27. Government,, 1917-1980

Summary: Documents CR's interest in the role of government in society by tracking programs, politicians, legislation and actions mostly of the federal government from the onset of the New Deal until 1980. Included is correspondence, newspaper and magazine clippings and other printed matter. In these files CR followed basic government operations; the failures and abuses of bureaucracy; governmental waste and mismanagement; government suppression; CR's view of the ties of government with leftists and fascists; and the influence of business, industry, consumers, farmers, labor and prominent politicians. The files follow several New Deal programs such as the Social Security Act and the Tennessee Valley Authority; the economic and legal theories behind the New Deal; failures of planned economies and the publicity, the reaction, and the breakdown of support for the New Deal. Also included are files CR kept on government personnel including Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Subject files include "government operations"; "government stupidity, ignorance & inefficiency (gobbledegook)"; "government inconsistencies, contradiction of policies, absurdities, curiosities, irregularities and pigheadedness"; "leftist ties to government agencies"; "tendencies toward fascism"; "government errors"; "government waste"; "government misrepresentation"; "government suppression, censorship and repression"; and "government condones." Other files concern government tendencies toward overagrandizement, lack of government innovations, government and labor, government antagonism toward consumers, government help with adulteration, government and farmers or intermediate consumer, governmental ties to business, and government propaganda.

Much of the subject matter in this series overlaps with material in the Consumerism, Labor, and Economics series in the General Files.

Many of these files were created as "New Deal" files and were later changed to "Government" files by CR.