Roosevelt asked Tugwell what post he would like. He replied that he would like to appointed assistant secretary of agriculture under Henry A. Wallace. The authors of American Dreamer: A Life of Henry A. Wallace (2001) has commented: "They presented a rather odd picture together - the dapper Columbia University professor and the tousled Iowa editor - but they made a good team. They were men of ideas and shared a vision of government that was activist and progressive. Wallace knew the practical aspects of American farming in the way a sailor knew the stars. And Tugwell knew Franklin Roosevelt."
On 8th March 1933, Wallace and Tugwell met with Roosevelt and asked him to expand the scope of the special congressional session to include the agricultural crisis as well as the banking emergency. Roosevelt agreed to this suggestion and it was agreed to summon the nation's farm leaders to an "emergency conference" to be held in Washington. Wallace went on national radio and told the country: "Today, in this country, men are fighting to save their homes. That is not just a figure of speech. That is a brutal fact, a bitter commentary on agriculture's twelve years' struggle.... Emergency action is imperative."
After being elected, Roosevelt appointed Tugwell as an assistant secretary to the Agriculture Department. In 1934 he was promoted to under under secretary where he worked closely with Henry Wallace. Roosevelt consulted Tugwell about many aspects of the New Deal and helped to plan the Agricultural Adjustment Act.
Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.
Environmental science books rarely make best seller lists. But in 1962, Rachel Carson’s nonfiction book Silent Spring became an incredible exception to this rule, and is now given credit for helping launch the EPA and the first celebration of Earth Day in 1970.
Rachel Carson was a marine biologist and nature writer—her 1951 book The Sea Around Us became a national bestseller and won a National Book Award. She was also an early believer in the dangers of pesticides, which were developed thanks to military-funded science research after World War II.
Nearly 250 years ago, a group of white men gathered in a house in Massachusetts to draft a document on independence aimed at the British crown. A woman who was enslaved in the house overheard the discussion, and determined the words applied to her, too.
Bett, who was later called Mumbet, was born enslaved south of Albany, N.Y., around 1742. In her teens Bett was brought to the home of John and Hannah Ashley, in Sheffield, Mass., where she cleaned, cooked and served the family.
In the upstairs study in January 1773, John Ashley and 10 other men gathered to write what became known as the Sheffield Resolves.
On Jan. 9, 1967, Julian Bond was finally sworn in as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives. This was after a two year battle to claim his elected seat.
Following his election in 1965, the Georgia House refused to seat him because of his statements (on behalf of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) in opposition to the Vietnam War. He was re-elected to his “vacant seat” and the House refused again.