Changes

The '''Agricultural Adjustment Administration''' (AAA) was the largest of many farm programs under the [[New Deal]]. The goal was to increase the flow of income to farmers so they could reach "[[Parity]]" with urban America. The first AAA lasted 1933-35; the second one 1938-41.

The '''Agricultural Adjustment Administration''' (AAA) was the largest of many farm programs under the [[New Deal]]. The goal was to increase the flow of income to farmers so they could reach "[[Parity]]" with urban America. The first AAA lasted 1933-35; the second one 1938-41.

[[File:Farm-bill.jpg|thumb|350px|Would FDR steamroller over traditional American values? ]]The AAA was the brainchild of FDR's [[Secretary of Agriculture]] (and future [[Vice president|Vice President]]),<ref>[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=W000077 WALLACE, Henry Agard, (1888 - 1965)], Biographical Directory of the United States Congress</ref> so-called "farm dictator"<ref>"[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F4061FF83C5C16738DDDAB0994DB405B838FF1D3 ROOSEVELT IS URGED TO ASK WIDE POWER AS 'FARM DICTATOR'; Leaders Visit the White House to Propose He Act as He Did in Bank Case. PRICE FIXING IS INCLUDED Wallace Conference Agrees on Plan for Land Leasing and Market Supervision. FARM DICTATOR' IS NOW PROPOSED]," ''The New York Times'', March 12, 1933, p. 1. Roosevelt and his supporters saw the New Deal in revolutionary and dictatorial terms: [[First Lady]] [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] “lamented that the nation lacked a [http://www.slate.com/id/2000099/entry/1003296/ benevolent dictator] to force through reforms." Soviet intelligence source ([http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/venona/1944/9sep_lippman_views_churchill_roosevelt.pdf 1289 KGB New York to Moscow], 9 September 1944, Venona, Central Security Service [National Security Agency/Central Intelligence Agency/Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive]) Walter Lippmann told Roosevelt, "The situation is critical, Franklin. You may have no alternative but to assume [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924464,00.html dictatorial powers]"; in his influential column, Lippmann added that the use of "'dictatorial powers,' if that is the name for it&mdash;[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22273 is essential].'" The ''New York Herald Tribune'' approved FDR's inauguration with the headline "[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5525748 FOR DICTATORSHIP IF NECESSARY]." In response to a hit [[Hollywood]] [http://allmovie.com/work/gabriel-over-the-white-house-19092 movie] featuring as hero a President who “dissolves Congress, creates an army of the unemployed, and lines up his enemies before a [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/07/books/chapters/0507-1st-alter.html?pagewanted=all firing squad],” FDR wrote "I think it is an intensely interesting picture and should do much to help." (Jonathan Alter, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=ASmlaOHQNawC The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope]'' [New York: Simon and Schuster, 2007] ISBN 0743246012, p. 185)</ref> [[Henry Wallace]], who was reportedly "most impressed" with [[USSR|Soviet]] collective farming.<ref>[http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Henry_Wallace.htm Henry Agard Wallace, 33rd Vice President (1941-1945)], Art & History, United States Senate</ref> Wallace would run for [[President]] in 1948, as the candidate of the Progressive Party&mdash;a creation of the [[CPUSA|Communist Party]],<ref>Barry Loberfeld, "[http://www.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=11398 The Real Meaning of 'Progressive' Politics]," FrontPageMagazine.com, September 28, 2004</ref> originating in [[CPUSA]] General Secretary Eugene Dennis' February 12, 1946 order "to establish in time for the 1948 elections a national third party."<ref>Eugene Dennis, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=TafcYQEACAAJ What America Faces]'' (New York: New Century Publishers, 1946), pp. 37-38. Cf. Arthur Meier Schlesinger, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=yeoSSLzr-jAC The vital center: the politics of freedom]'' (Transaction Publishers, 1997) ISBN 1560009896, p. 115; Arthur Meier Schlesinger, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=LLyNX6hMDCIC A Life in the Twentieth Century: Innocent Beginnings, 1917-1950]'' (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2000) ISBN 0618219250, pp. 455-456; Karl M. Schmidt, ''[http://ia700307.us.archive.org/34/items/henryawallace006268mbp/henryawallace006268mbp.pdf Henry A. Wallace: Quixotic Crusade 1948]'' (Syracuse University Press, 1960), p. 265 (PDF p. 291)</ref> The Progressive Party would dissolve in 1955, after the [[SISS|Jenner subcommittee]] cited it on its list of subversive organizations, identified as a Communist front.<ref>[http://www.joincalifornia.com/party/Independent%20Progressive Independent Progressive], joincalifornia.com</ref> Wallace said if he were to become President, he would appoint Soviet agent<ref>[http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/venona/1944/18nov_lawrence_duggan.pdf 1613 KGB New York to Moscow], 19 November 1944, Venona, Central Security Service (National Security Agency/Central Intelligence Agency/Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive)</ref> Laurence Duggan as Secretary of State<ref>Ethan Bronner, "[http://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/18/weekinreview/witching-hour-rethinking-mccarthyism-if-not-mccarthy.html?pagewanted=all Witching Hour; Rethinking McCarthyism, if Not McCarthy]," ''New York Times'', October 18, 1998</ref>; had [[FDR]] died [http://www.trumanlibrary.org/lifetimes/whouse.htm 82 days] earlier, Wallace would indeed have become President. Wallace would finally recant his support for the [[Soviet Union]]<ref>Linda Rodriguez, "[http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/09/almost.great.men/index.html A celebration of almost-great men]," CNN, May 9, 2008</ref> in 1952.<ref>Henry Agard Wallace, “Where I Was Wrong.” ''This Week'', September 2, 1952</ref>

