Rexford Guy Tugwell (1891-1979) made numerous contributions to American intellectual and public life, including service in the Department of Agriculture under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and as governor of Puerto Rico. His scholarly writings stimulated debate on such issues as the role of planning in government and constitutional reform.

Rexford Guy Tugwell was born in Sinclairsville in western New York on July 10, 1891, the only surviving son of Charles H. Tugwell, then a moderately prosperous businessman and farmer, and Dessie Rexford Tugwell. From the age of 11 Tugwell lived in Wilson, New York, a community on Lake Ontario to which his father moved in 1902, and enjoyed his most prosperous years as owner and manager of a cannery. Raised in the Congregationalist tradition, Tugwell was able to participate in most of the outdoor activities available to a small town youth in turn-of-the-century America despite periodic attacks of allergies and asthma. A...