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 The Farmers' Holiday Association was a movement of Midwestern United States farmers who, during the Great Depression, endorsed the withholding of farm products from the market, in essence creating a farmers' holiday from work. The Farmers' Holiday ...

, a populist organization established in 1932. He was born in

Wapello County, Iowa Wapello County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 35,437. The county seat is Ottumwa. The county was formed on February 17, 1843, and named for Wapello, a Meskwaki chief. Wapello County ...

. 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, Missouri ...

, 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) and the 1932 elections ( Franklin Roosevelt). He later turned against Roosevelt and the Democratic Party and bitterly criticized the New Deal by supporting such figures as

Father Coughlin Charles Edward Coughlin ( ; October 25, 1891 – October 27, 1979), commonly known as Father Coughlin, was a Canadian-American Catholic priest based in the United States near Detroit. He was the founding priest of the National Shrine of the ...

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. 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 subsidies not to plant on par ...

, 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