Rexford Tugwell

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rexford Guy Tugwell (July 10, 1891 - July 21, 1979) was an agricultural economist who became part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Brains Trust," a group of Columbia academics who helped develop policy recommendations leading up to Roosevelt's 1932 election as President. Tugwell subsequently served in FDR's administration for four years and was one of the chief intellectual contributors to his New Deal. Later in his life, he also served as the governor of Puerto Rico, a then-appointed position.

Tugwell was born in Sinclairville, New York and studied at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Finance and Commerce. After graduation, he became a professor at the University of Washington, American University in Paris, and Columbia University.

In 1933, Tugwell was appointed to work in Roosevelt's administration, working in the United States Department of Agriculture. In 1934, he was promoted to the undersecretary position of the department, then became the head of the Resettlement Administration, a federal agency that relocated the urban poor to the suburbs and impoverished farmers to new rural communities. In 1937, when the RA came under political fire for being overly utopian and socialistic, he resigned from his position in the administration, but subsequently returned to public life the following year when he was appointed to the New York Planning Commission.

Tugwell was appointed Governor of Puerto Rico from 1942 to 1946. After his stint as governor, he returned to teaching -- at the University of Chicago -- until his retirement; significantly, he moved to Greenbelt, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. designed and built by the Resettlement Administration under his direction. During this time, he wrote several books including a biography of Grover Cleveland, subtitled: "A Biography of the President Whose Uncompromising Honesty and Integrity Failed America in a Time of Crisis." (Macmillan Company, New York (1968)) He also wrote a biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt entitled "FDR: An Architect of an Era."