U.S. History in Abbreviations Trivia Quiz

Answer: IWW

IWW stood for the Industrial Workers of the World. It was founded on the belief that all workers should belong to a single union and the idea that the wage system should be abolished. That the organization was considered "left Wing" by federal and states' governments goes without saying.

In its heyday it had an active membership of over 100,000 members and controlled the actions of about 300,000 more. Because of its many "radical" ideas, proposals and platforms various governmental agencies cracked down on the IWW, causing the arrest of many of its leaders. Repression peaked in the late 1920s and early 1930s which resulted in quickly declining membership and influence.

Answer: GAR

The GAR, the Grand Army of the Republic, was formed as fraternal organization of Union Army veterans immediately after the end of the Civil War. The GAR was organized along military line with "Departments" and "posts" and its members wearing military style organizational uniforms. From 1868 to 1908 no Republican presidential candidate was nominated unless he had the GAR endorsement. Every year between 1866 and 1949 an annual "encampment" of the GAR was held.

Besides the establishment of Memorial Day, the GAR was influential in establishing a system of Old Soldiers' Homes which evolved into the Veterans Administration.

Answer: NRA

The National Recovery Administration, NRA, was created as part of the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933. Among other powers, the administration was empowered to set minimum wages and maximum working hours for industrial workers, as well as enabling industrial leaders to set base prices for their products. By a 9-0 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the NRA unconstitutional because it was deemed to violate the principle of separation of powers in the U.S. Constitution.

Answer: CCC

The CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps, was formed to provide work for young men, aged 17 to 28, from unemployed families during the Great Depression . The CCC operated under the control of the Department of Labor with the U.S. Army operating the various work camps.

The camps were geared to several specific tasks such as curbing soil erosion, reforestation, and creation and repair of national parks and trails. Initial pay for a member was $30 with $25 being sent back to the members family. After the draft started in 1940 enrollment quickly dropped, and with the start of WW2 the program stopped in 1942.

Answer: WPA

The Works Progress Administration, WPA, was later renamed the Works Projects Administration in 1939. A particular feature of this program were the special programs that provided employment for artists and writers in their craft, painting and sculpting artistic works for the various federal and state buildings constructed by the WPA. Writers were commissioned to write articles about and histories of the WPA.

Answer: BPOE

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the BPOE, has evolved from an association of men, who originally formed to avoid the opening laws of New York City controlling city taverns, into a national fraternal and charitable organization which operates social programs ranging from drug rehabilitation to veterans' services.

The BPOE is based on local chapters or "lodges" that are known for their ability to respond quickly, to local local charitable needs. The initials, BPOE, are often said to stand for "Best People on Earth".

Answer: UMWA

The United Mine Workers of America, UMWA, was formed from the merger of The Knights of Labor, and the National Progressive Union of Miners and Mine Laborers. In 1920 John L. Lewis became president of the union. For the next 40 years Lewis led the union to become, arguably, the most influential labor unions in the country in the 1940s and early 1950s.

His aggressive leadership resulted in strikes and threatened strikes in the war years of the 1940s. This, ultimately, lead to the passage of the Taft-Hartley labor relations act, by Congress, in 1947. Among other things, the act outlawed "closed shops" and required a mandatory 60 day "notice" by either labor or management to the other before instigating strike or lock-out action.

Answer: REA

The Rural Electrification Administration, REA, was created in 1935 to bring the benefits of electricity to large areas of the United States that were still without power in the 1930s. Private power companies had been slow to extend their power grids to rural areas because of low profitability. With a name change to the Rural Utilities Service, the agency continues to provide and coordinate programs of electrification, water, waste management, and telecommunications under the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Answer: OSS

The Office of Strategic Services, the OSS, was formed as a wartime intelligence gathering agency to coordinate what had been, up to that time, disparate and overlapping functions of several other existing intelligence gathering groups. In September, 1945, by order of President Harry Truman, the OSS was disbanded.

Its function reverted to what was essentially the pre-WW2 method of intelligence operations. However, the National Security Act of 1947 created the Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, organized along the line of the wartime OSS.

Answer: AUS

The "Army of the United States", AUS, was established to manage the large influx of draftees during the Second World War, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The designation AUS was used as a suffix in official papers and titles to differentiate the AUS soldier from a Regular Army member, e.g. "Sergeant Smith, AUS" instead of "Sergeant Smith, USA" No such distinction was made for Navy or Marine Corps personnel, although they were usually designated as reserve, e.g. USNR or MCR. Officers of the Regular Army, (USA) could be appointed to the AUS in temporary higher ranks for wartime service. Thus a captain in the USA could (and often did) hold the rank of colonel, or higher, in the AUS.