Republicans tried to privatize federal utilities in the United States under President Roosevelt and President Truman. Ronald Reagan's political career even got its start after he was fired for criticizing the Tennessee Valley Authority, which was a major purchaser of turbines and other equipment produced by General Electric. What if the TVA and other federally owned utilities such as the Bonneville Power Administration had been privatized? Would there be more development of smaller hydroelectric facilities in the Northwestern United States? How would the development of energy infrastructure in the Southern United States have changed?