It wasn't funded by the government; it was funded by the people of San Francisco and surrounding communities, who, in 1937, needed it to bring jobs to the region.
It wasn't named for its color; it was named for the geographic feature at the mouth of the bay, the Golden Gate, which in turn was named by explorer John C. Fremont for a landmark in Turkey.
In fact, it wasn't even supposed to be golden -- the Navy wanted it striped black and yellow, universal sign of warning. But when the iron girders came out of their shipment containers, they were coated with primer, and the color set off the blue-green of the bay so well, it was kept.
Today, like the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, the Golden Gate Bridge stands as a monument to the immigration that swept through the San Francisco Bay, and as a symbol of American freedom.
