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Civil Works Administration
The New Deal was a liberal, evolutionary reform program that did not represent a revolutionary break from the past. Though radical, The New Deal did not shake the very core of American existence, as would be required of a revolution. It was a Governmental supplement to the well being of its citizens, which was slowly deteriorating. American ideology dating back to pre-Revolutionary War days rings true through The New Deal, e.g. justice for the "common man." Walter Lippman was spot on in calling Franklin Delano Roosevelt a "kind of amiable Boy Scout," especially in the framework of the Civil Workers Administration.

The CWA brought work to over 4 million Americans in late 1933 and early 1934, which accounted for about 3% of the total population. Those who went to work for the Civil Workers Administration did what would now, coincidentally, be referred to as "Boy Scout" work. Formerly unemployed men and women would shovel snow, rake leaves, and clean up National parks through that winter. The CWA, like The New Deal, was enormously unpopular with "small government" Republicans, because it made the chief employer of millions the Federal Government. The program was quickly dismantled in 1934 after Roosevelt saw the expenditures of his endeavor. Over $1 Billion was spent in wages alone. He would also later go on to say that a program such as this may lead the general public to believe that the Depression would be on-going.
Though The New Deal and the CWA, in hindsight, could have been slippery slopes to Socialism, they were something. The New Deal wasn't a revolutionary break from traditional values, but rather a desperate attempt by the Federal Government to reassure Americans that the Government did care and would be actively involved in their wellbeing. FDR put it best in his First Inaugural Address (March 4, 1933) when he said, "Above all, try something." Though the program was ultimately kyboshed, it helped many people to have hope in the government, which to most would be viewed as a major success.
The CWA was an admirable endeavor undertaken by an "Amiable Boy Scout." FDR was able to foresee the rough winter that lied ahead and implemented what was called a "make work" program. Even though yard work and shoveling snow aren't necessary to the survival of the American "machine," the employment of more than 3% was a friendly and warm gesture that was necessary.
The abolishment of the Federal Government's "laissez faire" approach to the economy was possibly the most liberal and evolutionary of any other reforms of The New Deal. What would have formerly been unheard of was now commonplace as the government used its pull to influence the American Economy. This is, once again, not revolutionary but evolutionary, as it was to stimulate an economy boom.
As was expected, The New deal was not as successful as some had hoped it would be. To some, however, it was affirmation in their faith in a government, which had, up until that point, seemed apathetic when it came to the financial status of its citizens. So, the "Amiable Boy Scout" failed in the short term, in lifting the country up by its proverbial bootstraps, but the long term rebound is proof of his success as a modernist, liberal, evolutionary.

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