In 1935, little Shirley Temple was singing “Animal Crackers in My Soup” and cheering up a country devastated by the Great Depression. Meanwhile in the White House, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was busy crafting a restorative economic recipe of his own for the nation. It was a hearty bowl of Alphabet Soup, chock full of federally funded programs that would nourish economically stagnant communities across the country. It was known as FDR’s Alphabet Soup because of the 3 and 4-letter acronyms for the programs.