Chapter 7: Talk to Tugwell
[Pare Lorentz:] Mr. Wallace listened to my general idea and said, “I think you should go see Rexford Guy Tugwell. He has a brand new agency, it has no bureau. It doesn’t have anything as a matter of fact; it’s brand new and therefore you would’nt be handicapped. I have all these old bureaus in agriculture and it’s hard for them take on a new idea. So talk with Tugwell.”
Interviewer: Tugwell was the [head of the] Resettlement Administration.
Lorentz: He had just been appointed. I think the resettlement was established as a part of the huge four-and-a-half billion dollar work relief package that had been passed by Congress. And out of that money, the president created the Resettlement Administration to be aimed at dispossessed people, farmers and migrants. I first met the newly-appointed chief of the information office, the public relations director. His name was John Franklin Carter. Carter was a very interesting man. He had written many mystery stories under the name of Jay Franklin, J-A-Y. He also had written political essays for Vanity Fair when I was movie critic there–
Interviewer: But you didn’t know him there.
Lorentz: I never met him. He had been on State Department relief missions after the First World War. He was a very worldly man, not in the sense of drunken or mistresses, but a professional writing man. He had at least three books–serious books–on post-war–post-First World War–history published. So we got along immediately. [He said,] “Sure, great, let’s go see Tugwell,” and from then on, ‘til John quit, and took up a political column–writing, at no time any place was there anything except forward, let’s get the job done, no interference, no suggestions ever. It was extremely unusual for any organization, much less the government. It was an extremely, unusually, friendly, great companionship.
What Rex said right away was, “Well, let’s make 18 movies.”
Interviewer: Why 18?
Lorentz: I don’t know. He just wanted–he had 18 ideas in mind, perhaps 18 departments in Resettlement, 18 topics and I had nothing. I had not even an office. So I suggested that we start out with one of a sufficient merit to prove that it was a worthwhile idea. So, he reluctantly agreed with that.
