Alphabet agencies

Cartoon parody of FDR's New Deal using alphabet cards

In total, at least 100 offices were created during Roosevelt's terms of office as part of the New Deal, and "even the Comptroller-General of the United States, who audits the government's accounts, declared he had never heard of some of them."^[1] While previously all monetary appropriations had been separately passed by Act of Congress, as part of their power of the purse; the National Industrial Recovery Act allowed Roosevelt to allocate $3.3 billion without Congress (as much as had been previously spent by government in ten years time), through executive orders and other means. These powers were used to create many of the alphabet agencies. Other laws were passed allowing the new bureaus to pass their own directives within a wide sphere of authority.^[1] After the National Industrial Recovery Act was found to be unconstitutional, many of the agencies created under it remained.

Some alphabet agencies were established by Congress, such as the Tennessee Valley Authority. Others were established through Roosevelt executive orders, such as the Works Progress Administration and the Office of Censorship, or were part of larger programs such as the many that belonged to the Works Progress Administration. The agencies were sometimes referred to as alphabet soup. Some of the agencies still exist today, while others have merged with other departments and agencies or were abolished, or found unconstitutional.

Partial list of Alphabet Agencies organizations

• AAA - Agricultural Adjustment Act, 1933
• CAA - Civil Aeronautics Authority (now Federal Aviation Administration), 1933
• CCC - Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933
• CCC - Commodity Credit Corporation, 1933
• CWA - Civil Works Administration, 1933
• EBA - Emergency Banking Act, 1933\
• EPA - Environmental Protection Agency, 1970
• FAP - Federal Art Project, part of WPA, 1935
• FCA - Farm Credit Administration, 1933
• FCC - Federal Communications Commission, 1934
• FDIC - Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 1933
• FERA - Federal Emergency Relief Administration, 1933
• FHA - Federal Housing Administration, 1934
• FLA - Federal Loan Agency, 1939
• FMP - Federal Music Project, part of WPA 1935
• FSA - Farm Security Administration, 1935
• FSRC - Federal Surplus Relief Corporation, 1933
• FTP - Federal Theatre Project, part of WPA 1935
• FWA - Federal Works Agency, 1939
• FWP - Federal Writers' Project, part of WPA 1935
• FLSA - Fair labor standards act , 1938
• HOLC - Home Owners Loan Corporation, 1933
• NIRA - National Industrial Recovery Act, 1933
• NLRA - National Labor Relations Act, 1935
• NLRB - National Labor Relations Board/The Wagner Act , 1934
• NRA - National Recovery Administration, 1933
• PRRA - Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration, 1933
• PWA - Public Works Administration, 1933
• RA - Resettlement Administration, 1935
• REA - Rural Electrification Administration (now Rural Utilities Service), 1935
• RFC - Reconstruction Finance Corporation (originally a Hoover agency), 1932
• SEC - Securities and Exchange Commission, 1934
• SSA - Social Security Administration, 1935
• SSB - Social Security Board (now Social Security Administration), 1935
• TVA - Tennessee Valley Authority, 1933
• USHA - United States Housing Authority, 1937
• USMC - United States Maritime Commission, 1936
• WPA - Works Progress Administration, 1935

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Flynn, John. The Roosevelt Myth, Garden City Books, 1948.