The AAA was the brainchild of FDR's [[Secretary of Agriculture]] (and future [[Vice president|Vice President]]),<ref>[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=W000077 WALLACE, Henry Agard, (1888 - 1965)], Biographical Directory of the United States Congress</ref> so-called "farm dictator"<ref>"[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F4061FF83C5C16738DDDAB0994DB405B838FF1D3 ROOSEVELT IS URGED TO ASK WIDE POWER AS 'FARM DICTATOR'; Leaders Visit the White House to Propose He Act as He Did in Bank Case. PRICE FIXING IS INCLUDED Wallace Conference Agrees on Plan for Land Leasing and Market Supervision. FARM DICTATOR' IS NOW PROPOSED]," ''The New York Times'', March 12, 1933, p. 1. Roosevelt and his supporters saw the New Deal in revolutionary and dictatorial terms: [[First Lady]] [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] “lamented that the nation lacked a [http://www.slate.com/id/2000099/entry/1003296/ benevolent dictator] to force through reforms." Soviet intelligence source ([http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/venona/1944/9sep_lippman_views_churchill_roosevelt.pdf 1289 KGB New York to Moscow], 9 September 1944, Venona, Central Security Service [National Security Agency/Central Intelligence Agency/Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive]) Walter Lippmann told Roosevelt, "The situation is critical, Franklin. You may have no alternative but to assume [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924464,00.html dictatorial powers]"; in his influential column, Lippmann added that the use of "'dictatorial powers,' if that is the name for it&mdash;[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22273 is essential].'" The ''New York Herald Tribune'' approved FDR's inauguration with the headline "[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5525748 FOR DICTATORSHIP IF NECESSARY]." In response to a hit [[Hollywood]] [http://allmovie.com/work/gabriel-over-the-white-house-19092 movie] featuring as hero a President who “dissolves Congress, creates an army of the unemployed, and lines up his enemies before a [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/07/books/chapters/0507-1st-alter.html?pagewanted=all firing squad],” FDR wrote "I think it is an intensely interesting picture and should do much to help." (Jonathan Alter, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=ASmlaOHQNawC The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope]'' [New York: Simon and Schuster, 2007] ISBN 0743246012, p. 185)</ref> [[Henry Wallace]], who was reportedly "most impressed" with [[USSR|Soviet]] collective farming.<ref>[http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Henry_Wallace.htm Henry Agard Wallace, 33rd Vice President (1941-1945)], Art & History, United States Senate</ref> Wallace would run for [[President]] in 1948, as the candidate of the Progressive Party&mdash;a creation of the [[CPUSA|Communist Party]],<ref>Barry Loberfeld, "[http://www.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=11398 The Real Meaning of 'Progressive' Politics]," FrontPageMagazine.com, September 28, 2004</ref> originating in [[CPUSA]] General Secretary Eugene Dennis' February 12, 1946 order "to establish in time for the 1948 elections a national third party."<ref>Eugene Dennis, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=TafcYQEACAAJ What America Faces]'' (New York: New Century Publishers, 1946), pp. 37-38. Cf. Arthur Meier Schlesinger, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=yeoSSLzr-jAC The vital center: the politics of freedom]'' (Transaction Publishers, 1997) ISBN 1560009896, p. 115; Arthur Meier Schlesinger, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=LLyNX6hMDCIC A Life in the Twentieth Century: Innocent Beginnings, 1917-1950]'' (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2000) ISBN 0618219250, pp. 455-456; Karl M. Schmidt, ''[http://ia700307.us.archive.org/34/items/henryawallace006268mbp/henryawallace006268mbp.pdf Henry A. Wallace: Quixotic Crusade 1948]'' (Syracuse University Press, 1960), p. 265 (PDF p. 291)</ref> The Progressive Party would dissolve in 1955, after the [[SISS|Jenner subcommittee]] cited it on its list of subversive organizations, identified as a Communist front.<ref>[http://www.joincalifornia.com/party/Independent%20Progressive Independent Progressive], joincalifornia.com</ref> Wallace said if he were to become President, he would appoint Soviet agent<ref>[http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/venona/1944/18nov_lawrence_duggan.pdf 1613 KGB New York to Moscow], 19 November 1944, Venona, Central Security Service (National Security Agency/Central Intelligence Agency/Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive)</ref> Laurence Duggan as Secretary of State<ref>Ethan Bronner, "[http://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/18/weekinreview/witching-hour-rethinking-mccarthyism-if-not-mccarthy.html?pagewanted=all Witching Hour; Rethinking McCarthyism, if Not McCarthy]," ''New York Times'', October 18, 1998</ref>; had [[FDR]] died [http://www.trumanlibrary.org/lifetimes/whouse.htm 82 days] earlier, Wallace would indeed have become President. Wallace would finally recant his support for the [[Soviet Union]]<ref>Linda Rodriguez, "[http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/09/almost.great.men/index.html A celebration of almost-great men]," CNN, May 9, 2008</ref> in 1952.<ref>Henry Agard Wallace, “Where I Was Wrong.” ''This Week'', September 2, 1952</ref>

