86 



May 18, 1933: Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933. Created a 

 Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to maintain and operate a 

 power plant at Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Other objectives of the 

 act were to improve navigability on and provide flood control of 

 the Tennessee River, to improve surrounding lands and provide 

 for agricultural and industrial development of the Tennessee 

 Valley. (Public Law 17; 48 Stat. 58) 



July 31, 1933: Science Advisory Board under the National Research 

 Council was created by President Roosevelt by Executive Order 

 6238. The Executive Order authorized the Board, acting through 

 the machinery and under the jurisdiction of the NAS-NRC, "to 

 appoint committees to deal with specific problems in the various 

 departments." 



June 19, 1934: Communications Act of 1934. Created a Federal 

 Communications Commission to regulate Interstate and foreign 

 commerce communication by wire or radio. Title III provided for 

 licenses for radio communication. The Act also gave the Presi- 

 dent ware emergency power to direct communications. (Public 

 Law 416; 48 Stat. 1064) 



June 30, 1934: National Resources Board established by Executive 

 Order 6777. The Board was later designated the National Re- 

 sources Committee (Executive Order 7065, June 7, 1935) and then 

 the National Resources Planning Board (July 1, 1939). A princi- 

 pal activity of the Board was the preparation of a three-volume 

 study entitled "Research — A National Resource." 



January 22, 1935: Federal Aviation Commission, appointed by the 

 President as provided in the Air Mail Act of June 12, 1934, sub- 

 mitted its report and set forth broad policy on all phases of avia- 

 tion and the relation of Government thereto. It recommended 

 strengthening of commercial and civil aviation, expansion of air- 

 port facilities, and establishment of more realistic procurement 

 practices from industry. It recommended continued study of air 

 organization toward more effective utilization and closer inter- 

 agency relationships, to include expansion of experimental and 

 development work and its close coordination with the NACA. 



April 27, 1935: The Department of Agriculture was directed to es- 

 tablish a Soil Conservation Service to provide for the protection 

 of land resources against soil erosion through research, preven- 

 tive measures, cooperative arrangements, and land acquisition 

 where necessary. (Public Law 46; 49 Stat. 163) 



June 29, 1935: Bankhead-Jones Act provided for the expansion of 

 scientific, technical, economic and other research into the laws 

 and principles underlying basic problems in agriculture. By ap- 

 propriating funds for basic research, Congress recognized that its 

 value may exceed that of research on specific problems. 



Department of Agriculture implementation of the program au- 

 thorized by this act led to the establishment of regional laborato- 

 ries located according to problems of that area. (Public Law 182; 

 49 Stat. 436) 



August 14, 1935: The Social Security Act was an event of major im- 

 portance in the progress of public health in the United States. 

 This act authorized health grants to the States on the principle 

 that the most effective way to prevent the interstate spread of 

 disease is to improve State and local public health programs. 



