GENERAL HUGH JOHNSON - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 09/19/1933 - HFSID 27926

HUGH JOHNSON
He signed this typed letter in 1933 as head of the National Recovery Administration.
Typed Letter signed: "Hugh S. Johnson" as NRA Administrator, 1 page, 8x10½. Washington, D.C., 1933 September 19. On letterhead of the National Recovery Administration to William Brosmith, President, Hartford Chamber of Commerce. In full: "I appreciate very much your kind invitation extended to me to address the Hartford Chamber of Commerce at their annual meeting and dinner on October 3rd. I regret that matters in Washington and engagements previously made will prevent me from being with you at that time. However, I shall be glad to send someone to represent me or forward a message to be read at your meeting if you so desire. Sincerely". Hugh Samuel Johnson (1881-1942) graduated from West Point in 1903. He served with General Pershing's Mexico expedition of 1916, and, as assistant to the Army Provost Marshal, helped plan the draft legislation of 1917. In 1918, he became the youngest brigadier general since the Civil War. Resigning from the army, he was an executive in the farm equipment business in the 1920s. In 1932, he joined the "Brain Trust" in Franklin Roosevelt's Presidential campaign, serving mainly as a speech writer. In 1933, in the first wave of the New Deal, FDR named Johnson to head the new National Recovery Administration, The NRA tried to foster voluntary agreements among private corporations to limit "cut throat" competition and raise wages. Johnson was Time magazine's Man of the Year in 1933. However, the NRA proved a failure, and Johnson - talented but unable to work well with others and accused of fascist sympathies - was fired by the President in 1934. Normal mailing folds. Lightly creased and evenly toned. Otherwise, fine condition.