Origin
The Civilian Conservation Corps was one of the first things that Franklin D. Roosevelt did when he stepped into office; it was part of his "First hundred days." The CCC was part of his "New Deal" program to combat the Great Depression. It was due to Roosevelt's strong beliefs in conserving the nation's natural resources and his wish to create a federal program that aided the unemployed, especially young men, that the CCC was developed. Even before Roosevelt took office, he was talking about a program that put men into forests for work. He was going to put it in as part of his presidential campaign but after Hoover's administration criticized his idea, he decided against it. On March 9, 1933, a few days after he came into office, Roosevelt and his staff got together to brainstorm. Over the next few weeks they came up with a proposal that was sent to Congress on March 21.
On March 31, the proposal was approved and signed; it was known as the Reforestation Relief Act and Emergency Conservation Work Act. The name given at that time to the program was "Emergency Conservation Work" but that was later changed to the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1937. The CCC was technically established on April 3 1933 because it was known as another name before.
President Roosevelt wished that the people in the advisory council of the CCC, that would work under the CCC director, was decided and chosen by the four cabinet heads of the Departments of Labor, War, Agriculture, and Interior. It was also decided that the Army would take care of the work camps, the field work would be managed by the Agriculture Department and the Interior Department. On April 17 the first camp, Camp Roosevelt in Luray, Virginia was started. After that more and more CCC camps popped up all over the U.S.
The CCC remained an independent Government agency for six years until July 1, 1939, when the Federal Security Agency added the CCC as an unit of the Agency because of the Reorganization act of 1939.
Franklin D. Roosevelt