A centerpiece of the New Deal, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was an ambitious effort to develop one the nation's poorest regions, primarily through subsidized public power. At its peak in the early1950s, these subsidies equalled 10% of typical household income in the region. A highly visible exemplar of government beneficence, the TVA served as a potent symbolic counterweight to White Southerners' growing fears of federal power. While the South as a whole turned sharply rightward, the TVA region's realignment lagged behind. Republican presidential vote share was 1–5 percentage points lower in counties covered by the TVA than comparable non-TVA counties, and TVA representatives voted substantially less conservatively in Congress as well. These effects did not persist, however; by the late 1960s, after federal subsidies were cut off, the TVA region converged politically with the rest of the South. The TVA thus serves as a powerful but temporary example of policy feedback on mass behavior and congressional representation.

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