Louis H. Bean Papers, 1896-1944 | Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum

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Collection Overview

Title: Louis H. Bean Papers, 1896-1944

Primary Creator: Bean, Louis H. (1896-1994)

Extent: 17.6 Cubic Feet

Arrangement:

Alphabetically by subject

1. Subject File, 1923-1955

2. Office of the Secretary of Agriculture, 1932-1952

3. Board of Economic Warfare, 1942-1943

4. Economic Stabilization and Critical Areas Commodity Reports, 1949-1951

5. Reading File, 1942-1953

6. Speeches and Writings, 1927-1952, 1960

7. Newspaper and Magazine Clippings, 1927-1957.

Abstract

Louis H.Bean was a longtime economic advisor to New Deal architect and former VP Henry A. Wallace. For the unfamiliar, he is probably better understood (along with Mordecai Ezekiel) as one of the top statistical analysts behind the Agricultural Adjustment Administration when Wallace was Secretary of Agriculture. Having worked throughout the Great Depression in the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Bean’s experience was later adapted to the war effort in the Office of Economic Warfare and he continued to serve in related capacities throughout the Truman administration. One will quickly observe that a good deal of the collection documents Bean’s post-war career, ostensibly as his public profile increased.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

The collection contains correspondence, memoranda, reports, speeches, papers reviews, statistics, graphs, charts and indices relating to Bean’s work in various capacities with the Department of Agriculture, Board of Economic Warfare, Bureau of the Budget and Council of Economic Advisors. The material also reflects Bean’s personal interest in political trends and election forecasting. The greater part of this collection relates to agriculture and the interrelationship between agriculture and industry.

Collection Historical Note

Louis Hyman Bean was born in Russia (Courland), April 15, 1896. His father came to the United States in 1905 eventually settling in Laconia, New Hampshire, Mrs. Bean followed with Louis and their other children in 1906. After attending elementary and high schools in Laconia, Louis Bean entered the University of Rochester in 1915. He enlisted in the Army in 1918, received a commission as a lieutenant and served in the infantry without going overseas until his discharge in 1919. He received his A.B. from Rochester the same year. Bean's work as an Assistant Labor Manager induced him to enter the Harvard Business School from which he received his M.B.A. in 1922.

In 1923 Bean joined the research staff of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics of the U.S. Department of Agriculture where he worked on estimates of farm income, price indices, commodity price analysis, served as secretary of the committee preparing the department's monthly price reports and began his career long study of interrelationships between agriculture and industry. Charts prepared by Bean were first used in Congress while the McNary Haugen Act was under discussion. In 1933 Secretary Wallace, whom Bean had met during the course of his work in the 1920's, appointed Bean Economic Adviser to the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. Bean also became head of the Office of Agricultural and Industrial Relations in the Office of the Secretary in 1934. Bean has described himself as being a member of a group to whom Wallace could turn for objective information uninfluenced by politics. Bean's work for Wallace included supplying information needed for press conferences, public discussions, speeches, cabinet meetings and congressional hearings. Bean also worked on several of Wallace's books. He continued to furnish information to Wallace until Wallace's departure from government in 1946. In addition to his work for the Department of Agriculture where, he has said, he was all owed to work on anything that interested him. Bean was also connected with the National Resources Planning Board and testified at hearings on the NRA. Bean also began his work on election trends and forecasts during the 1930's. His first book on this subject, Ballot Behavior first appeared in 1936 and was revised in 1940. Bean was Counselor, Office of Agricultural Economics from 1939 to 1941.

In 1942 Bean became an Assistant Director of the short lived Board of Economic Warfare where he was involved with postwar planning and the BEW British Empire Division. In 1943 he became Chief Fiscal Analyst, Fiscal Division, Bureau of the Budget where he worked on postwar economic problems, including full employment, the absorptive capacity of Palestine and other matters. Bean's statistical study prepared for Senator James Murray's committee drew him into the controversy over steel capacity and its effect on t he economy. Bean began supplying information to the Council of Economic Advisers in 1946. In 1947 Bean rejoined the staff of the Office of the Secretary of Agriculture as Economic Adviser. With the advent of the Eisenhower administration Bean returned briefly to the Bureau of Agricultural Economics until his retirement from government, June 30, 1953.

