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As head of the NRA and thus “FDR’s leading bureaucrat,”<ref>[http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/hsjohnson.htm Hugh Samuel Johnson], arlingtoncemetary.net</ref> the President appointed<ref>[http://www.condenaststore.com/Politicians/General-Hugh-Johnson/invt/103630 General Hugh Johnson], Condé Nast store</ref> General Hugh Johnson, who was granted “almost unlimited powers over industry.”<ref>Associated Press, "[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0716FC3E5F1A7A93CBA8178ED85F478385F9 Johnson Chosen Industry Chief]," ''The New York Times'', May 19, 1933, p. 1</ref> According to economist Thayer Watkins (who teaches economic history at California’s San José State University,<ref>[http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/economics/faculty/thayer.htm Thayer Watkins, Ph.D.], Faculty & Staff, Economics, San José State University</ref> Johnson was “an admirer of Mussolini’s National Corporatist system in Italy and he drew upon the Italian experience in formulating the New Deal.”<ref>Thayer Watkins, "[http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/corporatism.htm The Economic System of Corporatism]," Department of Economics, San José State University</ref> Walker F. Todd, research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, agrees that Johnson “did admire greatly what Mussolini appeared to have done,” identifying the NRA as a “thoroughly corporativist” idea.<ref>Walker F. Todd, "[http://www.aei.org/docLib/Todd%20-%20The%20Federal%20Reserve%20Board%20and%20the%20Rise%20of%20the%20Corporate%20State.pdf The Federal Reserve Board and the Rise of the Corporate State, 1931-1934]," ''Economic Education Bulletin'', Vol. XXXV No. 9 (September 1995) pp. 6, 34</ref>

As head of the NRA and thus “FDR’s leading bureaucrat,”<ref>[http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/hsjohnson.htm Hugh Samuel Johnson], arlingtoncemetary.net</ref> the President appointed<ref>[http://www.condenaststore.com/Politicians/General-Hugh-Johnson/invt/103630 General Hugh Johnson], Condé Nast store</ref> General Hugh Johnson, who was granted “almost unlimited powers over industry.”<ref>Associated Press, "[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0716FC3E5F1A7A93CBA8178ED85F478385F9 Johnson Chosen Industry Chief]," ''The New York Times'', May 19, 1933, p. 1</ref> According to economist Thayer Watkins (who teaches economic history at California’s San José State University,<ref>[http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/economics/faculty/thayer.htm Thayer Watkins, Ph.D.], Faculty & Staff, Economics, San José State University</ref> Johnson was “an admirer of Mussolini’s National Corporatist system in Italy and he drew upon the Italian experience in formulating the New Deal.”<ref>Thayer Watkins, "[http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/corporatism.htm The Economic System of Corporatism]," Department of Economics, San José State University</ref> Walker F. Todd, research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, agrees that Johnson “did admire greatly what Mussolini appeared to have done,” identifying the NRA as a “thoroughly corporativist” idea.<ref>Walker F. Todd, "[http://www.aei.org/docLib/Todd%20-%20The%20Federal%20Reserve%20Board%20and%20the%20Rise%20of%20the%20Corporate%20State.pdf The Federal Reserve Board and the Rise of the Corporate State, 1931-1934]," ''Economic Education Bulletin'', Vol. XXXV No. 9 (September 1995) pp. 6, 34</ref>

Johnson was said to carry around with him a copy of Raffaello Viglione’s pro-Mussolini book,<ref>Sheldon Richman, "[http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Fascism.html Fascism]," ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics'', econlib.org</ref> ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=vIJQHAAACAAJ The Corporate State]'', even presenting a copy to Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins.<ref>Frances Perkins, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=AIEhAAAAMAAJ The Roosevelt I Knew]'' (The Viking press, 1946) p. 206. Socialist (Kent Worcester, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=TwTTArAPWswC C.L.R. James: A Political Biography]'' [SUNY Press, 1995] ISBN 079142751X, p. 175) George Rawich wrote that Perkins told him Johnson gave each member of the Cabinet a book by [http://www.marxists.org/archive/rawick/1969/xx/self.html Fascist theoretician Giovanni Gentile], “and we all read it with great care.” Schivelbusch suggests the book was actually [http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo172.html Mussolini advisor] Fausto Pitigliani’s ''The Italian Corporativist State.'' (Wolfgang Schivelbusch, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Z3GV5_n1h04C Three New Deals: Reflections on Roosevelt's America, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939]'' [Macmillan, 2006] ISBN 080507452X, p. 203, n. 28)</ref> In his retirement speech, Johnson invoked what he called the “shining name” of Mussolini.<ref>Arthur Meier Schlesinger, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=mj3VmJ38tHIC The coming of the New Deal, 1933-1935]'' (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2003) ISBN 0618340866, p. 153</ref> According to Jonah Goldberg, Johnson displayed a portrait of ''Il Duce'' in his NRA office and actually “distributed a memo at the Democratic Convention proposing that FDR become a Mussolini-like dictator.”<ref>Jonah Goldberg, "[http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Mjc0ZmFlMDFiNDJkODdjYjE3NDY5OGVlY2JiZWRmNjM= Hendrick Hertzberg & The F-Word], The Corner (National Review Online), March 5, 2009</ref>

