Gwynn Garnett
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Gwynn Garnett (December 26, 1909 to November 21, 1995) was the administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the United States of America from 1955 to 1959.[1] He also wrote the first draft of what would become the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 (Public Law 480) that would become known as the Food for Peace program.[2][3]
Garnett was born in Chicago to Robert Tompkins Garnett and his wife Edith (Higgenbotham) then raised on a farm in Wyoming.[1] He had four siblings which included brothers Robert and Cyrus. He graduated from Iowa State University in 1934 where he was the president of the Sigma Pi fraternity chapter and the Y.M.C.A.,[4] as well as a member of Scabbard and Blade.[5] In 1936 he married Marjorie Maree Shannon of Clinton, Iowa. They would stay married until he died and had two children, Stephen and Patience.[1]
Early career
During the 1930s, Garnett was a statistician for the United States Department of Agriculture[1] and the Federal Land Bank.[6] During World War II he commanded a tank company as a captain in the U.S. Army in Europe. After the war he was named director of the Food and Agriculture Division of the U.S. Military Government in West Germany. He was also involved with overseeing the Berlin Airlift. He also helped initiate parts of the Marshall Plan until his discharge. He then became a legislative liaison for the American Farm Bureau Federation.[2]