The purpose of this paper is to describe the methods by which, and the extent to which the Federal Government participates with local agencies in the control of beach erosion. The Beach Erosion Board of the Corps of Engineers is the instrumentality through which this participation is affected. However, before describing this Board, it is necessary to sketch very briefly the background of the beach erosion problem as viewed from the national standpoint. The necessity for the control of beach erosion by one means or another has no doubt been recognized from the beginning of the practice of coastal engineering in the United States. The early technical records of the Corps of Engineers contain numerous references to the mutual effects which navigation structures and the adjacent shorelines exert upon each other. As an example, chosen at random, I may mention the construction in 1874 of twelve stone groins along the shore of the State of Connecticut between Welshs Point and Indian River, and of a stone jetty at the mouth of that river in the following year, to stabilize the shoreline and to prevent the movement of sand into the navigation channel of that river.