Rexford Tugwell

Rexford Guy Tugwell (July 10, 1891 – July 21, 1979) was an American economist who became part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first "Brain Trust," a group of Columbia University academics who helped develop policy recommendations leading up to the New Deal. Tugwell served in FDR's administration until he was forced out in 1936. He helped design the New Deal farm program and the Resettlement Administration that moved subsistence farmers into small rented farms under close supervision. He was denounced by conservatives who said his government-imposed planning violated the values of individualism. Roosevelt later appointed Tugwell as Governor of Puerto Rico, a post in which he served 1941-1946.

Literary comment
In the short story "Joe Steele", Rexford Tugwell appears at the Democratic Party convention in Chicago in 1932, alongside Louis Howe and James Farley as Franklin D. Roosevelt's proxies. Tugwell is not mentioned in the novel.