In June 1932, the Middle West Utility empire, one of the largest electric holding companies operating in 39 U.S. states went bankrupt, destroying the life savings of hundreds of thousands of small investors across the east and mid-west. New York Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was a public power supporter campaigned on the issue of reforming the electric industry and won election as the country's 32nd president. His initial years in office included large public works projects such as the Tennessee Valley Authority, Bonneville Power Administration and California's Central Valley Project. These were all massive, federally funded water and power projects that put tens of thousands of people to work. The most important of these projects was the Rural Electrification Administration that finally brought electricity to rural America which was shunned by the country's urban-based electric industry as there was no profit to be made.