Johnson was said to carry around with him a copy of Raffaello Viglione’s pro-Mussolini book,<ref>Sheldon Richman, "[http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Fascism.html Fascism]," ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics'', econlib.org</ref> ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=vIJQHAAACAAJ The Corporate State]'', even presenting a copy to Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins.<ref>Frances Perkins, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=AIEhAAAAMAAJ The Roosevelt I Knew]'' (The Viking press, 1946) p. 206. Socialist (Kent Worcester, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=TwTTArAPWswC C.L.R. James: A Political Biography]'' [SUNY Press, 1995] ISBN 079142751X, p. 175) George Rawich wrote that Perkins told him Johnson gave each member of the Cabinet a book by [http://www.marxists.org/archive/rawick/1969/xx/self.html Fascist theoretician Giovanni Gentile], “and we all read it with great care.” Schivelbusch suggests the book was actually [http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo172.html Mussolini advisor] Fausto Pitigliani’s ''The Italian Corporativist State.'' (Wolfgang Schivelbusch, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Z3GV5_n1h04C Three New Deals: Reflections on Roosevelt's America, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939]'' [Macmillan, 2006] ISBN 080507452X, p. 203, n. 28)</ref> In his retirement speech, Johnson invoked what he called the “shining name” of Mussolini.<ref>Arthur Meier Schlesinger, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=mj3VmJ38tHIC The coming of the New Deal, 1933-1935]'' (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2003) ISBN 0618340866, p. 153</ref> According to Jonah Goldberg, Johnson displayed a portrait of ''Il Duce'' in his NRA office and actually “distributed a memo at the Democratic Convention proposing that FDR become a Mussolini-like dictator.”<ref>Jonah Goldberg, [http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Mjc0ZmFlMDFiNDJkODdjYjE3NDY5OGVlY2JiZWRmNjM= Hendrick Hertzberg & The F-Word], The Corner (National Review Online), March 5, 2009</ref>

Roosevelt appointed Johnson’s former business partner George Peek to head the AAA. Both men had “worked with the War Industries Board, the agency that regulated American production during World War I, and they believed their experience of managing an economy almost totally sealed off from the world market would suit the country now.”<ref>Eric Rauchway, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=BtSU6ZaCbzMC The Great Depression & the New Deal: A Very Short Introduction]'' (Oxford University Press, 2008) ISBN 0195326342, p. 76</ref> They had long advocated a policy of expanding tariffs to keep foreign agricultural products out of the United States,<ref>William J. Barber, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Nks8pTPnsVYC From New Era to New Deal: Herbert Hoover, the Economists, and American Economic Policy, 1921-1933]'' (Cambridge University Press, 1989) ISBN 0521367379, p. 50</ref> a policy that would have again rendered the U.S. economy “almost totally sealed off from the world market”<ref> Neil Vousden, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=uabXBMnp7XgC The Economics of Trade Protection]'' (Cambridge University Press, 1990) ISBN 052134669X, p. 91</ref>&mdash;a fair approximation of “[http://www.economist.com/research/economics/alphabetic.cfm?letter=A#autarky autarky],” an economic policy particularly but not exclusively “associated with Nazi economic organization.”<ref>Gilbert Pleuger, "[http://www.history-ontheweb.co.uk/concepts/autarky.htm Economic autarky]," ''new perspective'' Vol 6,  No 3</ref>

Roosevelt appointed Johnson’s former business partner George Peek to head the AAA. Both men had “worked with the War Industries Board, the agency that regulated American production during World War I, and they believed their experience of managing an economy almost totally sealed off from the world market would suit the country now.”<ref>Eric Rauchway, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=BtSU6ZaCbzMC The Great Depression & the New Deal: A Very Short Introduction]'' (Oxford University Press, 2008) ISBN 0195326342, p. 76</ref> They had long advocated a policy of expanding tariffs to keep foreign agricultural products out of the United States,<ref>William J. Barber, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Nks8pTPnsVYC From New Era to New Deal: Herbert Hoover, the Economists, and American Economic Policy, 1921-1933]'' (Cambridge University Press, 1989) ISBN 0521367379, p. 50</ref> a policy that would have again rendered the U.S. economy “almost totally sealed off from the world market”<ref> Neil Vousden, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=uabXBMnp7XgC The Economics of Trade Protection]'' (Cambridge University Press, 1990) ISBN 052134669X, p. 91</ref>&mdash;a fair approximation of “[http://www.economist.com/research/economics/alphabetic.cfm?letter=A#autarky autarky],” an economic policy particularly but not exclusively “associated with Nazi economic organization.”<ref>Gilbert Pleuger, "[http://www.history-ontheweb.co.uk/concepts/autarky.htm Economic autarky]," ''new perspective'' Vol 6,  No 3</ref>