Alphabet Soup Agencies

CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS

Created in 1933, took unmarried men aged 18-25 from relief rolls and sent them into the woods and fields to plant trees, build parks, roads, and fight soil erosion on federal lands. Young men sent their $30 a month home to their families and left a legacy of outdoor recreation areas (including the Blue Ridge Parkway). The provided jobs for 2.5 million young men during its ten yea

AGRICULTURAL ADJUSTMENT ACT

Created in 1933, paid farmers for not planting crops in order to reduce surpluses, increase demand for seven major farm commodities, and raise prices. Farm income rose, but many tenants and share-croppers were pushed into the ranks of the unemployed. In 1936 the Supreme Court voided the AAA. RAISE PRICES BY REDUCING PRODUCTION.

FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORP.

\- To restore confidence in banks and encourage savings, Congress created the to insure bank customers against the loss of up to $5,000 their deposits if their bank should fail. Created by the Glass-Steagall Banking Reform Act of 1933.

NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT

\- The (also called the Wagner Act) of 1935 created the to protect the rights or organized labor to organize and collectively bargain with employers.

NATIONAL RECOVERY ADMINISTRATION

- The of 1933 created to promote economic recovery by ending wage and price deflation and restoring competition. The set business codes and quotas. Under its symbol of a blue eagle and slogan ("We Do Our Part"), the temporarily restored investor confidence and consumer morale, but it failed to stimulate industrial production.

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

\- The was created in 1934 to serve as a federal "watchdog" administrative agency to protect public and private investors from stock market fraud, deception and insider manipulation on Wall Street. The is still in existence \[its reputation was tarnished a bit by the Enron collapse in 2001-02\].

TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY

\- Perhaps the most ambitious undertaking of the New Deal, was a comprehensive federal agency created in 1933 for the economic development of the Tennessee River watershed. It built twenty dams to control flooding, generate hydroelectrical power, increase agricultural production, and revitalize the Tennessee Valley region. It also provided jobs, low-cost housing, reforestation and other services.

SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

- 1935, established to administer a national pension fund for retired persons, an unemployment insurance system, and public assistance programs for dependent mothers, children, and the physically disabled. The pension was financed by a payroll tax to begin in 1937. It exists to this day as the nation's most important and expensive domestic program, covering over 40 million Americans and accounting for about one-fourth of the federal budget.

WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION

\- Established under the $4.8 billion Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935, the lasted until 1943 and employed at least 8.5 million people at an average of $2 a day. They built thousands of roads, bridges, schools, post offices and other public construction projects. In addition, under the Arts Program, thousands of unemployed writers, musicians, artists, actors, and photographers temporarily went on the federal payroll, producing public projects ranging from murals to national park guidebooks.\*

Public Works Administration

\- Rebuild infrastructure

Bank Holiday

\- closed all banks until gov. examiners could investigate their financial condition; only sound/solvent banks were allowed to reopen

Reconstruction Finance Corporation

\- Agency established in 1932 to provide emergency relief to large businesses, insurance companies, railroads, and banks. Benefits would "trickle down" to smaller businesses.