President Franklin Roosevelt set the Tennessee Valley Authority was into action on May 18, 1933. This was part of a set of programs known as the New Deal that attempted to lift the country out of a devastating Depression. It sought to provide much needed jobs to individuals all over the country and electricity and irrigation to the Tennessee Valley.

Since the area of the Tennessee Valley is directly around the Tennessee River, the Authority planned to generate power by harnessing the natural energy of the river. Due to the Depression, residents of Tennessee Valley did not have electricity in their homes and businesses like much of the country. Therefore, the project was to tackle the problem of power as top priority.

From an economic standpoint, the Tennessee Valley's residents were quite poor and even referred to as the ?Forgotten Americans.? Due to the area being strapped for funds, it is no surprise electricity was lacking in the valley. For this reason, Roosevelt's TVA was critical in remembering these forgotten individuals and helping them in stimulating a rebirth of the area. After the TVA brought electricity to the valley's residents, the average incomes began increasing and the once forgotten Americans were forgotten no more.

In addition to harnessing the river's massive power and turning it into electricity, the TVA worked to control the river itself. On an annual basis, the Tennessee River would flood, thus ravaging the land and the towns that rest in the river's destructive path. Residents would suffer from ruined crops and destroyed houses after the river breeched its banks and came tearing into the valley. The TVA worked to create dams in an effort to control the river and stop this devastating flooding.

As the flooding was controlled, a source of irrigation was also formed. During the years of the Depression, crops suffered tremendously due to lack of water and farmers were often plunged deeper and deeper into debt due to these crop failures. The modern agricultural techniques of irrigation were quite new to area residents who were used to farming using the same methods as their forefathers, but the techniques quickly caught on.

Before the TVA developed the system of dams in the valley, the river was quite difficult for boat captains to navigate. After the projects were completed, the river navigation was made a good bit easier, allowing the area to become more widely traveled, therefore bringing more money into the Tennessee Valley.

There were other substantial natural benefits from the TVA. The TVA helped in controlling forest fires. Another benefit was the replanting of trees which lead to the regeneration of the depleted forest reserves. The regeneration of the forest acted as a glue for the wild life and they returned to the forests in drove. Similarly the construction of dams also brought in more fish to inhabit the river.

Tennessee Valley Authority was a pioneering effort at a very crucial juncture in the country's history. It not only provided jobs for a number of unemployed Americans but also helped in improving the overall economic status of the residents of the valley. Its innumerable contribution therefore should not be underestimated.