The Tennessee Valley Authority
A long time ago, I met a man named David Lilienthal. He was a spry, friendly guy — I don't remember much more. I remember that I was told that he had run the Tennessee Valley Authority. I wish I could talk to him now.
Here's Lilienthal, on the far right:
(On the left is Arthur Morgan, and in the middle is Harcourt Morgan. Harcourt Morgan and David Lilienthal eventually ousted Arthur Morgan.)
If you have a moment, read FDR's remarks to the press about the TVA from 1934. There's a great deal in this history that could be relevant to what we're going through now with respect to access to the internet. (Here's another narrative by WPA writers.) And notice how steeped FDR was in energy policy.
I think we'd find that people are willing to publicly fund infrastructure if (1) it has a visible effect and (2) the money is going directly into funding that visible effect. For the TVA, the visible effect was electricity — a simple visible thing like a lightbulb in a lamp — and an improved quality of life. The lightbulb was the killer app for this program.
For our new problem, the visible effect will be universal highspeed access — so people can see that their children are online, no matter where they live — and an improved economy.
The TVA wasn't/isn't a wholly public effort. Private companies were involved in distributing power — but the power was much cheaper than anything private companies had been providing. Private appliance companies sold refrigerators to people using this newly cheaper power.
But the TVA solved an enormous regional problem and provided a yardstick for private companies. Listen to what Harold Ickes said in his 1943 autobiography:
Where would we be today with a scarcity of power already making itself felt, and a greater lack facing us during the next few years, if we had not gone in for the most stupendous program of power development in history?
I'll keep exploring this. I wish David Lilienthal was still here.
[Thanks to Amy Friedlander for talking to me about the TVA.]