Brains Trust
The "Brains Trust" refers to a group of academic advisers assembled to provide policy guidance and support to political leaders, most notably associated with Franklin D. Roosevelt during his 1932 presidential campaign. The concept emerged as a means to leverage expert knowledge in addressing significant national challenges, particularly the Great Depression. Key figures included Raymond Moley, Rexford Guy Tugwell, and Adolf A. Berle, Jr., who contributed their expertise in economics and policy formulation, assisting Roosevelt in developing strategies that would later shape the New Deal.
The Brains Trust played a crucial role in educating Roosevelt on various issues, drafting memorandums and speeches, and suggesting potential programs to support struggling Americans. After the campaign, although the original group disbanded, its members continued to influence Roosevelt's administration and the New Deal's implementation. The legacy of the Brains Trust endured, inspiring subsequent presidents, including John F. Kennedy, to form similar advisory groups, showcasing the ongoing tradition of integrating academic insight into political decision-making. The Brains Trust exemplifies the intersection of academia and politics in shaping public policy through expert collaboration.
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Brains Trust
Identification Scholarly group formed to advise Roosevelt during the 1932 presidential campaign
The Brains Trust served a vital function in the 1932 presidential campaign by educating Franklin D. Roosevelt on the problems caused by the Great Depression facing the American economy. The group’s ideas, discussions, memorandums, and speech writing helped Roosevelt to better formulate his later New Deal program.
The use of university professors or experts to help a political candidate or officeholder is an established tradition in the United States. Woodrow Wilson, for example, used academic advisers to help him with the Versailles Conference. Later, John F. Kennedy formed his famous Brains Trust to help formulate his New Frontier programs in 1960 and 1961.
Roosevelt is most credited with the idea of developing a Brains Trust to help him in his presidential bid in 1932. The concept was first suggested by Samuel Rosenman in March, 1932, and was carried out by Doc O’Connor, Roosevelt’s law partner, and Raymond Moley, a political science professor at Columbia University. Moley selected individuals for the trust, and Rosenman held individual interviews before a candidate was brought to Roosevelt. Moley used this arrangement to bring to Roosevelt two Columbia University professors— Rexford Guy Tugwell, a professional economist and expert on agricultural affairs, and Adolf A. Berle, Jr., who was best known for his publication The Modern Corporation and Private Property (1932), with Gardiner C. Means. Moley, Tugwell, and Berle served as the original Brains Trust throughout the 1932 presidential campaign.
The Brains Trust worked closely with Roosevelt throughout the prenomination campaign, the nominating convention, and the electoral campaign. Each worked on different aspects of the American economy and the Great Depression to educate Roosevelt and to help him formulate possible programs to be implemented should he be elected. Tugwell, for example, served as the specialist on agricultural matters, suggesting to the candidate the importance of considering domestic allotment as a possible program for the American farmers. Moley worked on a number of issues, ranging from international affairs to domestic policy, the latter with Berle. All three wrote memorandums and speeches, held extensive discussions with Roosevelt, and offered ameliorative programs to resolve the Great Depression.
During the nominating convention, the roles of the Brains Trust were diminished; political experts such as Louis McHenry Howe and James Aloysius Farley instructed Roosevelt on what to say and to do. After the campaign began, the Brains Trust worked again to educate Roosevelt on as many issues as needed. By election day, its work proved fruitful, as Roosevelt won the presidency.
Although the election was over and the Brains Trust disbanded, each of the original three members helped Roosevelt with the New Deal. Moley went into the State Department and stayed there until the London Economic Conference, at which point his views were no longer in agreement with Roosevelt’s. Moley became one of Roosevelt’s harshest critics. Tugwell, on the other hand, remained part of the New Deal staff in the Department of Agriculture and later the Resettlement Administration. Berle was more of an outside consultant to Roosevelt during the New Deal years and later.
Others claimed to be Brains Trusters or associate members. The list of such individuals was incredibly long. However, among the more important members of the later group were Tom Corcoran and Ben Cohen, both of whom played vital roles in Roosevelt’s implementation of the second New Deal in 1935.
Impact
The Brains Trust had a significant influence on Roosevelt and his New Deal. Moley, Tugwell, and Berle not only helped educate the Democratic candidate on economic issues but also played vital roles in the implementation of New Deal policy. The idea of the Brains Trust resurfaced when Kennedy put together his own group.
Subsequent presidents have had academic advisers who give advice and develop policy programs. All of these academic political advisers are the inheritors of the 1930’s academics who assisted Roosevelt.
Bibliography
Namorato, Michael. Rexford G. Tugwell: A Biography. New York: Praeger, 1988.
Rauchway, Eric. The Great Depression and the New Deal: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Schwarz, Jordan. The New Dealers: Power Politics in the Age of Roosevelt. New York: Vintage Press, 1994.
Tugwell, Rexford. The Brains Trust. New York: Viking Press, 1968.