Bean's books include Graphic Method of Curvilinear Correlation (1929), Ballot Behavior (1936, 1940), How to Predict Elections (1948), and The Art of Forecasting (1970).

Louis Bean died July 5, 1994.

Administrative Information

Repository: Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum

Acquisition Source: Louis H. Bean

Acquisition Method: The papers were presented to the Library by Louis Bean. Mr . Bean reserved his literary property rights through his death; following that they were donated to the United States Government.

Related Materials: Columbia University Oral History Project and Papers of Mordecai Ezekiel

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Subject Files, 1923-1953],
[Series 2: Office of Secretary of Agriculture, 1932-1954],
[Series 3: Board of Economic Warfare, 1942-1942],
[Series 4: Economic Stabilization and Critical Areas Commodity Reports, 1949-1951],
[Series 5: Reading File, 1942-1953],
[Series 6: Speeches and Writings, 1927-1952, 1960],
[Series 7: Newspaper and Magazine Clippings, 1927-1957],
[All]

Series 1: Subject Files, 1923-1953

Correspondence, memoranda, reports, speeches, papers reviews, statistics, graphs, charts and indices relating to Bean’s work with the Department of Agriculture, Board of Economic Warfare and Bureau of the Budget and Bean’s more or less extracurricular interest in political trends and forecasting. The greater part of this material relates to agriculture and the interrelationship between agriculture and industry. (Boxes 1 -31)

Box 1

Agricultural Capacity
Agricultural Policy
Agricultural Price Cycles and Business Cycles
Automobile Industry, General Motors Case
Automobile Statistics #1
Automobile Statistics #2
Baker, John A., "The Place and Functions of Economic Research in a Democracy"
Banfield, Edward C., "The Administration of Planning in the U.S. Departments of Agriculture"
Bank Debits
Barnett, Harold J., "Energy Uses and Supplies, 1939, 1947, 1965"

Box 2

Basing Points
Bean, Louis
Boyd, James (Interior Dept), Statement before the Special Cub-Committee on the Study of Monopoly Power, April 17, 1950
Brannan Farm Program
Bretton Woods Conference
Bureau of the Budget
Business Activity and Cyclical Fluctuations
Business Cycles in Relation to Agriculture

Box 3

Business Indices
Butter-Margarine Statistics
Centril, Hadley
Capital Expansion
Capital Expenditures for Plant and Equipment
Capital Formation
Census of Manufactures, 1947
Census Reports, U.S. Summaries
Census Reports, Value of Farm Products
Certificate Plan

Box 4

Charts, Miscellaneous
Class in Business Cycles, 1931-1932
Committee on Agricultural Labor
Committees
Condliffe, J. B.
Conferences

Box 5

Consumer Expenditures
Consumer Finances (Federal Reserve)
Consumption
Consumption, Saving Function
Corn
Corn Yields, Iowa
Corn Yields, Kansas
Corn Yields, U.S., by Regions, 1866
Corporation Income and Profits, #1
Corporation Income and Profits, #2
Corporation's Operations, Swift and Co, (50-Year Record)
Correspondence and Memoranda
Cost of Production

Box 6

Cotton #1
Cotton #2
Cotton #3
Cotton Clothing and Household Goods
Cotton, Comments on Boll Weevil Excerpted from Cotton Crop Reports, July-December 1950
Cotton, Consumption
Cotton, Cotton and Cottonseed Advisory Committee

Box 7

Cotton, Cottonseed Production, Acreage, Yields
Cotton, Crop Condition
Cotton, Research and Marketing Act Program, 1947-1948
Cotton, Supply Price Analysis (Research and Marketing Act)
Cotton Stabilization and Loans
Council of Economic Advisors
Crop Estimating, Corn, Wheat
Currie, Launchlin, "Causes of the Recession"
Cycle Analysis (Foundation for Study of Cycles), 1950-1951
Cycle Analysis (Foundation for Study of Cycles), January-June 1952
Cycle Analysis (Foundation for Study of Cycles), September 1952-1953

Box 8

Defense
Defense Policy, Agricultural Phases
Depression Plans, 1937-1938
Devaluation (Pound), Agricultural Meaning
Drought Situation, 1941
Durable Goods Expenditures
Economic Questionnaires
Effect of Prices in Annual Marketings (Statistics)
Eggs (Statistics)
Electric Energy
Employment, 1919-1946
Employment Estimates and Trends (Postwar)
Employment, Miscellaneous Information

