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An Environmental History of the New Deal in Mississippi and Florida

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An Environmental History of the New Deal in Mississippi and Florida University of Mississippi eGrove Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2011 An Environmental History of the New Deal in Mississippi and Florida Robert Edward Krause Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Krause, Robert Edward, "An Environmental History of the New Deal in Mississippi and Florida" (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 174. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/174 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF THE NEW DEAL IN MISSISSIPPI AND FLORIDA Robert Edward Krause, Junior, Doctoral Candidate in United States History Dissertation submitted for requirements of Doctorate of Philosophy The University of Mississippi, Department of History December 2011 Copyright Robert E. Krause 2011 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT Keywords: New Deal, Environmental History, United States South, Mississippi, Florida, Gulf Coast, TVA, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, landscape, lumber industry, CCC, WPA, state parks The 1930s represented a time of distinct and encompassing change in the United States South. In assessing the impact of New Deal agencies and public works, this dissertation examines three distinct southern areas-northeast Mississippi, the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and the Florida Panhandle-highlighting the dynamic and fluid character of federal projects and their impact on landscapes human and natural. In the hilly Tennessee River valley of northeast Mississippi, the federally-funded incorporation of the Tennessee Valley Authority led to an immediate transformation of landscape and the opening of novel possibilities within a newly- anointed “region” for the area’s residents. Public works projects on the Mississippi Gulf Coast likewise reoriented the perspective of place by improving transportation networks and reinvigorating locally (and by the 1930s, globally) significant industries like lumber and seafood products. Federal aid in the fifteen western Florida Panhandle counties created a visibly new world for residents, as well. The construction of new roads and towns out of previously raw coastal timberlands led to a transformation of place and the emergence of not only new commercial and recreational spaces, but the development of a military-industrial complex that remains in place today. In addition to canvassing secondary historical works, primary sources utilized for this project include a wide range of regional newspapers and journals from Mississippi and Florida, ii federal and state agency reports, promotional material and publications, paper collections of New Deal officials, as well as oral histories and quantitative use of census data. Utilizing these previously neglected sources to demonstrate the malleability of post-Depression public works, this dissertation provides a nuanced historical understanding of the New Deal in the South. iii To Pam and Bob Krause iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project has incurred me with more debts than I can ever hope to settle. Any project of history requires the assistance and kind grace of librarians, archivists, and fellow researchers. Staff at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, librarians at the TVA Regional offices in Knoxville, and staff at the JD Williams Library at the University of Mississippi and at the Tupelo Public Library graciously assisted in providing a wealth of information for the section on TVA in Mississippi. Folks at the Florida State Archives in Tallahassee, especially Dr. Boyd Murphree and Ms. Holly Cinco, were tremendous to work with and always accommodating. Staff at Northwest Florida State College in Niceville, as well as Walton County Libraries, Strozier Library and University Archives at Florida State University, and Mr. Dean Debolt at the University Archives and Special Collections at the University of West Florida in Pensacola all proved instrumental in helping me uncover new sources and meanings for the New Deal in the panhandle. Dr. Jennifer Ford and her staff at the University of Mississippi Special Collections were uncommonly kind in helping through a number of seemingly obscure research requests. I hope my efforts will likewise inform these dedicated public historians. From my enrollment as an undergraduate student in History and Southern Studies forward through the Doctoral Program in United States History, the University of Mississippi v remains an integral place in my development as a person, professional, and scholar. To study under Dr. Charles Reagan Wilson has been especially instructive and rewarding. The work and examples established by professors Ted Ownby, Charles Ross, Robbie Ethridge, Susan Payne, Adam Gussow, and Douglass-Sullivan Gonzalez have duly informed this project. My master’s thesis director at Oklahoma State University, Dr. Mike Logan, helped initially guide me to Environmental History and continues to inspire. William Andrews and Bill Griffith of the University of Mississippi Museum and Rowan Oak have been incredible mentors in my development as a public historian, as have Tom Chapman at James Madison’s Montpelier in Orange, Virginia and Scott Stroh, former Director of the Florida Division of Historical Resources and State Historic Preservation Office in Tallahassee. Two of my closest graduate colleagues at the University of Mississippi, Dr. Jeffrey Bourdon and Ryan Whittington, provided invaluable friendship and support, as have Clayton and Lauren Leech, and Ross and Anna Beth Thompson. My parents, Bob and Pam Krause, have shared seemingly endless love and support (along with more than their share of patience) through the course of my life and academic career. I would not have been able to complete this project without the example of their determined dedication to life and work. As the youngest of three children, I have been the appreciative beneficiary of much sibling guidance and instruction. Dr. Meredith Krause, Dr. John Jarvis, Tim Krause and Jennifer Hill Krause, provided constant love and support, albeit too often from afar. In Long Beach, Mississippi, Bob and Betsy Bullard offered restful hospitality and many an incredible meal, both of which fueled this works’ completion. The Bullards' raised my wife, Amanda Bullard Krause, with a uncommon sense of compassion and understanding that I am vi blessed to be the recipient of. Her unwavering love has made me a better person and inspires me daily. Thank you for everything, Mandy, I love you. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages Abstract and Acknowledgements ii-ix Introduction: An Environmental History of the New Deal in Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle, 1933-40 1-15 Section I: Pawn in the ‘Great Experiment’: Origins, Development, and Impact of the TVA in Mississippi, 1933-1940 16-79 Chapter I: Tennessee Valley Authority in Mississippi, 1933-1936 22-49 Chapter II: Campaigns for TVA in Mississippi 50-60 Chapter III: TVA and the Creation of Region 61-79 Section II: The New Deal and the Mississippi Gulf Coast 80-168 Chapter I: Background and Historiographical Context 82-99 Chapter II: New Deal Public Works, Promotionalism, and the Natural World of the Mississippi Gulf Coast 100-127 Chapter III: New Deal landscapes on the Coast 128-150 Chapter IV: The Lumber Industry and New Deal Conservation in south Mississippi 151-168 Section III: The New Deal in the Florida Panhandle: A comparative conclusion 169-247 Chapter I: Historiographical context for New Deal in the Florida Panhandle, 1932-40 170-184 Chapter II: Setting a Precedent: Early New Deal works in the Panhandle 185-201 Chapter III: New Deal Transformations: Forestry, State Parks, and Public Works Projects viii 202-238 Chapter IV: Public Legacies, New Deal experiences in Mississippi and Florida: A Comparative Conclusion 239-247 Bibliography 248-259 Vita 260-262 ix Introduction: An Environmental History of the New Deal in Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle, 1933-1940 Engaging the interactions between humans and the surrounding natural world in order to determine forms of continuity or change over time, this dissertation offers an examination of the origins, evolution, and impact of New Deal agencies and programs in Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle from 1933 to 1940. Undertaking a comparative analysis approach between two seemingly distant, yet strikingly similar regions of the South, I hope to show how New Deal experiences transformed both the physical and social/cultural landscape while also altering human perceptions of the world around them. My study examines the dynamic and often divergent ways in which New Deal agencies, programs, and social aid created an immediate impact and a substantial legacy in both Mississippi and the panhandle counties of west Florida. This introduction outlines the primary themes and objectives, historiographical context, and structure of the broader project. Although growing up in an atmosphere of continual environmental transformation on the gulf coast of Florida certainly helped define my consciousness to the natural world, my academic interest in environmental history began in earnest as an undergraduate student at the University of Mississippi, and flourished as a master’s student in U.S. history at Oklahoma State University. There I completed a thesis on the Environmental History of the Illinois River, a politically and economically contested
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