Ms. Smith Goes to Washington

January 4, 2006

How History Gets Transformed ... Just a Comment

MS. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON
by Shirley Smith

Years ago, I did read about the early history of electricity and was surprised to find out how long it had actually been around before I personally experienced living with it ... I was brought up with the fact passed down by my parents, that Eisenhower was responsible for them getting it in our countryside.  

Now, I'm curious how much he had to do with it, since FDR did establish the program and I remember hearing the name while growing up. And, I'm also curious as to how many Kansans give Ike that credit, too, and did he do more to hurry it up when he was running for the presidency?  My parents are dead now, and all of my older family members, or I would ask them why they gave Eisenhower the credit for lighting up our small community. I do remember that in these rural towns, volunteers did do the work.  

"Let There Be Wi-Fi" by Robert McChesney and John Podesta    

And Roosevelt picked up the birch rod himself. In 1935, he created the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), which gave loans and other help to small towns and farmer cooperatives interested in setting up their own power systems. The REA turned out to be one of the New Deal's most successful programs. Within two years, hundreds of new municipal power utilities were up and running across the country, and within 20 years, virtually all of rural America had electricity, provided either by rural co-ops or big utilities spurred to action by municipal competition. Baller concluded: “The plain, hard truth is that universal electric service would never have developed on a timely basis in the absence of municipally owned electric utilities and rural electric cooperatives”—which still account for more than a quarter of the power in the country today  

Now, I find it very hard to look at the country that I grew up in as it has changed so drastically, and I'm glad that the picture of what it used to be is still the one foremost in my mind. Vacant towns, dead towns, scalped countryside. Horrible.  

Sharing a few thoughts today,

Thanks BuzzFlash,

Shirley Smith

Shirley Smith is a regular BuzzFlash Reader and Contributor. Many of her earlier posts can be found in the Mailbag.