Box 9

Exports
Exports-Imports
Ezekiel, Mordecai
Fairless, Benjamin F. (U.S. Steel) "Target for Termites"
Farm Debt
Farm Income, Distribution of
Farm Income, Special Tables and Information
Farm Labor Demand (Statistics)
Farm Labor Supply (Statistics)
Farm Labor Supply Expresses as Percentage of Farm Labor Demand (Statistics)
Farm Machinery Statistics
Farm Organizations' Views
Federal Expenditures to Prevent Another Depression

Box 10

Federal Reserve
Feed Supplies
Fertilizers, Consumption, Expenditures, etc.
Food Consumption (U.S. World Need)
Food Consumption, Production and Production all Farm Production per Capita
Food Consumption Surveys
Food, National Allotment Program
Forecasting (Special Project)

Box 11

Forecasts-Outlook: Andersen Laboratories
Forecasts-Outlook: Cleveland Trust Company
Forecasts-Outlook: Dow Theory Trends
Forecasts-Outlook: Profits (Corporations)
Foreign Agricultural Trade Policy Advisory Committee
Foreign Economic Development
Foreign Travel
Freight Rates #1

Box 12

Freight Rates #2
Fruit and Vegetable Yield, Production, etc.
Fryer, Lee (Farmer Educational and Cooperative Union of America) "The Economic Act of 1950"
Full Employment Act of 1950
Full Employment, Basic Facts
Full Employment Bill
Full Employment Bill (Amendments)
Full Employment Bill (Hearings)
Full Employment Bill (Notes for Senator Murray)
Full Employment Bill (Printed Legislation)
Full Employment (Correspondence)
Full Employment (Memoranda-Gross)
Full Employment (National Planning Association)

Box 13

Full Employment (Speeches, Articles, Excerpts, etc.)
Full Employment (Testimony)
Futures Trading Statistics
Graham, Ben (Articles)
Great Britain, Statistics
Great Plains Problem
Harvard University
Hirsch, Werner Z. (Calif. U.) "Business Decisions under Uncertainty", "Marketing Agreements and Cooperative Marketing"

Box 14

Hog Statistics
Immigration
Income
Income, Consumer
Income and Production and Price Indices
Income by States

Box 15

Industrial by Products of Agricultural Commodities
Industrialization
Inflation Control
International Full Employment
International Industrialization
Inventories
Investment, Return on (Family Farm)
Keynes, John Maynard
Keynes Proposal for and International Clearing Union
Labor and Wages, Farm
Land Grant Colleges and Universities Association
Land Reform
Land Value Studies, 1937 and 1938

Box 16

Land Values
Land Values, Agricultural
Lard Statistics
Livestock and Meats, Are Controls Needed on
Livestock and Poultry Farms, Index Numbers
Livestock, Grain Consumption
Livestock, Statistics
Living Standards, Rural-Urban
Long-Time Trends in Business and Agriculture
Low-Income Families

Box 17

Marketing Margins
Marriage-Divorce Statistics
Maxwell, Selby
Meat, Quality and Taste Improvement (Oscar E. Schotte)
Middle East
Milk (Basic Pricing, Boston Market Report)
Miscellaneous #1
Miscellaneous #2
Missouri Basin Program

Box 18

Moldenhauer Weather Forecasting Company
Monopoly, Agricultural Aspects (Cellar Committee)
National Bureau of Economic Research
National Debt and Income
National Emergency Council Reports
National Income at $300 Billion and Agriculture
National Income by Country

Box 19

National Planning Association
National Resources Planning Board
Nation's Budget
New Republic
New York Times (Stock Market, Business Activity and World Jitters)
Nixon, Russ, "How Much Unemployment"
Outlook (Farming in Fifties)
Page, Larry F.
Palestine

Box 20

Parity
Parity Prices
Parity Ratios and Farm Prices
Pasture Conditions
Patents (Statistics)
Peach Statistics
Periods of Business Depression
Planning Group
Plant Disease Reporter, April 15, 1951
Population
Population and Manufacturing Trends
Population Data
Population, Farm
Postal Receipts in Selected Cities
Potatoes, Price Analysis
Potatoes, Production, Disposition
Potatoes, Yields (California, Maine, Idaho)
Potatoes, Basic Statistics
Potato Statistics, #1

