0000045878 00000 n . As the scandal spread to include nearly all the major grain companies, and as it became clear that it was the conflictridden inspection system that was the cause, Butz changed course. [9], Butz took over the Department of Agriculture during the most recent period in American history that food prices climbed high enough to generate political heat. Farm costs, per unit of production, then would rise. 0000055062 00000 n Butz resigned within days, saying that "the use of a bad racial commentary in no way reflects my real attitude." Earl Lauer Butz was born on a farm near Albion, Ind., on July 3, 1909, and grew up guiding horse-drawn plows. 0000046978 00000 n (See Henry Wallace's "Ever-Normal Granary".) In 1976, just weeks before a tight presidential election, he left the USDA in disgrace after making a stunningly crude racist remark. He rejected criticism that these ties might compromise his performance as USDA chief. [3] Butz issued a statement saying that he had not "intended to impugn the motives or the integrity of any religious group, ethnic group or religious leader. Providing a grand example of how his vision might work, Butz engineered a massive grain sale to the Soviets in 1972. 0000051702 00000 n Butz started by telling a dirty joke involving intercourse between a dog and a skunk. The success of expansion-based policy became increasingly evident in the early twentieth century as American agriculture supported global markets and wartime needs. 0000050144 00000 n The program that Butz inherited worked like this: When farmers began to produce too much and prices began to fall, the government would pay farmers to leave some land fallow, with the goal of pushing prices up the following season. (In a priceless scene in the excellent recent documentary King Corn, the narrators visit the aged Butz at his Purdue perch. 11Subsequent government policy implemented to save farms failed because it provided only short-term solutions. 0000063920 00000 n The maritime unions seized the opportunity to press for more favorable shipping rates by refusing to load grain vessels bound for Russia. Before this incident, it was not at all unusual for respectable white people to tell and laugh at jokes that portrayed black men as lazy, shiftless, and priapic. [4] In 1968, he also ran for Governor of Indiana, but came in a distant third at the Republican state convention to eventual winner Edgar Whitcomb and future governor Otis R. Bowen. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture in 1932, and then a doctorate in Agricultural Economics in 1937. He received a bachelor of science degree in agriculture in 1932, and then a doctorate in agricultural economics in 1937. 0000071399 00000 n Pros Of Corn Subsidy. If you look back at what got us into the foodprice mess, the biggest single factor was the 1972 grain sales, and that was Earl Butz's baby, says Carol Foreman, executive director of the Consumer Federation of America. From February 1993. 0000044615 00000 n Earl Butz has restored grain farmers pride in proving their enormous productive potential, and they love him. how much corn is grown with this fertilizer? And during his tenure he has played a leading policy role in the decisions which sent a disproportionate share of FoodforPeace aid to rightwing governments, including those of South Korea, South VietCambodia and Chile. The outrage over Butzs joke was, of course, entirely appropriate. Anyone can read what you share. 0000053344 00000 n They pointed out that he was leaving the board of Ralston Purina Company to become Secretary of Agriculture, while Hardin was departing the Agriculture Department to become vice chairman of the same firm. Although not featured prominently in history books, American land and agricultural policy laid the groundwork for the countrys geographic, political, and economic development. Earl Butz stayed on as Secretary of Agriculture after Nixon was impeached and engineered legislation sharply reducing federal subsidies for farmers. The United States now has commitments to supply about 25 million tons a year to the Soviet Union, Poland, Rumania, Japan and Israel. 0000042932 00000 n a. the average reproductive rates equal the average death rates. Within the food system, five major trends have enabled widespread industrialization. http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Homestead.html, The Library of Congress. (For a blunt account of the farm-crisis period, see Osha Gray Davidsons 1996 classic Broken Heartland: The Rise of Americas Rural Ghetto.). Others bowdlerized the quote, in some cases replacing the female genital reference with "a tight [obscenity]" and the scatological reference with "a warm place to [vulgarism]" or "warm toilet seats". Without conceding the criticisms against him, Butz insists that his real contribution has been in restructuring American agriculture by extending its markets abroad. 0000062543 00000 n Donate today tohelp keep Grists site and newsletters free. In addition, consumer food prices jumped. How did Earl Buts (secretary of Ag) change the farm policy in 1973? 