Henry J. Kaiser Builds Hoover Dam and U.S. Warships - HISTORY

See how Henry Kaiser's love for a young lady spurred him to build the Hoover Dam and the great military war ships.

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On September 30, 1935, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes formally dedicates the Hoover Dam during a ceremony attended by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The dam was built by thousands of workers in one of America's most inhospitable environments.

Did you know that the Hoover Dam supplies electricity to more than 20 million people? Get all the facts on this marvel of engineering.

In a This Day in History video, learn that on July 7, 1930, construction began on the Hoover Dam. Twenty-thousand unemployed laborers happily took on the job, but it was a grueling and dangerous task between the scorching desert heat and constant dynamite blasts. When finished, Hoover was the largest dam in the world, standing 726 feet high.

On October 18, 1931, as the nation faces a deepening depression, President Herbert Hoover announces in his radio address the inauguration of a six-week campaign to raise local relief funds to aid the unemployed.

In a September 1940 address to the American Legion, J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI, warns of the growing threat of subversive forces in the United States.

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