Rexford Tugwell and the New Deal

Sternsher, Bernard

Published by Rutgers University Press, 1964

About this Item

REXFORD TUGWELL AND THE NEW DEAL, Bernard Sternsher, hardcover with unclipped dust jacket, 1st edition,1964. BOOK CONDITION: very good. The text block is in fine condition with no tears, dog-ears, or marks. There is no bookplate nor signature of a prior owner. Not a library book or remainder. The orange-brown cloth boards are in very good condition (very slight bumping of spine). The dust jacket is in very good condition (a few crinkles and chipping along edges, faint spots on back). 9 ½ x 6 1/2, 535 pages, 35 ounces. XX [From the dust jacket flaps] Here is an account of the stormy Washington career of a complex man in a complex situation ? one of the 'most trying periods in American history. The story can now be placed in contemporary, if not historical, perspective, for enough time has elapsed to dispel the clouds of partisanship and high feelings that characterized the New Deal era. This book is the first comprehensive investigation, both as to scope and source materials, of Tugwell's activities in the years 1932-1936. The professors among the men whom Roosevelt brought to Washington in 1933 to help revive the country's sagging economy were the targets of scorn and calumny from the opposition press, and Rexford Guy Tugwell was the bull's-eye of the lot. Tugwell's ideas on "planned capitalism" would have been the subject of dispute in any case. They became especially controversial when, in June, 1933, the press began a deliberate, concerted campaign to ruin his reputation in order to defeat a pure food and drug proposal?the so-called Tugwell Bill. To a collectivistic institutional economist such as Tugwell, who, as economic physician, prescribed major surgery for the economy, the New Deal was mild medicine?an old-fashioned Progressive patchup of the traditional system. What Tugwell said in this vein as an academician provides a yardstick against which one can measure the New Deal and his judgments in these terms appear throughout the book. What he said and did as a New Dealer is another matter. He suppressed his personal preferences in order to assist the man and the program he considered merely the best available for combating the Great Depression. In this context, the author shows the tension which Tugwell experienced as the result of the clash between his academic thought and his administrative function. Mr. Sternsher has made a comprehensive examination of primary and secondary sources, including Tuzwell*s personal papers and his enormous literary output: books, articles, reviews, speeches, syndicated columns. taped interviews, lectures, a memoir. and a diary. Mr. Tugwell made available the unpublished portions of this material as well as his personal files. He did nothing more, however, except to answer specific factual questions; thus, this book is in no sense an "authorized" study.?. Seller Inventory # 001777

Bibliographic Details

Title: Rexford Tugwell and the New Deal

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Publication Date: 1964

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good

Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

Edition: 1st Edition