created Soil Conservation Service—employed skilled craftsmen called Local Experienced Men (LEM) to work with CC boys. Some Northwest enrollees worked for the Soil Conservation Service, but the majority worked with Forest Service.

A typical day for a CC boy began with reveille, morning cleanup, and flag-raising before heading to work crew. The young men spent their days clearing trails, stringing telephone line, felling snags, creating recreation sites, planting trees, fighting fires, building structures, or in camp, where they cut wood, worked in the kitchen, or cleaned latrines.

Enrollees built small and large dams, constructed buildings, and created recreational areas, many still in use today. CCC boys, directed by LEM, soon became known for their high quality distinctive buildings marked by intricate artwork and fine carpentry. They also drove trucks, moved supplies, made signs, and blasted and crushed rocks.

According to the Army, “It was not a case of a few miles of roads or telephone line or a handful of fire lookouts. The tree troopers . . . built telephone lines enough to stretch from Vancouver to San Francisco and return.”

The 3 C’s enlivened Northwest communities, economically and socially. The army purchased the goods to support them and the boys, who played as hard as they worked, spent their money in town. While weekday camps were prime sites for playing pranks among one another, on weekends Portland and Vancouver teemed with young men. They roller skated with local girls, cut loose in pool halls and bars, and helped to fund the theaters.

In Vancouver, the army held weekly boxing matches, “smokers,” at the Victory Theatre. Large crowds of civilians, enrollees, and soldiers often attended. The CC boys who couldn’t get to town might find a weekly dance at the local grange. Consequently romance blossomed and many remained in the Northwest to raise families and live out their lives.

Most of the CCC boys have left us. Some have been able to tell their stories, many recounted to me and my students over the past decade. These former CCC boys, now our elders, typically recalled their public service as a chance for success. They learned occupational skills, found educational opportunities, supported themselves, and contributed to their families.

Many also learned a self-discipline that would last a lifetime. The CCC existed for nine years, through a brief, but formative era, both for the nation and for a generation. These are the same men who battled in Europe and the Pacific in the 1940s, returning to a country transformed by wartime prosperity.

They witnessed the wars and struggles of the twentieth century, as well as the technological marvels and social expansions. Their trees and their children are now grown, but their social and material legacy remains visible on the Pacific Northwest landscape—in our national forests, through their descendants, and in the Depression-era values and conflicts still being discussed today.

The Center for Columbia River History (CCRH) is a consortium of the Washington State Historical Society, Portland State University and Washington State University Vancouver. The CCRH mission is to promote study of the history of the Columbia River Basin and to present the results publicly. CCRH is dedicated to examining the hidden histories of the Basin and to helping people think about the historical record from different perspectives. CCRH offers free public programs and has an extensive historical website at www.ccrh.org.