0000044482 00000 n On the other hand, heavy exports can lead to domestic shortagesand rises in consumer food prices, as they, indeed, did in 1972. Butz died in his sleep on February 2, 2008, in Kensington, Maryland. 0000072106 00000 n 2023 U.S. History Scene, all rights reserved. By that time, farms were cranking out much more than the market could bear, and prices fell accordingly. I got a royal welcomenot because I was Secretary of Agriculture. Under the 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act, Roosevelt passed the inaugural farm bill, which subsidized farmers to limit their production. When questioned about the problems of such farmers, Butz tends to brush the inquiries aside, saying only that some producers are less efficient than others. During the 60s, livestock, rather than people, became the main consumers of American grain. High Agriculture Department officials began refusing to answer questions relating to grain sales to Russia and to Eastern European countries, saying sareastically that the diplomats had taken over. But if youd like to know precisely what those two jokes were, youre out of luck. All but 30 days of the term were suspended. Butz drastically changed federal agricultural policy and re-engineered many New Deal-era farm support . 0000042400 00000 n It's three things: first, a tight pussy; second, loose shoes; and third, a warm place to shit. On the other hand, heavy exports can lead to. We hit your inbox once a month and never abuse your personal information. Though many experts say he's whistling in the dark, he is predicting that bumper crops will be absorbed. Before Butz, there remained a snickering tolerance among the powerful for jokes denigrating the humanity of blacks, Jews, and homosexuals. 0000050911 00000 n Then they made secret deals with the five biggest American grain companies for 24.2 million tons of grain worth almost $1.5 billion in 1972 dollars $7.6 billion in 2009 dollars. 0000016123 00000 n Reader support helps sustain our work. He's on the side of people who buy from farmers and sell to consumers.. Current agricultural policy has proved this as well, as America can no longer sustain the health and environmental implications of subsidy fueled factory farms. " Earl Butz 4. 0000064563 00000 n He was also fined $10,000 and ordered to pay $61,183 in civil penalties. 0000044154 00000 n 0000059674 00000 n He was the one who pioneered the fundamental change in farm subsidies. When the conversation turned to politics, Boone, a right-wing Republican, asked Butz why the party of Lincoln was not able to attract more blacks. Marshall Martin discusses policy with Earl Butz. Popular among farmers, he was known for creating new free-market policies in American agriculture. Today Earl Butz would be 113 years old. Until the 1920s, agricultural policy targeted territorial expansion, and as farms thrived, the relationship between rural and urban markets fostered the growth of American cities. While controversial, President Richard Nixons 1973 farm bill lessened acute hunger and malnutrition. 0000044995 00000 n 17The threat of another depression hastened the reinstatement of crop regulation through the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, which restored financial security to farmers. In Omaha, President Ford campaigned with Butz at his side and told a farm audience: I'd hate to see a good team broken up in the middle of the game. Paul Johnson, a livestockassociation official, said later that he wasn't sure whether to support Ford or Reagan, but keeping Ford so we can keep Earl Butz might make mind., The President says he respects Butz's ability to influence the farm vote and he agrees philosophically with the Secretary's freemarket views. Reading Eagle . It later was shown that, with help from Continental officials, Palmby was making arrangements for establishing his residence in New York, where Continental's headquarters is, even before he went to Russia. 0000018904 00000 n 16The average income of farmers, which doubled following the first farm bill, fell to late 1920s levels, and farmers returned to practices of overproduction to make ends meet. 0000063406 00000 n Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress, Minimum Tillage Changes Planters & Cultivators, Silent Spring & the Environmental Movement, Connections between Surface and Groundwater, Nebraska's Unique Natural Resource Districts, Insecticides DDT's Rise, Fall & Rise Again, The EPA, the Endangered Species Act & Pesticides, 14th Annual Tractor & Auto show & Summer Fair. The result was that Butz replaced Kissinger as chairman of the newly named White House Agricultural Policy Committee. 0000045535 00000 n " I understood public relations and always maintained a high profile. Later farm bills saw adjustments, but the Great Depression and brief scare in the 1930s asserted that the livelihood of farmers, and the American people, was too closely tied to supply controls to lift them. No, I try not to be a negative thinker. 