Resettlement Administration. (Cover Title)

TUGWELL, REXFORD [UNDERSECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE]

Publication: U S Government Printing Office, 1936, Washington

First edition. Color pictorial wrappers, [2], 28 pp., illustrated mostly from photographs, illustrations, and diagrams. Surprisingly rare publication on the New Deal Resettlement Administration which was created May 1, 1935 to resettle destitute or low-income families from rural and urban areas, and administer projects to resolve soil erosion, stream pollution, seacoast erosion, reforestation, forestation, and flood control. Although the Civilian Conservation Corps [CCC], the Army Corps of Engineers flood control Works, and the Soil Erosion Service had been carrying out some of these activities, the Resettlement Administration [RA] was dedicated to providing financial aid, and grants for farm families, and conservation work. The RA proved very controversial due to the emphasis on cooperation and collective work as the means to improve American rural life, but even after successfully planting thousands of acres, creating 1900 miles of firebreaks, improving streams, and infrastructure, Conservatives denouncing the "Socialist" tendencies eventually forced Tugwell to resign in Dec., 1936, and the RA came to an end. Much of the programs goals and administration were later folded into the Farm Security Administration in 1937. See: Leslie Gene Hunter, Greenbelt, Maryland: "A City on a Hill," Maryland Historical Magazine, Vol. 63, No. 2 (1968); "Resettlement Administration" (RA) (1935), "The Living New Deal," UC Berkeley, Dept. of Geography (2019). Slightly skewed from misalignment when originally stapled, else a very good copy of a surprisingly scarce publication.

Inventory Number: 46478