History ETDs

Publication Date

10-7-1970

Abstract

This study concentrates upon the administration of Clinton P. Anderson of New Mexico as Secretary of Agriculture from 1945 to 1948 and upon the struggle to reconvert American agriculture to a peacetime condition. This has not received a full study in the past, although selected agricultural policies under the Administration of President Harry S. Truman have. Previous studies have relied primarily upon selected materials in the Harry S. Truman Library and the National Archives. This study is based upon more extensive and intensive use of these materials plus manuscript materials of several prominent politicians during the period and heretofore unused materials in the Herbert C. Hoover Presidential Library on postwar famine relief. Anderson seemed an enigma to some while Secretary and to some scholars since. A Rotarian and a staunch New Dealer, he sometimes appeared more interested in feeding cattle than the world's hungry after World War II. But appearances were deceiving, and Anderson's long-range goal was abundance in American agriculture and an adequate diet for all Americans. The key to understanding Anderson is to view him as a businessman, which he was, and a politician, which he never forgot. Many criticisms of his reorganization of the Department of Agriculture resulted because his critics did not appreciate his desire for efficiency and modernization. His approach to all agricultural postwar problems reflected this orientation, regardless of whether it was acquiring grain to feed a starving world without disrupting the market or closing a deal with Cubans for sugar when all odds were on the side of the sugar growers. His approach also reflected his political background. His handling of price controls reflected his experience and understanding of what Congress, not Price Administrator Chester Bowles, wanted. Cordial relationships with Congressional committees reflected his personal acquaintance and knowledge of their activities. As Secretary, he was one of the chief, and most effective, Democrats to speak around the nation on behalf of the party. He was a New Deal Democrat. His approach to the various programs or the Department reflected his desire to correct the inequities and inconsistencies, to up-date the goals, and to make them work in the new postwar world and within the context of his program of abundance. Instead of destroying the New Deal program, he regulated and modernized it. Anderson, when viewed within the context of what was possible in the immediate post-World War II years, when considered as a politician, and when appreciated as a man with a business-like orientation, emerges as a strong Secretary of Agriculture. In the broader picture, his success strengthened the Administration of President Truman in both its domestic and international endeavors.

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Degree Name

History

Department Name

History

First Committee Member (Chair)

Gerald David Nash

Second Committee Member

David Boyce Hamilton Jr.

Third Committee Member

William Miner Dabney

Language

English

Project Sponsors

The University of New Mexico and The Harry S. Truman Library Institute

Document Type

Dissertation

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