Back in San Francisco during the 1930s, he received studio space, a salary, and assistants through the Federal Art Project. He created several animal sculptures for the new Aquatic Park. He also made drawings and models for a 156-foot-tall St. Francis to sit on top of a high hill. It was approved by the city art commission, but it became an object of controversy and ridicule and was never erected. He was commissioned to design a block-long sculptural frieze of athletes for George Washington High School in San Francisco, but then was accused of including likenesses of Joseph Stalin and Harry Bridges. He denied this charge but lost the commission, ostensibly on the grounds that he was taking too long and kept changing the design. He received another federal job in 1940, head of the art division of the National Youth Administration for San Francisco.