0000056005 00000 n American Agricultural Economics Association, American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, American government official Earl Butz dies at age 98, "A reflection on the lasting legacy of 1970s USDA Secretary Earl Butz", "Former Purdue Agriculture Dean Earl Butz dead at 98", "Earl L. Butz, Secretary Felled by Racial Remark, Is Dead at 98", "Rolling Stone's Biggest Scoops, Exposs and Controversies, #7: Earl Butz Mouths Off", "Tight Pussy, Loose Shoes, and a Warm Place to Shit: The Song Parody that Transcendeth All", "Butz donates $1 million to Purdue ag econ department", "Hard work, insight enabled Butz to become agricultural leader", "Wendell Berry vs. Earl Butz debate 1977", "Federal Eye - Spotted: Oldest Living Ex-Cabinet Secretary Releases Book", "Gerald R. Ford Administration Alumni | The Gerald Ford Presidential Foundation", "Meeting King Corn: Earl Butz was a product of his time" 2/19/2008, "The Butz Stops Here: A reflection on the lasting legacy of 1970s USDA Secretary Earl Butz" 2/7/2008, Agri-Pulse article "Memories of Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz" 2/10/2008, High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal article: "Memories of Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz" 2/14/2008, Farm Futures article: "A Special Tribute to Earl Butz" 2/4/2008, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Earl_Butz&oldid=1136081838, Purdue University College of Agriculture alumni, United States Department of Agriculture officials, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2013, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 28 January 2023, at 17:21. A few years after he left the government, Butz got busted for tax evasion. Here, for instance, is how the Associated Press described the jokes: The New York Times obit established that Butz had a reputation for bigotry and vulgarity well before the two incidents that ended his tour at Agriculture. Butz, who dismisses Foreman as a phony and an arm of the Democratic Party, says consumer groups are wrong. Earl Butz has devoted more than 20 years of his life in public and academic service: as an Assistant Secretary in the Eisenhower administration; as a professor and then a dean at one of the most distinguished universities . 13Three years later, as grain prices dropped to an all-time low, the Federal Farm Board declared, its efforts to stem the disastrous decline of farm prices had failed, and called for legislation to provide an effective system for regulating acreage or quantities sold, or both, ending the American tradition of agricultural expansion. 0000056798 00000 n 0000071753 00000 n There are those who regard him as the leader of the Great American Farm Revolution, those who regard him as Gerald Ford's greatest political asset, and there are political experts who can't decide whether Jimmy Carter is being smart or being dumb when he says he would dump Butz if he were elected President. The government would also buy excess grain from farmers and store it. After some indecision, Dean used the line in Rolling Stone, attributing it to an unnamed Cabinet officer. Grist is powered by WordPress VIP. As it turned out, nearly all the corn was bought by giants of the trade. 0000049389 00000 n 26 0 obj<> endobj xref trailer But Butz is more interested in private trade (which usually means trade by a halfdozen large grain companies) and cash sales than in humanitarian giveaways, a view that has led to charges that he is oblivious to world hunger. - Secretary Earl Butz was Presidents Richard Nixon's secretary of agriculture. And Brunthaver has since returned to Cook. 0000008682 00000 n The overall goal was to stop prices from falling too low (hurting farmers) or jumping too high (squeezing consumers). "His policies favored large-scale corporate farming" which has damaged the family farm to this day, and arguably "led directly to overproduction of corn and a subsequent rise of obesity in the United . [26][27], On May 22, 1981, Butz pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion charges for having under-reported income he earned in 1978. Butz resigned his cabinet post on October 4, 1976. He was the eldest of five children and worked on his parents' 160-acre (65ha) farm while growing up. 0000011078 00000 n allowing/demanding more to be grown what is the fertilizer they used? King Corn, the narrators visit the aged Butz at his Purdue perch a phony and an arm of term... Was the one who pioneered the fundamental change in farm subsidies used the line in Rolling Stone attributing! Granary ''. Stone, attributing it to an unnamed Cabinet officer Secretary agriculture! What is the fertilizer they used the food system, five major trends enabled... An arm of the Democratic Party, says consumer groups are wrong days of the trade the. Once a month and never abuse your personal information that his real contribution has been in American. 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