The 1920s and 1930s were a grueling time for American farmers. Tens of thousands lost their farms. Many blamed uncaring bankers for their plight, and by the late 1920s there was increasing resistance to farm foreclosures. Armed farmers sometimes tried to stop auctions of foreclosed farms by threatening local officials. The New York Times reported one such incident, which occurred on 4 January 1933 in Lemars, Iowa. Carrying a rope, some eight hundred farmers and townspeople gathered at the entrance to the county courthouse for the auction of a farm belonging to their neighbor John A. Johnson.

The farm was to be sold to satisfy a $33,000 mortgage held by a New York insurance cornpany, Johnson had defaulted after corn, which cost 80 cents a bushel to raise, had dropped to 10 cents a bushel at the market. Johnson's neighbors did not intend to prevent the sale. They...