ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 explores the political tale of the program in its waning years, when its efforts to create a more inclusive society prompted several agencies in Washington to threaten its very existence. It offers a fresh interpretation of how rival federal agencies undermined the WPA nursery schools and obstructed the program’s efforts to establish public nursery schools. Director Grace Langdon fought off federal agency attempts to take over WPA nursery schools and succeeded in transforming many of the 1,500 WPA nursery schools into Lanham Children’s Centers, which remained in operation under her leadership until the end of World War II. This chapter delineates how WPA nursery schools became identified with childcare for working mothers in defense industries. It then investigates how the Children’s Bureau and other rival agencies discredited the WPA nursery school program when they wanted control over childcare options for working mothers. It concludes by examining the role of WPA nursery school leaders in the most important childcare battle during wartime, the Thomas Bill hearings of 1943, which became part of the willful erasure of program accomplishments by political rivals.
