- Brain Trust
The term "brains trust" (originally plural, the s was later dropped) was first coined in 1901 and used in a sarcastic sense in reference to the first American general staff of the U.S. President. In 1932,
New York Times writer James M. Kiernan revived the term when he applied it to the close group of experts that surrounded United States presidential candidateFranklin Roosevelt . The term has since been applied in general sense to any close group of advisors. [Hendrickson, Robert “Word and Phrase Origins” (1997) ]Roosevelt brain trust
Having an academic team was first suggested to Roosevelt in March 1932 by Roosevelt's legal counsel
Samuel Rosenman . This concept was, perhaps, based onThe Inquiry , a group of academic advisors PresidentWoodrow Wilson formed in 1917 to prepare for the peace negotiations followingWorld War I . The core of the first Roosevelt brain trust consisted of a group of Columbia law professors (Moley, Tugwell, and Burle). These men played a key role in shaping the policies of the FirstNew Deal (1933). Although they never met together as a group, they each had Roosevelt's ear. Many newspaper editorials and editorial cartoons ridiculed them as impractical idealists.The core of the second Roosevelt brain trust sprang from men associated with the Harvard law school (Cohen, Corcoran, and Frankfurter). These men played a key role in shaping the policies of the Second New Deal (1935-1936).
Members
*
Adolf Berle - original Brain Trust
* Benjamin V. Cohen - 2nd New Deal
*Thomas Gardiner Corcoran - 2nd New Deal
*Felix Frankfurter - 2nd New Deal
*Louis Howe
*Raymond Moley - original Brain Trust (Moley broke with Roosevelt and became a sharp critic of theNew Deal from the right)
*Basil O'Connor
*George Peek
*Charles William Taussig
*Rexford Tugwell - original Brain Trust
*Hugh S. Johnson See also
*
Kitchen Cabinet
*Think tank References
Primary
* Moley, Raymond. (1939). "After seven years"
* Tugwell, Rexford. (1968). "The Brains Trust"
* [http://www.nisk.k12.ny.us/fdr Editorial cartoons]Secondary
* Rosen, Elliot. (1977). "Hoover, Roosevelt, and the Brains Trust".
* McElvaine, Robert. (1984). "The Great Depression: America 1929-1941"Notes
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