Box 22

Potato Statistics, #2
Price Analysis, #1
Price Analysis, #2

Box 23

Price Cycles (General)
Prices, Consumer, 1939-1948
Prices, Fair Trade Practices
Prices, Forecasts
Prices, General Materials
Prices, Index of 420 Industrials (Standard and Poor's)
Prices, Cash Receipts from Farming (Total and by Regions)
Prices, Paid by Farmers (Indices)
Prices, Paid by Farmers (Statistics)
Processing Taxes Impounded (Statistics)
Radioactive Materials
Rankine, Paul Scott, "The Economic X-Ray"
Resources, Krug Committee Reports, Agricultural Products
Resources, Krug Committee Reports, Steel
Resources, Productive Capacity, Raw Materials & Basic Commodities

Box 24

Rice
Reifler, Winfield
Roosevelt, Franklin D.
Rose, Henry
Ross, Goldie Bean
Rossby, C. G.
Rubber
Rural America: Countries of the U.S. by Rural-Urban Character, 1940
Rural Human Welfare Committee
Sachs, Alexander
Sarle, C. F.
School Lunch Program
Segal, Sol A.
Shepherd, Appropriate Regression Equations
Silk Statistics

Box 25

Small Business
Social Welfare Legislation, Growth of (Data from Wilbur J. Cohen)
South Africa
South, Economy of the
State Department
State Department (Acheson Committee)
State Department (Berle Committee)

Box 26

State Department (Full Committee)
State Department (Sub-Committee on Economic Policy)
State Department (Sub-Committee on Economic Reconstruction)
Statistical and Historical Research Division (Bean Material)
Statistical Council Minutes
Statistical Methods, Analysis
Statistics on Steel and Other Statistical Graphs

Box 27

Steel Allocation for Saudi Arabia, Senate Small Business Committee Hearings, October 27,1947
Steel, Congressional Hearings Documents
Steel, Data and "Draft' Charts: Capacity, Consumption
Steel, General Background Materials #1
Steel, General Background Materials #2
Steel, Weidenheimer Material

Box 28

Steel Industry Reports and Officials' Statements, #1
Steel Industry Reports and Officials' Statements, #2
Steel Industry Reports and Officials' Statements, #3
Trend in Per Capita Steel Production of U.S. Steel Corporation
Trend in Per Capita Steel Production, U.S. (Exclusive of U.S. Steel Corp.)
U.S. Production of Steel, Percent of Capacity and Percent Earned on Investment by Eleven Principal Companies
U.S. Steel Corp., Production as Percent of Capacity and Percent Earned on Investment
Steel, Committee Prints
Steel Production, Three Estimates (Bean, Sykes, Smith)
Steel Statements, Mailings
Correspondence re Bean Steel Statements

Box 29

Stine, O.C.
Sugar
Sulphur
Supply and Demand
Supply Curves for Wheat
The Tariff and Agriculture
Taxes
Taylor, Myron (Committee on Economic Foreign Policy)
Tchijevsky, A. L., "Physical Factors of the Historical Process"
Temporary National Economic Committee
Tin Mill Products in the U.S.
Tobacco, Acreage, Yield, Production

Box 30

Tolley, H. R.
Truman, Harry S.
Tyler, Gus (ILGWU) Interpretation on 1950 Congressional Elections
UNRRA
U.S.-U.K. Z one Statistics (Paris Conference Report)
Wages and Buying Power (Agriculture and Industry)
Wallace, Henry A., Correspondence & 60 Million Job File
Warburton, Clark
War Production Board
War Refugee Board
Water, Supply and Outlook
Wheat Economics, General
Wheat, Outlook
Wheat Production in War and Peace
Wheat, CCC Purchases, Price, Volume
Wheat, World (Acreage, Production, Yield)

Box 31

Wheat (Yields and Outputs, Food Research Institute)
Wheat, Yields (Selected States)
Wheat, Yields, U.S.,, 1866
Wool, Outlook (and Statistics)
World Industrial Production (Statistics)
World Stocks (Statistics)
Zinc Statistics