Source

State Archives of Florida, Series s204

Description

A telegram from Governor Theodore G. Bilbo of Mississippi to Governor Doyle E. Carlton requesting Governor Carlton's support in urging the Federal Farm Board to protect cotton farmers of the south.

Date

1929-09-13

Creator

Bilbo, Theodore Gilmore, 1877-1947

Format

Telegrams

Coverage

Depression Era Florida (1926-1939)

Topic

Agriculture and Aquaculture

Subjects

Cotton farmers
Cotton growing
Florida. Governor (1929-1933 : Carlton)
United States. Federal Farm Board

Geographic Term

Jackson (Miss.)

General Note

Theodore G. Bilbo served as both the 39th and 43rd Governor of Mississippi before being elected to the United States Senate in 1934. Despite being known as the “Redneck Liberal” in the 1930s, Bilbo was a staunch white supremacist, and his politics moved to the right after 1940. He consistently supported agriculture and was particularly dedicated to the cotton industry. In 1938, he publicly objected to the federal government’s plan to subsidize cotton exports, arguing it would negatively affect domestic cotton growers and mills. Bilbo also spoke in favor of a cotton-insurance program that President Roosevelt later vetoed.