FDR'S GOVERNMENT: THE ROOTS OF TODAY'S FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY
Fifty years after his death plunged America into mourning, the legacy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt is under siege as never before.
As ceremonies and tree plantings across the country begin today to mark the half-century that has passed since the death of America's 32nd president on April 12, 1945, argument rages over the welfare state he created. And a dispirited Democratic Party is asking whether it can survive the Republican onslaught.
FDR set in motion activist, programs that brought government into every corner of American life.
For Roosevelt, change was policy. "It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something," he said.
To that end, he fashioned the New Deal; he built dams and brought electricity to millions, created farm subsidies and unemployment insurance, regulated a stock market gone out of control, set up a social security program for the elderly and gave unions the right to organize.
Led by House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), Republicans argue the welfare state and the federal bureaucracy that FDR created and nurtured has gotten out of hand.
Much of what FDR accomplished now is under attack and pieces of the federal bureaucracy that were born during the Roosevelt years face privatization, rethinking, consolidation and even elimination.
Listed below are the agencies created between 1933 and 1945, the years Roosevelt was in office. While some no longer exist in the form they were first created, many of their functions continue, absorbed by other federal agencies and departments in a greatly expanded executive branch.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND COMMISSIONS FORMED DURING THE ROOSEVELT YEARS:
1933
* Civilian Conservation Corps: Provided jobs for the unemployed.
* Farm Credit Administration: Provided a credit system for farmers.
* Federal Civil Works Administration: Provided jobs through federal works projects.
* Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC): Insures bank deposits.
* Federal Emergency Relief Administration: Cooperated with the states in relieving hardships caused by unemployment and drought. (Today, Federal Emergency Management Administration).
* Immigration and Naturalization Service: Regulates immigration.
* National Labor Board: Remedied unlawful labor practices.
* National Recovery Administration: Promoted recovery from the Depression.
* Public Works Administration: Increased employment and purchasing power through construction of useful public works, such as bridges, in various states.
* Tennessee Valley Authority: Provides power to the south-central states.
1934
* Bureau of Air Commerce: Early incarnation of the Federal Aviation Administration.
* Export-Import Bank of Washington: Regulates trade between United States and foreign countries.
* Federal Communications Commission (FCC): Regulates radio, telephone and telegraph systems.
* Federal Housing Administration (FHA): Insures private lending companies against loss on home mortgage loans and on loans for improving small properties.
* National Archives and Records Service: Manages U.S. government records.
* Securities and Exchange Commission: Protectes the public from investing in unsafe securities and regulates stock market practices.
1935
* National Labor Relations Board: Administeres the National Labor Relations Act.
* National Youth Administration: Provided job training for unemployed youths and part-time work for needy students.
* Resettlement Administration: Resettled and rehabilitated farm tenants and sharecroppers.
* Rural Electrification Administration: Aided farmers in electrification of homes.
* Social Security Board: Provides unemployment relief and old-age pensions. (Today, Social Security Administration).
* Works Progress Administration: Provided work for the needy in public works projects.
1937
* Farm Security Administration: Provided resettlement and economic help for farm families.
1938
* Air Safety Board: Investigated accidents. (Today, National Transportation Safety Board).
* Civil Aeronautics Administration: (Today, Federal Aviation Administration).
* Civil Aeronautics Authority. (Today, Federal Aviation Administration).
* Federal Crop Insurance Corp.: Provides insurance protection against unavoidable loss of certain crops.
1939
* Works Projects Administration: Created and administered work relief projects.
* Federal Works Agency: Administered by the WPA.
1940
* Bureau of the Public Debt: Issued government securities.
* Civil Aeronautics Board: Regulated airline economics and investigated accidents.
* Defense Plant Corp.: Issued government-backed loans and guarantees to enlarge U.S. industrial facilities to combat Nazi threat.
* National Defense Research Committee: Wartime research effort.
* Selective Service System: Registered civilians for the military.
1941
* Committee on Fair Employment Practices: Encouraged fair employment.
* Office of Price Administration: Administered rationing programs for tires, gasoline, meat, sugar and other commodities.
* Office of Scientific Research and Development: Joint civilian-military research efforts, including development of the atomic bomb.
1942
* Office of Strategic Services: (Today, a branch of the Central Intelligence Agency).
* Office of War Information: World War II propaganda agency.
* War Manpower Commission: Mobilized manpower for wartime.
* War Production Board: Mobilized and allocated industrial facilities and plants for wartime.
SOURCES: Reuter; The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Institutions: Government Agencies; World Book Encyclopedia
CAPTION: Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act on Aug. 14, 1935. Labor Secretary Frances Perkins stands directly behind him.
CAPTION: Women at Social Security's Baltimore offices in 1936 punch code cards as record-keeping for old-age pensions began.
CAPTION: In Roosevelt's first term, he signed legislation that led to dams that harnessed the power of the Tennessee River to create electricity. |
