Uncle Sam on the Family Farm: Farm Policy and the Business of Southern Agriculture, 1933-1965 By
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Uncle Sam on the Family Farm: Farm Policy and the Business of Southern Agriculture, 1933-1965 by Elizabeth Kathleen Brake Department of History Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Robert Korstad, Supervisor ___________________________ Edward Balleisen ___________________________ Laura Edwards ___________________________ John Thompson Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Chemistry in the Graduate School of Duke University 2013 ABSTRACT Uncle Sam on the Family Farm: Farm Policy and the Business of Southern Agriculture, 1933-1965 by Elizabeth K. Brake Department of History Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Robert Korstad, Supervisor ___________________________ Edward Balleisen ___________________________ Laura Edwards ___________________________ John Thompson An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Chemistry in the Graduate School of Duke University 2013 Copyright by Elizabeth K. Brake 2013 Abstract This dissertation examines federal farm policy between 1933 and 1965 and its implementation in North and South Carolina. It argues that restricted economic democracy in the Farm State – the full array of agriculture regulations, programs, and agencies associated with the federal government – enabled policy makers to adhere strictly to the principles of progressive farming and parity in the development and implementation of farm policies. These ideals emphasized industrialized, commercial farming by ever-larger farms and excluded many smaller farms from receiving the full benefit of federal farm aid. The resulting programs, by design, contributed significantly to the contraction of the farm population and the concentration of farm assets in the Carolinas. They also steered rural economic development into the channels of agribusiness as a strategy to manage the consequences of those policies. The processes and programs that drove the smallest farms out of business in the early post-war era were beginning to threaten even larger, commercial farming enterprises by the 1960s. In this context, the economic and political interests of farmers became separate from and oppositional to those of industry or consumers and removed incentives to seek common ground. The unwavering pursuit of commercial farming and agribusiness prevented diversified rural development in the Carolinas and contributed to uneven distributions of prosperity in the region. iv Using the methodologies of policy, business, and social history, this work draws upon evidence from a wide variety of sources including the papers of government farm agencies, correspondence of farmers, political office holders, and personnel of the USDA. It also consults the farm press and local press, the writings of farm policy leaders, and Congressional hearings and reports. These documents provide a multifaceted perspective on the development and implementation of farm programs in the Carolinas and offers a new look at the contested process through which farm policy was made and implemented in the post war period. v Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... ix List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. xi Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... xii Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1. Economic Democracy and the New Deal for Agriculture ................................ 29 Pre-New Deal Farm Sector Organization.......................................................................... 35 Economic Democracy........................................................................................................... 48 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 83 Chapter 2: The Politics of Post-War Farm Support ............................................................... 87 Evolution of Parity ............................................................................................................... 92 Post-War Parity Politics ..................................................................................................... 114 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 128 Chapter 3: The Problem of the Agricrats .............................................................................. 132 County Committee Work .................................................................................................. 137 Centrality of Administrative Politics ............................................................................... 148 Kennedy Era Reassessments ............................................................................................. 172 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 179 Chapter 4: “The Challenge” .................................................................................................... 183 Centrality of Extension ...................................................................................................... 186 Entrepreneurial Solutions ................................................................................................. 198 Challenge Met? ................................................................................................................... 213 vi Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 220 Chapter 5: Progressive Family Farming ............................................................................... 224 The Master Farm Families ................................................................................................. 226 Progressive Farming and Domesticity ............................................................................ 247 Farming at the Margins ..................................................................................................... 259 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 278 Chapter 6: “Farming is Big Business” .................................................................................... 281 Farm-City Tensions ............................................................................................................ 287 Agribusiness Boosterism ................................................................................................... 299 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 335 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 338 Appendix A................................................................................................................................ 346 Works Cited ............................................................................................................................... 350 Primary Sources .................................................................................................................. 350 Manuscript Collections .................................................................................................... 350 Interviews .......................................................................................................................... 351 Newspapers ....................................................................................................................... 351 Congressional Hearings and Reports; Other Government Documents Not in Archives ............................................................................................................................. 352 Judicial Opinions .............................................................................................................. 352 Census Data ....................................................................................................................... 353 Published Primary Sources ............................................................................................. 353 Secondary Sources .............................................................................................................. 354 vii Congressional Research Service Reports ...................................................................... 354 Theses and Dissertations ................................................................................................. 354 Books and Articles ............................................................................................................ 354 Biography ..................................................................................................................................