Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Utah Historical Quarterly
Volume
79
Issue
4
Publisher
Utah State Historical Society
Publication Date
Fall 2011
First Page
338
Last Page
357
Abstract
As Utah continues to move further and further away from its agricultural base, it is useful to look back on the state’s agricultural heritage and how an earlier generation of farmers sought to maximize its economic security through cooperation, government support, and adoption of new methods and tools made available through the nation’s land-grant colleges. Following World War II, two competing organizations, the Utah Farm Bureau and the Utah Farmer’s Union, emerged as champions of Utah farmers. Where Utah farmers and their organization had given strong support to Franklin Roosevelt and the Democratic Party’s New Deal during the 1930s, in the late 1940s the Farm Bureau took another course opening the door for the Farmers Union to establish its first local in Utah in Emery County in 1948 and spread quickly to other parts of the state. Political repercussions followed during J. Bracken Lee’s tenure as Governor of Utah (1949-56), the U.S. Senate and House elections of 1950, and unsubstantiated charges that the Utah Farmers Union was a Communist-dominated organization.
Recommended Citation
Parson, Robert; Walters, John W.; and Gurr-Thompson, Emily, "Seeds of Change: Farm Organizations in Depression and Post-War Utah" (2011). Library Faculty & Staff Publications. Paper 108.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/lib_pubs/108
Comments
http://history.utah.gov/historical_society/historical_quarterly/index.html#current
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Published by the Utah State Historical Society in Utah Historical Quarterly.