Rural Electrification Act
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Search complete. 7 mentions across 6 episodes found for "Rural Electrification Act".
Sep 29, 2026
speaker_1HOST
Where just like we stated, rural electrification did not reach most Idaho farms until the late 1930s, 1940s.
speaker_1HOST
And this is exactly why the Rural Electrification Act was installed in 1936.
speaker_1HOST
Because before 1936, ninety percent of US farms had no electricity.
speaker_1HOST
So now we know that this twenty-one-year-old was supposedly creating the TV by looking over at some corn, and the foundational idea for one of the most complex electronic systems ever built is claimed to have come from a rural farm that likely had no electricity.
Chad LawHOST
So the farmers did it themselves.
Chad LawHOST
Congress passed the Rural Electrification Act in 1936 and lent them the money, and they formed cooperatives, strung their own wires, and turned on their own lights.
Chad LawHOST
And yes, I know that's a conservative up here bragging on Franklin Roosevelt's program, but somebody checked my temperature.
Chad LawHOST
But hey, the government lent the money and the farmers built the thing, and that's the part I'm bragging.
Don BowmanGUEST
And I think that through discussions with my grandfather that said, you know, it's very difficult to pay for and have customers pay for electricity during this depression, but it's so needed, we need help.
Don BowmanGUEST
So, I guess the story goes, through conversations with George Aiken and FDR, a Rural Electrification Act got put into place and was signed.
Don BowmanGUEST
Suddenly, money was available.
Don BowmanGUEST
This money didn't first go to the idea that it would go to cooperatives.
Victoria CollinGUEST
So we've got people working for people who need help with housing, We have tons of rural electric cooperatives across the country.
Victoria CollinGUEST
You think of the Rural Electrification Act back in the 1930s, how electricity came to those rural parts of America.
Victoria CollinGUEST
Of course, now we're working on broadband.
Victoria CollinGUEST
But same idea, right? And the Rural Business Cooperative Service, really our mission is about access to capital.
HaroldVOICE_ACTOR
I listen, most of the time.
ReaderVOICE_ACTOR
A lot of changes took place in the mid-1930s, including the Rural Electrification Administration, or REA.
JakeVOICE_ACTOR
You know, Teddy Roosevelt was president, too.
HaroldVOICE_ACTOR
Right.
speaker_0HOST
Then in 1935, something happened that helped make rural electrification possible.
speaker_0HOST
President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Administration through Executive Order 7037.
speaker_0HOST
The order established a federal program to help finance electric infrastructure in rural areas.
speaker_0HOST
A year later, the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 gave the program a permanent statutory foundation.
speaker_0HOST
You're not deciding what kind of light bulb to buy.
speaker_0HOST
You're creating the electric system that will make the light bulb work.
speaker_0HOST
On August 26, 1936, the Henry County REMC Board signed a construction loan contract with the Rural Electrification Administration.
speaker_0HOST
The amount? $413,000.