tupelo, mississippi, the town of my birth and my hometown, is known for a lot of things. birthplace of elvis presley, where the headquarters of the natchez trace parkway. but one of the things that we're also very proud of is we're the very first t.v.a. city. many people around america think of the difference between rural america and city as the difference between whether you have a shopping mall, a lot of nice restaurants, things like that. but 80 years ago the differences between rural and urban america were even more stark. that's why today it's my privilege to rise as we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the tennessee valley authority. in the 1930's, rural america did not have many of the basic things of life, like electricity, running water, and a lot of the things that we consider frills today, like radio, music, news. and as a result, many americans, particularly younger generations of americans, were migrating from the small towns and farms across rural america, moving to the larger cities. seeing this shift, a couple of visionary members of the congress, includi