Crises and the Creation and Reorganization of Executive Branch Agencies Since then, the Cabinet of the President of the United States has expanded from five members to 15, several independent and non-independent agencies as well as several independent.82 Many Executive Branch agencies were established during or immediately following a major crisis, often of existential importance. The first three Executive Branch agencies (State, War, and Treasury) were created shortly after the Revolutionary War, with the Treasury Department created to try to help pay for the war. The Department of the Interior was created by Congress following the conclusion of the Mexican-American War. The Department of Labor was originally proposed after the Civil War, because, as the labor leader William Sylvis said, no department had its “sole object the care and protection of labor.”83 The Department of Labor was eventually separated from the Department of Commerce and created on March 4, 1913, hesitantly signed into law by President Taft within the Senate Chambers, just hours before President Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated. The Department of Defense (a consolidation of the Department of War and the Department of the Navy) was created following the crises of World War I and World War II, the Department of Energy was established after the energy crisis of the 1970’s, and the Department of Homeland Security was created as an amalgamation of 22 other smaller agencies after the crisis of 9/11. Other agencies and government entities followed the same pattern. The President and Congress established the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to restore the public’s trust in the stock market following the 1929 market crash, and the FTC was created to address the 19th-century monopolistic trust crisis.
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President Biden’s Cabinet includes the heads of 15 departments led by the Secretaries of Agriculture, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, Transportation, State, Treasury, Veterans Affairs and the Attorney General. It also includes the White House Chief of Staff, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, the Director of National Intelligence, the US Trade Representative, the heads of the Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Management and Budget, Council of Economic Advisors, Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Small Business Administration.
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Grossman, Jonathan, The Origin of the Department of Labor, https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/ history/dolorigabridge
Crisis and Congress: Technology, Information, and the Future of Governance
