This is an 86-page unpublished transcript of the debate of the Commission on Reorganization of the Executive Branch (the “Hoover Commission”) on January 12, 1949 at which they approved their report to Congress on the reorganization of the Department of Commerce. The Commission rejected the report of their Task Force on Transportation (outsourced to the Brookings Institution) that recommended the creation of a Cabinet-level Department of Transportation.

Instead, the Commission decided to recommend that most federal transportation responsibilities be moved under the Department of Commerce as a Transportation Service, to be headed by an Assistant Secretary for Transportation. The Public Roads Administration, the Coast Guard, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the non-regulatory functions of the Maritime Commission, the safety functions of the Civil Aeronautics Board, and the rail and motor carrier safety and car service functions of the Interstate Commerce Commission would be transferred to Commerce from elsewhere in government.

At the January 12 meeting, the Commission was considering, page-by-page, the fourth draft of the Commerce Department report, dated January 8, 1949.

The final report, as submitted to Congress in March 1949, is here.