9. The CCC was repurposed beginning in 1937
The year 1937 was a year of severe flooding in many sections of the United States, including New York State and the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys. The following year saw a major hurricane strike the coast of New England, with disastrous results. The CCC, already held in high public regard, responded to the natural disasters as an emergency relief and recovery operation, removing debris and restoring damaged infrastructure. CCC camps provided the manpower and the expertise to restore much of the damage from the floods in the Midwest, and the creation of dams and levees to avert similar disasters in the future.
In 1939, Congress placed the CCC under the administration of the Federal Security Agency, ending its short period as an independent agency. At the time, there were about 5,000 army reserve officers in charge of the camps. They were transferred to the civil service. The link between the army and the CCC was thus eliminated just as war clouds were gathering over Europe. The government began assigning work projects which were needed for the expansion of the army and national defense, and the agency began building infrastructure for the use of the military, including training camps and airfields. Though the army no longer controlled the management of the camps, the CCC was increasingly involved with military projects by the beginning of 1940, the year Congress passed America’s first peacetime draft.