Alphabet agencies

Editorial cartoons parodied the New Deal as Roosevelt's private game with alphabetical agencies.

The alphabet soup (also New Deal agencies) were the U.S. federal government agencies created as part of the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The earliest agencies were created to combat the Great Depression in the United States and were established during Roosevelt's first 100 days in office in 1933. William Safire notes that the phrase "gave color to the charge of excessive bureaucracy." Democrat Al Smith, who turned against Roosevelt, said his government was “submerged in a bowl of alphabet soup."^[1]

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."^[2] 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.^[2] Even though 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

Initialism	Year	Agency
AAA	1933	Agricultural Adjustment Administration
CCC	1933	Civilian Conservation Corps
CWA	1933	Civil Works Administration
DRS	1935	Drought Relief Service
DSH	1933	Subsistence Homesteads Division
EBA	1933	Emergency Banking Act
FAA	1933	Federal Aviation Administration
FAP	1935	Federal Art Project (part of WPA)
FCA	1933	Farm Credit Administration
FCC	1934	Federal Communications Commission
FDIC	1933	Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
FERA	1933	Federal Emergency Relief Administration
FHA	1934	Federal Housing Administration
FLSA	1938	Fair Labor Standards Act
FMP	1935	Federal Music Project (part of WPA)
FSA	1935	Farm Security Administration
FSRC	1933	Federal Surplus Relief Corporation
FTP	1935	Federal Theatre Project (part of WPA)
FWA	1939	Federal Works Agency
FWP	1935	Federal Writers' Project (part of WPA)
HOLC	1933	Home Owners' Loan Corporation
NIRA	1933	National Industrial Recovery Act
NLRA	1935	National Labor Relations Act
NLRB	1934	National Labor Relations Board/The Wagner Act
NRA	1933	National Recovery Administration
NYA	1935	National Youth Administration
PRRA	1933	Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration
PWA	1933	Public Works Administration
RA	1935	Resettlement Administration
REA	1935	Rural Electrification Administration (now Rural Utilities Service)
SEC	1934	Securities and Exchange Commission
SSA	1935	Social Security Administration
SSB	1935	Social Security Board (now Social Security Administration)
TVA	1933	Tennessee Valley Authority
USHA	1937	United States Housing Authority
USMC	1936	United States Maritime Commission
WPA	1935	Works Progress Administration

Notes

1. William Safire (2008). Safire's Political Dictionary. Oxford University Press. p. 15.
2. Flynn, John. The Roosevelt Myth, Garden City Books, 1948.