William I. Myers and the Modernization of American Agriculture

Book excerpt: During the farm credit crisis brought on by the Great Depression, Myers served in Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal government, writing the legislation to consolidate federal farm credit programs. After a brief stint as deputy governor, he became governor of the Farm Credit Administration in 1933. Myers led the agency to two great successes: saving thousands of farms from bankruptcy and establishing a permanent, government-sponsored credit system for farmers comparable to what private banks provided industry. Myers returned to Cornell in 1938 and served for nearly fifteen years as dean of the College of Agriculture. Myers also served on the board of trustees of the Rockefeller Foundation, which was instituting agricultural research programs that would enable developing nations to become more productive, self-reliant, and anticommunist members of the global community.