Milo Reno (January 5, 1866 – May 5, 1936) was president of the Iowa Farmers' Union from 1921 to 1930 and the leader of the Farmers' Holiday Association, a populist organization established in 1932. He was born in

Wapello County, Iowa Wapello County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 35,437. The county seat is Ottumwa, Iowa, Ottumwa. The county was formed on February 17 ...

. He died in

Excelsior Springs, Missouri Excelsior Springs is a city in Clay and Ray counties in the U.S. state of Missouri and part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. The population was 10,553 at the 2020 census. It is located approximately northeast of central Kansas City, Miss ...

, of a heart attack following influenza.

Early career

Reno grew up in Iowa, in a family influenced by Populist politics. Reno was involved in organizing farmers. In 1918, he joined the Iowa Farmer Union and in 1921, he was elected its president. He called for better prices for farmers and public works programs, supported by a more inflationary monetary policy. He supported Democratic Party candidates in both the 1928 elections (

Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was the 42nd governor of New York, serving from 1919 to 1920 and again from 1923 to 1928. He was the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party's presidential nominee in the 1 ...

) and the 1932 elections (

Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

). He later turned against Roosevelt and the Democratic Party and bitterly criticized the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

by supporting such figures as Father Coughlin.

Farmers' Holiday Association

Reno's public persona is largely shaped by his leadership of the Farmers' Holiday Association, a Depression-era organization of farmers based in the Midwest that campaigned for populist measures including currency inflation, agricultural production, prices controls, and an end to foreclosures, including by forcibly preventing auctions of foreclosed farms. In October 1933, in reaction against the federal

Agricultural Adjustment Act The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) was a United States federal law of the New Deal era designed to boost agricultural prices by reducing surpluses. The government bought livestock for slaughter and paid farmers Subsidy, subsidies not to plant ...

, Reno led the call for a "farm strike" until the demands were met. On October 30, this call received the support of the governors of North and South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

References

The Farmer Takes a Holiday: The Story of the National Farmers' Holiday ...
By Everett E. Luoma

External links

Papers of Milo Reno (University of Iowa library)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reno, Milo Farmers from Iowa 1866 births 1936 deaths