Hudgens, Robert Watts, 1896-1973

Art administrator; Chapel Hill, N.C.

Robert Watts "Pete" Hudgens (1896-1973), an investment banker, government official, corporation executive and amateur printer, was born in Laurens County, South Carolina.

Government official.

Robert Watts Pete Hudgens (1896-1973), an investment banker, government official, corporation executive and amateur printer, was born in Laurens County, South Carolina. He graduated from the Citadel in 1915. He served to the rank of captain in the U.S. Army in World War I, was severely wounded in 1918, and spent three years in hospitals before being discharged in 1921. He then became an investment banker, a partner in the firm of Alester G. Furman, his father-in-law, in Greenville, S.C. During his years with the firm (1921-1934) he was also an official of the Greenville Chapter of the American Red Cross and the South Carolina Red Cross, and in these capacities he became involved with the relief of farmers who were suffering economic hardship in the state. To help them he developed a program known as supervised credit, which combined credit with technical assistance. Supervised credit was first used, successfully, in Abbeville County, S.C. (1932-1933), with the assistance of a grant from the American Red Cross, and eventually became the basis of programs used by the Resettlement Administration and the Farm Security Administration. Hudgens' success in rural development led to his 14 years of service in government organizations: the Subsistence Homestead program (1934-1935); the Resettlement Administration, as Louisiana State Director (1935-1936) and as regional director for the Southeast (1936-1937); and the Farm Security Administration, as regional director for the Southeast, and as assistant and then associate, director of the administration (1937-1946).

Hudgens left government service in 1946 and worked a year as director of field organizations for the American Red Cross (1946-1947). He then became executive director of Nelson Rockefeller's American International Association for Economic and Social Development (1948-1953), where he was able to work with rural development programs in other countries, especially in Latin America.

These same concepts were carried over to International Development Services, Inc., which Hudgens formed in 1953. He served as its president until his retirement to Chapel Hill, N.C., in 1963.