an alphabet soup of public works agencies, the cwa, wpa, the pwa, not only provided jobs, but restored the nation's neglected infrastructure. between 1933 and 1937, the federal government constructed more than half a million miles of highwayed, 5,900 schools, 2,500 hospitals, 8,000 parks, 13,000 playgrounds, and 1,000 regional airports. cultural products employed and stimulated a generation. artists and writers, including such luminaries as jackson pollock, john cheever, and ichard wright. roosevelt saw social security, enacted in 1935, as the centerpiece of the new deal. if our federal government was established to promote the general welfare, said fdr, it is our plain duty to provide for the security upon which welfare depends. for the first time, government assumed responsibility for on employment compensation, old age and survivor benefits, as well as aid to dependent children and the handicapped. at fdr's insistence, social security was self-funded. supported by contributions made jointly by employers and employees. americans don't quite appreciate the fact that in most other indu