Nonsense.
Fact.
Of course, one can dismiss it as mere coincidence that societal mores declined as it developed. Which it may be.
But notwithstanding, the fact that the federal government instituted it as a public works project still gave it a real boost as to the growth of big government. Why would they push the private sector out of the ownership and funding part of it, when the private sector could have developed it as easily?—after all, private sector firms were contracted to design and build them, so private capital could have funded them too with the federal government completely out of the way.