"From lighthouses to laser beams." - United States Commerce Department's 75th anniversary - editorial

Nation's Business, April, 1988

That's the highly appropriate title given to the history of the U.S. Commerce Department, being published as part of its 75th anniversary observance this year. Overseeing lighthouses was one of the principal responsibilities of the department, while its activities today deal with such high-tech areas as laser beams. Secretary of Commerce C. William Verity notes in the introduction that between those eras, the department's many other responsibilities have given it "an increasingly important role in the national workplace and the international marketplace."

In addition to divisions committed specifically to fostering domestic and international trade, the department's units include the Patent and Trademark Office, the National Bureau of Standards, the Census Bureau, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (it includes the weather service, among other functions), the Economic Development Administration, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration and the Office of Productivity, Technology and Innovation.

Several other agencies that began in the department have been given independant status as their areas of responsibility expanded. Among them are the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Transportation.

Although the challenges facing the department have changed over 75 years, it deserves an anniversary salute for the way it continues to carry out the assignment it received at its creation: "To foster, promote and develop the foreign and domestic commerce . . . of the United States."