May 18, 1933: The Tennessee Valley Authority

Chickamauga Dam, Tennessee River,

Chattanooga, with Tennessee Route 153 above it

May 18, 1933: President Franklin D. Roosevelt creates the Tennessee Valley Authority, one of the most tangible products of his New Deal. Because it was shortened to "TVA," it became one of his agencies known as the "Alphabet Soup."

The TVA is a federally-owned electric utility corporation. Its service area covers all of the State of Tennessee; portions of Alabama, Mississippi and Kentucky; and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia; all of it considered to be part of the Appalachian Mountains (including such sub-ranges as the Smokies in in Tennessee and North Carolina and the Shenandoahs of Virginia).

While owned by the federal government, TVA receives no taxpayer funding, and operates similarly to a private for-profit company. It is headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, and is the 6th-largest power supplier and largest public utility in the country.

Its initial purpose was to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, regional planning and economic development to the Tennessee River Valley, a region that had suffered from lack of infrastructure and poverty during the Great Depression, relative to the rest of the nation. The TVA was envisioned both as a power supplier and a regional economic development agency that would work to help modernize the region's economy and society. Later it evolved primarily into an electric utility. It was the first large regional planning agency of the U.S. federal government and remains the largest.

The TVA also became the global model for the United States' later efforts to help modernize agrarian societies in the developing world. It has been documented as a success in its efforts to modernize the Tennessee Valley, and helping to recruit new employment opportunities to the region.

Being one of FDR's successes, conservatives have always despised it. In 1964, Senator Barry Goldwater made ending its operation part of the Republican Party platform. It was a big reason why, despite being a Southern State and potentially receptive to his opposition to that year's Civil Rights Act, Tennessee voted for President Lyndon B. Johnson in that election.

Although a story from that election shows that people don't always vote for a candidate for the right reasons. The story is told of a network's reporter who asked a woman who she was voting for, and why. She said she was voting for Johnson, "Because Goldwater wants to take my TV away." It took the reporter a minute to figure out what she was talking about, and he said, "Ma'am, Goldwater doesn't want to get rid of TV. He wants to get rid of the TVA, the Tennessee Valley Authority." And the woman said, "I'm not taking any chances!"

But after that, the States most benefiting from FDR's work have betrayed his vision by voting Republican, because of race, religion and guns. Still, they have never again dared to touch the TVA. It remains in place, because the people there still need it and want it.

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May 18, 1933 was a Thursday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-1 at Yankee Stadium. Johnny Allen went the distance for the win. Joe Sewell hit a home run. Babe Ruth went 1-for-2 with 2 walks. Lou Gehrig went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* A doubleheader was split at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The New York Giants won the opener, 3-0. Hal Schumacher pitched a 6-hit shutout to beat Burleigh Grimes. The Chicago Cubs won the nightcap, 10-1. The only Giant run came on a home run by Mel Ott.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 14-5 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. 

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Boston Red Sox, 8-2 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox, 9-1 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Jimmie Foxx went 0-for-2 -- with 3 walks.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Washington Senators, 6-5 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Ed Morgan singled home the winning run in the top of the 10th inning.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-2 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Between them, the brothers Paul and Lloyd Waner went 5-for-9, with Paul contributing 2 RBIs.

* And the Cincinnati Reds beat the Boston Braves, 1-0 at Redland Field in Cincinnati. The ballpark was renamed Crosley Field the next year, when radio company boss Powel Crosley bought the team. Si Johnson allowed just 1 hit, a 2nd-inning single by Buck Jordan.