Calvin Benham Baldwin

Calvin Benham Baldwin
US Farm Security Administration
Born	(1902-08-19)August 19, 1902 Radford, Virginia
Died	May 12, 1975(1975-05-12) (aged 72) Bethesda, Maryland
Cause of death	Cancer
Residence	Kent, Connecticut
Nationality	American
Other names	Beanie Baldwin, C.B. Baldwin, Calvin B. Baldwin
Citizenship	American
Alma mater	Virginia Polytechnic Institute
Occupation	Government official, union and political activist
Years active	1923–1955
Employer	New Deal government
Known for	Administrator of New Deal's Farm Security Administration, 1948 campaign manager for Progressive Party's Henry A. Wallace, "accused of radicalism and of trying to 'communize American agriculture'" (NYT)
Spouse(s)	Louise Belp (first), Lillian Hoell (second)
Children	Calvin B. Baldwin Jr., Sally Worth Seitz

Calvin Benham Baldwin, also known as Calvin B Baldwin, C.B. Baldwin, and generally as "Beanie" Baldwin (August 19, 1902 – May 12, 1975), served as assistant to US Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace and administrator of the New Deal's Farm Security Administration in the 1930s, worked for the CIO in the 1940s, and then worked with the Progressive Party from 1948 to 1955.

Calvin Benham Baldwin was born on August 19, 1902, in Radford, Virginia. He attended the Virginia Polytechnic Institute from 1920 to 1923.

For five years during the 1920s, he worked for the Norfolk and Western Railroad. In 1929, Baldwin became the manager and owner of the Electric Sales and Service Company in East Radford, Virginia.

With the advent of the New Deal, Baldwin became assistant to Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace. He first worked with the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) and then as assistant to Rexford Tugwell for the Resettlement Administration as of its founding in 1935.

In 1937, the Resettlement Administration became the Farm Security Administration (FSA). In 1940, Baldwin became FSA administrator. The FSA distributed low interest loans to small farmers and encouraged cooperatives.

In 1943, Baldwin left government to work with the Congress of Industrial Organizations's Political Action Committee (CIO-PAC). He tried to secure labor vote for US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

In 1945, CIO-PAC founded the National Citizens Political Action Committee (NCPAC), a "liberal lobby" whose membership included communists. Baldwin became the NCPAC's executive vice-chairman and its "driving force." Critical of Truman, NCPAC and other liberal organizations united to form the Progressive Citizens of America (PCA).