"Mr. TVA": Grass-Roots Development, David Lilienthal, and the Rise and Fall of the Tennessee Valley Authority as a Symbol for U.S. Overseas Development, 1933-1973

The word “Tennessee” is well known all the way across from the Mediterranean to the Pacific.…They know about Tennessee because they have heard of the Tennessee Valley Authority. It is the Tennessee Valley Authority that fits their needs and will solve many of their basic problems. The TVA can also be utilized as one of the major influences to turn back the tide of communism which today threatens to engulf Asia. TVA are magic letters the world over. It comes as a surprise to some visitors that the national monument to Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Washington, D.C. is a hydraulic monument. Throughout, cascades of water are used as metaphors for the crises confronted by his administration. At one site the viewer is faced with a controlled stream of water rushing down a set of stone steps. Etched into a wall next to this sculpture is a quote by FDR: “It is time to extend planning to a wider field, in this instance comprehending in one great project many states directly concerned with the basin of one of our greatest rivers.”