The New Deal's Alphabet Agenices, 9-14

Here are the rest of the Alphabet Agencies on our list, starting with the National Labor Relations Act.

9. NLRA (National Labor Relations Act)

Also known as the Wagner Act of 1935, this reform legislation created the National Labor Relations Board, whose purpose was to protect the rights of organized labor by legalizing practices such as "closed shops" in which only union members could work and collectively bargain.

10. REA (Rural Electrification Administration)

The purpose of this legislation was to supply electricity to rural communities. Before the onset of the New Deal, only 10 percent of areas outside cities had electricity. Established in 1935, the REA granted low-cost loans to farm cooperatives to bring electric power into their communities. The program was so successful that 98 percent of American farms were equipped with electric power under this initiative.

11. SSA (Social Security Administration)

The original purpose of the SSA, which was established in August 1935 under the Social Security Act, was to administer a national pension fund for retired persons, an unemployment insurance system, and a public assistance program for dependent mothers, children, and the physically disabled. Today, it is the nation's most important and expensive domestic program, covering nearly 49 million Americans and accounting for about 20 percent of the federal budget. However, as the population ages, more and more funds will be needed to keep recipients above the ever-shifting poverty line. Many claim that if nothing is done to adjust social security benefits and taxes, the system will be unable to meet its financial obligations after the year 2040.

12. WPA (Works Progress Administration)

The WPA, which lasted from 1935 to 1943, was the largest and most comprehensive New Deal agency, affecting every American locality. It employed more than eight million people to build roads and highways, bridges, schools, airports, parks, and other public projects. In total, the WPA built 650,000 miles of roads, 78,000 bridges, 125,000 buildings, and 700 miles of airport runways. Under the arts program, many artists, photographers, writers, and actors became government employees, working on a myriad of public projects ranging from painting murals to writing national park guidebooks.

13. FSA (Farm Security Administration)

This relief organization was originally called the Resettlement Administration Act of 1935. Its purpose was to improve the lot of the poor farmers so poignantly depicted in John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath. The FSA established temporary housing for Dust Bowl refugees from Oklahoma and Arkansas who had migrated to California in hopes of finding employment. In total, the FSA loaned more than a billion dollars to farmers and set up many camps for destitute migrant workers.

14. FLSA (Fair Labor Standard Act)

This labor law, enacted in 1938, was the last major piece of New Deal legislation intended to reform the economy, and it is still with us today. This law established the minimum wage, which at the time was twenty-five cents an hour. It also set the standard for the 40-hour work week and banned the use of child labor.

Helen Davies, Marjorie Dorfman, Mary Fons, Deborah Hawkins, Martin Hintz, Linnea Lundgren, David Priess, Julia Clark Robinson, Paul Seaburn, Heidi Stevens, and Steve Theunissen