Michael Bradshaw - The Appalachian Regional Commission: Twenty-Five Years of Government Policy

Michael Bradshaw

With a Foreword by
Senator John D. Rockefeller IV

Copyright 1992 by the University Press of Kentucky

Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth,
serving Bellarmine College, Berea College, Centre
College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University,
The Filson Club, Georgetown College, Kentucky
Historical Society, Kentucky State University,
Morehead State University, Murray State University,
Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University,
University of Kentucky, University of Louisville,
and Western Kentucky University.

Editorial and Sales Offices: Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008

Bradshaw, Michael J. (Michael John), 1935-

The Appalachian Regional Commission : twenty-five years of
government policy / Michael Bradshaw.
p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8131-1761-5 (alk. paper) :

1. Appalachian Regional Commission. 2. Appalachian RegionEconomic conditions. I. Title.

HC107. A127B73 1992

353.0082'32'0974dc2091-26942

This book is printed on acid-free paper meeting
the requirements of the American National Standard
for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials.

Maps

Charts

Tables

In 1964 I came to Appalachia as a VISTA volunteer in the community of Emmons, West Virginia. During the two years I lived and worked in Emmons, I tried hard to contribute to an improved quality of life for its citizens. But, frankly, whatever contribution I may have made is dwarfed by what I learned from its citizensabout their perseverance, hard work, and strongly held moral values; about their hopes, dreams, and aspirations. In a larger sense I came to appreciate how far we had to go in assuring all our citizens an equal opportunity to share in the American dream. And I came to appreciate in a much more dramatic sense the need for our nation to address the needs of its own citizens effectively if it intends to maintain its moral and economic leadership on the world stage.

One year after I arrived in Emmons, President Lyndon B. Johnson and the United States Congress demonstrated their commitment to a previously neglected and exploited region of our nation with the creation of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). The ARC was a unique experiment in joint federal-state responsibility and decision-making. It grew out of strong grassroots leadership in the region and strong gubernatorial support, and it was designed to ensure that the people of Appalachia determined for themselves what was needed to help their region achieve economic parity with the rest of the nation.

Since then, as a state legislator, as governor of West Virginia and ARC states co-chairman, and as a United States senator, I have devoted considerable energy and time to supporting the mission, the goals, and the programs of the Appalachian Regional Commission. Today more than ever I am an enthusiastic advocate, even in the face of diminished federal fiscal resources.

First, the ARC has helped make West Virginia and Appalachia more economically competitive with the rest of the nation by dramatically improving the quality of life throughout the region. It has helped to develop a network of clinics to make primary health care available for the first time to many Appalachian residents. It has put in place a network of vocational educational facilities and programs to enable our young people to be better prepared for productive working careers. It has helped to build numerous water and sewer systems to bring modern plumbing to some of the most rural portions of our nation. And it has helped to build a system of highways to bring industry and jobs to our region, with the promise of more to come.

Second, it is the only government program that is a true partnership. Everything that happensfrom policy changes to program developmentis the product of cooperation and consensus between the federal government and the thirteen Appalachian states. And the individual projects are, for the most part, developed and implemented by local officials and local citizens who know their communities best. The Appalachian Regional Commission works the way a government of the people, by the people, and for the people ought to work.

In spite of its strong support and obvious success, however, the ARC has had its critics throughout the years. They range from those who think the federal government knows best, to those who believe the federal government should play no role in local economic development, to those who see special assistance to one region of the country as unfair. I, and many of my colleagues, have answered these critics time and time again. We have pointed out that local people know far better than the Washington bureaucracy how to help their communities; that federal policies clearly have their impact on local economic development and on various regions of the country and therefore the federal government has a responsibility to address such impacts. We have pointed out that special assistance for particular regions of the country has always been an important part of our national mission, from the first national road designed to open in the West, to early railroad construction, to farm subsidies, to hydroelectric power dams in the West. Furthermore, special assistance to Appalachia not only benefits our region; it benefits the entire nation because of the access it provides to our plentiful natural resources, especially our vast reserves of coal.

Now comes Michael Bradshaw, an expert in the field and yet an outsider, a man with a wholly objective perspective, to answer the same critics. In a clear and concise exposition, Bradshaw tells exactly how and in what context the Appalachian Regional Commission was created, what it has done and why, and the difference it has made to our region and in our lives. He describes the tremendous changes that have taken place in the region because of the Commission, and he discusses what the future may hold. He examines the work of the Commission from an outsiders perspective. But because he is so familiar with the region and has conducted so many interviews with its people, he brings to his analysis an insiders knowledge.

During the next several years the long-term domestic priorities of our nation will be the subject of important debate. A book such as this could not be more welcomeor more neededat this time. It is an affirmation that our federal government, by carefully directing resources to one region of the country in partnership with that regions citizens and leaders, can bring dramatic change and, in so doing, enhance the long-term economic health of the entire nation.