Will, Ralph R. Papers

Staff Assistant to the Secretary of Agriculture, 1945-1950; Administrator, Land and Water Resources Staff, Office of the Secretary of Agriculture, 1950-1952

The papers of Ralph R. Will include memorandums, letters, certificates, speeches, photographs, printed materials and other items concerning Will's life and career in government; the Farm Security Administration (FSA) during World War II; and Point 4 Policy in the Dominican Republic, Panama, and Pakistan.

[Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List]

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ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Size: 5 linear inches (about 600 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: The donor gave his copyright in writings in this collection, and in any other collection in the custody of the Harry S. Truman Library, to the United States of America. Documents created by U.S. Government employees in the course of their official duties are in the public domain. Copyright interests in other documents in this collection presumably belong to the creators of those documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Philip D. Lagerquist (1973).
Updated by: Shane Ewing (2016) as part of the Truman Library Internship Program.
Supervising Archivists: Randy Sowell and David Clark.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

1898 (August 13)		Born Ralph Reeves Will, Ottumwa, Iowa
1921		B.S., New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts
1921-1933		Agricultural Extension Agent. Roosevelt County, New Mexico
1936-1938		Assistant Regional Director in charge of Rehabilitation and Resettlement, Region 12, Farm Security Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture
1938-1941		New Mexico State Director, Farm Security Administration
1941-1944		Regional Director, Farm Security Administration, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands
1944-1945		Director, Water Utilization, War Food Administration, Department of Agriculture
1945-1950		Staff Assistant to the Secretary of Agriculture
1950-1952		Administrator, Land and Water Resources Staff, Office of the Secretary of Agriculture
1953-1954		Country Director for Technical Cooperation, U.S. Embassy, Pakistan
1955-1956		U.S. Mission Director, Operations Mission to the Dominican Republic
1956-1959		U.S. Mission Director, Operations Mission to Panama

[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

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COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

The papers of Ralph R. Will include memorandums, letters, certificates, speeches, photographs, printed materials, and other items concerning Will's life and career in government; the Farm Security Administration (FSA) during World War II; and Point 4 Policy in the Dominican Republic, Panama, and Pakistan. The collection is arranged in a Subject File.

The Subject File contains Will's memorandums on his life, agriculture, and agricultural management, including the U.S. government's involvement in domestic natural resource development, the purpose of foreign aid programs (in the context of his work in the Dominican Republic), the Farm Security Administration's activities in Puerto Rico, and development problems facing the Technical Cooperation Administration (TCA), as well as several memorandums he wrote while consulting for the Land and Water Development Division of the United Nations. In these memorandums, he discusses European agricultural development, the fertilizer economy of Asia, a recommended outline for watershed management, soil science, and developing the Land Use and Farm Management Branch of the United Nations.

The Subject File also contains correspondence with U.S. officials on domestic water policy, Latin America foreign aid, wartime food production in Puerto Rico, FSA policy, the Ganges-Kobadak project, and Will's Ministerial appointment in Pakistan. It also contains correspondence with a Puerto Rican priest who benefited from FSA programs, with the Pakistan Secretary of Economic Affairs, and the Banco National de Fomento in Honduras.

The Subject File also contains certificates related to Will's life: his service to the Department of Agriculture, his participation in the UN Scientific Conference on the Conservation and Utilization of Resources, his promotion to Second Lieutenant and Captain in the U.S. Army, his membership in the Land Authority of Puerto Rico, and the Master Key to the Panama Canal. In addition, there are speeches he delivered about the U.S.'s involvement in Pakistan's development program, the problems of rural development in Pakistan, and Point 4 policy in Panama. There are newspaper clippings concerning his work in the Dominican Republic, Pakistan, Panama; the Farm Security Administration; Congressional hearings in which he spoke on soil and water conservation; the development of natural resources in New England; and the repair of public works projects around bodies of water. The collection also includes agricultural articles Will wrote throughout his life, handwritten notes adding historical information to some papers, a schedule for Vice President Richard Nixon's visit to Pakistan in 1953, Will's diplomatic pass to Pakistan, and photographs from his work with the FSA; in Pakistan, Panama, Puerto Rico, and Honduras; and from his personal life.

More information about the FSA and agricultural policy during the Truman administration can be found in the papers of Clinton P. Anderson and Charles F. Brannan.

[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

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