Professor Hamilton's Diary: Sept. 23, 1935

His new suit arrives; New Dealer Rex Tugwell was a style-setter -- and brilliant

It was a typical day of teaching and errands for Professor Hamilton, including taking his troublesome car for its annual inspection. The suit he had purchased in New York arrived in the mail. I had wondered if he had to go back to get it after alterations were made.

FDR’s original Brain Trust was composed of a group of policy advisors, most of them academics from Columbia University (publisher of Professor Hamilton’s book) who helped him shape the New Deal. They were not generally a photogenic lot, with the exception of Rexford Guy Tugwell, a handsome fellow who often matched his blue shirts to his startlingly blue eyes. Paid subscribers can read on about this controversial assistant secretary of agriculture, a rare combination of brains and beauty.

Rexford Tugwell was the Glamor Boy of the Brain Trust, exemplied in this Library of Congress head shot, accessed from Wikimedia Commons.