SEGMENT: FARM ORGANIZATIONS
Charles Shuman>UIS Collection S>UIS Collection S, Segment 16
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- FARM ORGANIZATIONS
- Summarizes policy up to 1940s. 1947 year of turning point in farmer thinking. Aiken bill provided for flexible price supports at certain percentages of parity, passed in 1948. Roosevelt succeeded by Harry Truman, who did not understand economics or agricultural policy. Truman thought he had been elected by farmers to continue present policies. Actually they were just against the easterner, NY Governor Dewey. Charles Brannan in the Dept. of Agriculture drafted legislation without consulting anybody else. Wanted a planned economy even though not an economist. Bill allowed prices to fluctuate and farmers compensated to make up the difference in the market price versus the price legislated. Allan Kline and FB fought the bill and won. Eisenhower-Benson policies became discredited. Pres. Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 made farm speech in Kassen, Iowa at national plowing match. Two lines in speech, later traced back to Kansas congressman Clifford Hope, promised to continue current policies for two more years. Those were the only two years his party was in the majority. By 1955, Democratic majority was in favor of Brannan-type plan.
