The nucleus of the Roosevelt Brain Trust originally consisted of a group of professors from Columbia Law School (Moley, Tugwell, and Berle). These men played a key role in shaping the politics of the First New Deal (1933). Although they never met as a group, they all had Roosevelt`s ear. Many editorials and editorial cartoons mocked them as impractical idealists. The nucleus of the Roosevelt Brain Trust later consisted of men associated with Harvard Law School (Cohen, Corcoran, and Frankfurter). These men played a key role in shaping the policy of the Second New Deal (1935-1936). The initial use of the term «brain confidence» was based on the use of the term «trust» to represent economic consolidation within an industry. It was a topic of great interest at the time and led to the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890. In 1888, the Springfield [Missouri] Leader used the term in connection with the consolidation of newspapers in the state: «[Too many newspapers in Columbia, Mo.] have cluttered the city`s brain market, and the Colombian and statesman have formed a «trust». As sugar, coffee, wood, whiskey, iron, coal and other trusts form, we see no reason why «brain confidence» cannot be organized. [1] Around the same time, the Philadelphia Press wrote a joke about free traders making the rounds of American newspapers. The joke implies a lack of reflection, just as «the trusts have reduced industrial production: «Some of the callers for free trade are showing enough ignorance to arouse suspicion that they have been victims of brain trust. [2] The use of the term as an analogy with industrial trusts appears to have spread widely in 1888.

For example, lawyers who signed a fee agreement were called «brain trusts.» [3] In a long lament about the independence of small publishers, the Marion [Ohio] Star says that a «brain confidence» is highlighted by the «machine-made» opinions of gullible publishers. [4] The meaning of the term, to represent a well-informed set of experts, was that meaning that seemed to prevail. For example, in 1901, a group of journalists from a state press association was called by the Deseret Evening News the «Brain Trust». [6] It didn`t take long to describe a group so competent that its advice was almost inevitably accepted and followed. This was a reference to the eight senators who formed the «Senate Brain Trust» as described by William Allen White in the Saturday Evening Post. [7] This use became regular over the next two decades, as evidenced by time magazine`s use in 1928, which published a headline at a meeting of the American Council on Learned Societies entitled «Brain Trust.» [8] Brain Trust was a term that originally described a group of close advisers to a political candidate or incumbent; These were often academics valued for their expertise in certain fields. The term is most associated with Franklin D. Roosevelt`s group of advisers during his presidential administration. Recently, however, the use of the term has extended beyond politics to any specialized group of consultants targeting a decision-maker.

ENDICOTT: Find out for yourself. This is the guy they sent to Washington to interview the Brain Trust. He said they were healthy. Around the same time, the term «brain confidence» was used in a slightly different sense by journalists covering Henry Cabot Lodge. During the Spanish-American War of 1898, a group of journalists met in Senator Lodge`s committee room and discussed with him the progress of the war. Lodge called this group his «Strategy Council,» but the Senate Press Corps called it «the Brain Trust.» [5] Franklin D. Roosevelt`s speechwriter and legal counsel, Samuel Rosenman, proposed in March 1932 that an academic team be appointed to advise Roosevelt. In 1932, New York Times author James Kieran first used the term Brains Trust (later abbreviated as Brain Trust) when he applied it to the select group of experts surrounding U.S. presidential candidate Franklin Roosevelt. According to Raymond Moley, a member of the Roosevelt Brain Trust, Kieran coined the term, but Rosenman claimed that Louis Howe, a close adviser to the president, used the term first, but used it mockingly in a conversation with Roosevelt.

[8] [9] CAL is building a network of U.S. and international lawyers – our Brain Trust – who are interested in working with CAL on an ad hoc basis. We are looking for lawyers from all fields who wish to share their expertise on distinct legal, political, advocacy or contextual issues. Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article on Brain Trust MURPHY: Must be about the tenth alienist they put on Williams. If he hadn`t been crazy before, he would have been crazy when ten of these babies psychoanalyzed him. Brain Trust, also called Brains Trust, in the history of the United States, a group of advisors to Franklin D. Roosevelt during his first campaign for the presidency (1932). The term was coined by journalist John F. Kieran and immediately earned the national currency. Raymond Moley, Rexford G. Tugwell, and Adolph A. Berle, Jr., all professors at Columbia University, were the three main members, although others worked with them from time to time.

Chaired by Moley, the Brain Trust presented Roosevelt with his thoughts on the economic and social problems facing the nation and helped him weigh the public policy alternatives that would be open to the new president. He provided proposals and draft campaign speeches, all of which were heavily revised by Roosevelt. Powered by Black`s Law Dictionary, Free 2nd ed. and The Law Dictionary. While we always welcome human rights lawyers, you do not need to have human rights training. In fact, these are often other areas of law where we need support the most! If this sounds interesting, please fill out the form below. If you don`t hear from us right away, don`t get discouraged! We send quarterly emails to our Brain Trust members and will contact individuals if we have specific work related to their expertise. Panel of experts appointed to advise a government or politician. The film His Girl Friday (1940) contains the following exchange: .