Even before court rulings on the Norris-LaGuardia Act signaled the end of the long-standing system of judicial regulation of labor in the United States, members of Congress were at work creating a new administrative system for regulating labor relations. That process culminated in 1935 when Congress enacted what is still the most important piece of labor legislation in American history, the National Labor Relations Act, more commonly known as the Wagner Act. The Wagner Act established a permanent administrative agency, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and gave it the power to certify labor organizations as bargaining agents for groups of employees, to hear complaints and, with the supervision of the federal courts, to develop remedies against employers' “unfair labor practices.”

The Wagner Act also presents one of the most persistent and important puzzles in American politics and political development. On the surface, the act held out tremendous promise for labor organizations. The Wagner Act encouraged, facilitated, and protected certain kinds of organizing activities, and thus had the potential to transform American society and politics by nurturing an independent and politically powerful labor movement. Yet things did not turn out that way. All three branches of government have since retreated from Senator Wagner's original vision of using the administrative powers of the state to help workers improve their bargaining position in conflicts with employers.