At the peak of [[Stalin]]'s [[Holodomor|Terror Famine]] (during which the [[USSR|Soviets]] killed some 14 million<ref>Robert Conquest, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Bp31GmfH-6YC The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine]'' (Oxford University Press, 1987) ISBN 0195051807, p. 306</ref>  people through collectivization of agriculture),<ref>Peter Finn, "[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/26/AR2008042602039_pf.html Aftermath of a Soviet Famine]," ''Washington Post'', April 27, 2008</ref> the AAA curtailed U.S. farm production<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/9551/Agricultural-Adjustment-Administration Agricultural Adjustment Administration], ''Encyclopedia Britannica''</ref> in order to drive up food prices<ref>James D. Hamilton, [http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2007/01/the_new_deal_an.html The New Deal and the Great Depression], Econbrowser.com, January 10, 2007</ref> in the depths of the [[Great Depression]]. According to ex-Marxist<ref>Ray Sawhill, "[http://www.salon.com/books/int/1999/11/10/sowell Black and right]," Salon.com, November 10, 1999</ref> economist Thomas Sowell:

At the peak of [[Stalin]]'s [[Holodomor|Terror Famine]] (during which the [[USSR|Soviets]] killed some 14 million<ref>Robert Conquest, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Bp31GmfH-6YC The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine]'' (Oxford University Press, 1987) ISBN 0195051807, p. 306</ref>  people through collectivization of agriculture),<ref>Peter Finn, "[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/26/AR2008042602039_pf.html Aftermath of a Soviet Famine]," ''Washington Post'', April 27, 2008</ref> the AAA curtailed U.S. farm production<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/9551/Agricultural-Adjustment-Administration Agricultural Adjustment Administration], ''Encyclopedia Britannica''</ref> in order to drive up food prices<ref>James D. Hamilton, [http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2007/01/the_new_deal_an.html The New Deal and the Great Depression], Econbrowser.com, January 10, 2007</ref> in the depths of the [[Great Depression]]. According to ex-Marxist<ref>Ray Sawhill, "[http://www.salon.com/books/int/1999/11/10/sowell Black and right]," Salon.com, November 10, 1999</ref> economist Thomas Sowell: