ers, such as Henry Wallace, Rexford Tugwell and Harry Hopkins, stressed public works and aid to the poor as a way to jumpstart the economy. In neither camp were the Wilsonian liberals, such as Brandeis, who distrusted concentrations of economic power and who believed in the importance of preserving competition. The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), which had a little bit for everyone, represented a crash experiment in "political-economic corporatism," which was embodied in its codes for regulating industry.
Among the many alphabet soup agencies created by Congress during the first Hundred Days, the NRA (National Recovery Administration) was entrusted with responsibility for industrial recovery. During its brief two-year existence, NRA was riven with internal disputes and engendered severe opposition in the country, particularly from smaller businesses subject to its regimentation. Under inept leadership headed by the erratic General Hugh Johnson, the NRA's general counsel, Donald Richberg, who earned the
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