FDR's Brain Trust and the Beginning of the New Deal November 6, 2009 – March 1, 2010

Presented at the New-York Historical Society

In his search for a new national message during the 1932 presidential primary, FDR gathered around him a number of political, economic and legal scholars. The core of this group were Columbia University professors, who knew and trusted each other, and were willing to take risks and work long unpaid hours, to promote a candidate that they believed could turn around a nation in crisis. Although at first a casual circle, the group became tightly organized after FDR’s nomination. After the election, they were publicly christened the “Brain Trust,” and became the central component of the New Deal. This exhibition will focus on the three key members of the Brain Trust, Raymond Moley, Rexford Tugwell, and Adolph Berle, and two of the New Deal cabinet members with whom they worked to bring about FDR’s radical changes, Frances Perkins and Harry Hopkins. Using contemporary photographs, cartoons, broadsides, articles and newsreels, this exhibition will be supplemented by audio reminisces from the collection of the Columbia University Oral History Research Office.