alphabet agencies
Depression-era federal programs
Alphabet agencies are government organizations known by their initials rather than full names: the FBI, CIA, IRS, EPA.
The term originated during the New Deal era, when Franklin Roosevelt created numerous federal programs—the NRA, WPA, CCC—that Americans tracked by acronym.
Today it applies broadly to any lettered government body, often with a hint of bureaucratic sprawl or faceless authority: The alphabet agencies were all over the case.
- Civilian Conservation CorpsDepression-era youth employment program
- DHSBat-only roster spots
- CIAU.S. foreign intelligence service
- FBIU.S. domestic intelligence agency
- bureausAdministrative divisions or dressers
authorities · rural electrification · organizations · governments · administrations · New Deal · file · relief programs · NSA · sec · TVA · Glass-Steagall Act · Social Security Act · regulations · federal bureaucracy · FDR · report · executive order
- Depression EraGreat Depression, Hooverville, breadline, dust storms, soup kitchen
alphabet agenciesDepartment of State
U.S. foreign affairs agency
Department of Justice · Department of Defense · National Park Service
alphabet agenciesprivate enterprise
Individually owned business operation
private sector · private corporations · state governments · local government · non-governmental organizations
alphabet agencieslaissez-faire economics
Minimal state economic involvement
limited government · deregulation · laissez-faire · privatization · rugged individualism
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