The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was established in 1934.
Congress created the SEC through the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed on June 6 of that year. The agency emerged during the Great Depression, after the 1929 stock-market crash and subsequent investigations exposed abusive practices and weak investor protections.
The SEC’s original mission was to restore confidence through securities regulation and reliable disclosure. The Exchange Act gave it authority over securities exchanges, brokers, dealers, and publicly traded companies, including powers involving registration, reporting, market oversight, and enforcement. Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. became its first chairman.
The year 1933 is a frequent distractor because Congress passed the Securities Act of 1933 first. That law focused mainly on new securities offerings and truthful registration disclosures; it did not establish the SEC. The 1929 date marks the market crash, while 1935 was a later year in the agency’s early development, not its founding.