Editing Rural Utilities Service (section)

== Rural Electrification Administration ==
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| caption1  = One of the posters designed by [[Lester Beall]] in the 1930s to promote the Rural Electrification Administration of the U.S. Department of Agriculture
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The RUS originated with the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), one of the agencies created under the New Deal in 1935 to promote [[rural electrification]]. The REA was created by [[s:Executive Order 7037|executive order]] on May 11, 1935, by President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]].<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-7037-establishing-the-rural-electrification-administration |title= Franklin D. Roosevelt: Executive Order 7037 Establishing the Rural Electrification Administration, May 11, 1935 |author1=Peters, Gerhard |author2=Woolley, John T |publisher = University of California - Santa Barbara |work= The American Presidency Project |access-date=February 10, 2021}}</ref> Enacted the following year, the [[Rural Electrification Act]] provided federal loans for the installation of [[electrical distribution]] systems to serve [[Rural America|rural areas of the United States]].

In the 1930s, the U.S. lagged behind Europe in providing electricity to rural areas. In 1934, less than 11% of U.S. farms had electricity. That same year, in France and Germany, nearly 90% of farms had electricity.
Backed by the 1936 [[Rural Electrification Act]] the REA gave loans and other help to rural organizations setting up their own power systems and was one of the [[New Deal]]'s most successful programs.<ref>{{cite web|last1=McChesney|first1=Paul|last2=Podesta|first2=John|title=Let There Be Wi-Fi|date=2 January 2006 |url=https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/januaryfebruary-2006/let-there-be-wi-fi|publisher=Washington Monthly|access-date=3 March 2016|ref=washingtonmonthly}}</ref> By 1937, hundreds of new municipal power utilities were created nationwide. In 1939, 288,000 households had their electricity provided by rural electric cooperatives. Most of these electric co-ops had applied for and received loans from REA. By 1942, nearly 50% of US farms had electricity, and by 1952 almost all US farms had electricity.<ref>''FDR: The New Deal Years, 1933–1937'', pages 491–92, by Kenneth S. Davis. Published by Random House, 1986</ref>

In 1949, the REA became authorized to provide loans to rural telephone cooperatives.<ref>{{cite web|title=History of Rural Telecommunications|url=https://www.ntca.org/ruraliscool/history-rural-telecommunications|website=The Rural Broadband Association|access-date=3 March 2016}}</ref>

Under the [[Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994]] the REA was absorbed by the Rural Utilities Service (RUS).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Laurence Malone |title=Rural Electrification Administration |encyclopedia=EH.Net Encyclopedia |editor=Robert Whaples |editor-link=Robert Whaples |publisher=[[Economic History Association]] |date=March 16, 2008 |access-date=July 31, 2016 |url=https://eh.net/encyclopedia/rural-electrification-administration/}}</ref>