Beginning in the 1910s, the American Red Cross offered a high volume of fundraising films that highlighted its work. These films were mostly seen in nontheatrical settings – churches, schools, social clubs – and they offered a straightforward presentation of Red Cross workers helping those in physical and economic distress.
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When Franklin D. Roosevelt became president during the midst of the Great Depression, one of his most ambitious programs to combat the widespread poverty and unemployment of the day was the Works Progress Administration. This program was designed to upgrade and reinforce the national infrastructure, with a primary focus on construction projects involving roads, government buildings and bridges.
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