Since World War I our country has gone through boom, depression, post depression, defense, World War II, and new international defense periods-all affected by, and affecting, housing requirements. The significance of housing to both the present defense program and essential civilian requirements, its place in our economy-immediate and long range-and its relationship to the social and moral fibre of our country, emphasize the desirability of periodic examinations of our federal housing policy, legislative history and administrative machinery. Such an examination should disclose something of what this country has accomplished and failed to accomplish in the past, and should set some guide posts for the future.