Milo Randolph Perkins

Milo Randolph Perkins was an American economic expert working for the Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC. He was the first administrator for the First Food Stamp Program .

Professional life

Born in Missouri, Milo Perkins became a successful businessman in Houston, Texas, launching the ‘King-Perkins-Bag Company’ in 1917 for the production of burlap bags. In 1935 or 1936 he was called to Washington, D.C. to become aide to Henry Wallace, who was the 11th US Secretary of Agriculture.
In a 1939 publication, Perkins was titled as the “President of the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation”, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. To Perkins’ responsibilities belonged the ministerial exportation policy to stabilize the internal markets and to secure financial returns from the surpluses through exports. At this time, the United States was member of several ‘state cartels’ for international commodity regulation e.g. in the International Wheat Agreement. In 1944, Perkins rejected the project of leftist Progressivists to ban all cartels, nationally and internationally.
In 1942, Perkins was featured as one of the prominent "young New Dealers" along with Francis Biddle, Archibald Macleish and Abe Fortas. He also was said to be "now top war and postwar planner“ on the American side of World War II. In 1944. he had resigned from his last official post in Washington, being ‘Executive Director of the Board of Economic Warfare’. Then he was “consultant to several business firms on foreign trade”.
In later years, Perkins became an adviser in questions of economic development e.g. for Venezuela.

Private life

Perkins lived for long in Montgomery, MD near Washington, DC. He was married with the former Tharon Kidd. They had two sons, who both died during World War II. Milo and Tharon founded an azalea garden in Washington to commemorate them.