"Let Them Eat Their Gold": Olin and Emma Swenson and the National Farmers Holiday Association, 1931-1934

Abstract

The contributions of Olin and Emma Swenson to the National Farmers' Holiday Association (NFHA), through the incorporation into the movement of the farmers of the state of Wisconsin, were significant. The National Farmers' Holiday Association was one of the most prominent and largest American agricultural organizations during the early 1930s. The impact that Olin and Emma Swenson had in bringing Milo Reno, President of the NFHA, to Wisconsin and the inception of the Wisconsin Division of the NFHA were critical to the achievement of uniting Wisconsin farmers with the NFHA. Furthermore, Olin and Emma Swenson began their activism in the local Rusk County Farmers' Union even before the NFHA exploded onto the scene, planting the seeds that would blossom into connecting with Milo Reno and the NFHA. Their efforts in behalf of farmers and other social justice movements continued after the demise of Reno and the NFHA.