Tugwell, Rexford Guy

Rexford Guy Tugwell's (1891–1979) importance to American urban history derives primarily from his work (1933–1936) in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). As part of President Franklin Roosevelt's “Brain Trust” and New Deal administration, Tugwell planned the creation of greenbelt cities. Although Tugwell's years (1938–1940) with the USDA and New York City Planning Commission (NYCPC) point toward an urban sensibility, the rest [Page 809]of his life was spent on projects that, while significant, were mostly unrelated to city planning.

Tugwell's education prepared him well for both public service and academic work. Born in Chautauqua, New York, in 1891 to Dessie Rexford and Charles Tugwell, Tugwell's formal education began at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in Philadelphia. He earned a Ph.D. in economics there in 1922. Tugwell credited Wharton for cultivating a sense of public service and training him to be an executive. Two professors there, Scott Nearing and Simon Patten, were influential. After Wharton, Tugwell taught at the University of Washington, Seattle, and at Columbia University. At Columbia (1920–1932), Tugwell gained prominence by writing more than 50 books and articles. In these he developed people-centered economic and political tendencies while writing on laissez-faire regulation practices, economic planning, and agricultural planning and modernization.

Tugwell began working with the USDA in 1933, and was appointed under secretary in 1934. He created the Resettlement Administration (RA) in 1935, and acted as its first director. The RA supported land use conservation projects and aided distressed farmers. In the long term the RA projected decreased numbers of farmers and planned for their migration to cities; it also foresaw the movement of urban slum dwellers out of the inner city. To facilitate both migrations Tugwell proposed the creation of transition-oriented garden towns now known as greenbelt communities. At the time opponents derisively dismissed them as expensive “Tugwell Towns.” The RA planned 25 greenbelt towns, but built only three: Greenbelt, Maryland; Greenhills, Ohio; and Greendale, Wisconsin.

Tugwell also temporarily worked for the NYCPC, but spent most of the rest of his life thinking about political science. Appointed NYCPC chair by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia in 1938, Tugwell dealt with zoning problems, low-income housing development, and revising the city's master plan. His 50-year plan called for prioritizing residential neighborhoods, developing green spaces, and expanding Manhattan's port access. The plan, however, was opposed by Robert Moses as impractical and was never implemented. Afterward Tugwell served as Puerto Rico's colonial governor (1941–1946) and then accepted a faculty position in political science at the University of Chicago (1947–1957) from Robert Hutchins. From the 1960s onward he worked with Hutchins's Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. Tugwell's 1968 book, The Brain Trust, earned the Bancroft prize. He died in 1979.