Abstract: During the years before Franklin Roosevelt's “New Deal”, there was an vigorous publicity for soil conservation in the United States. In the progressive era,a few of the soil surveyors in the U. S. Department of Agriculture,especially Hugh Bennett,became to realize the problem of unparalleled soil erosion and its serious consequences. However,before the mid-1920s,the “discovery” of soil erosion problem had not been taken seriously. In Soil Erosion:A National Menace printed as a U. S. Department of Agriculture circular in 1928,Hugh Bennett sounded the alarm of tremendous evil of soil erosion in the United States:It not only caused serious economic losses,but also undermined the foundation of American freedom,peace and security,and even threatened the survival of American civilization. Bennett urged the federal government to take immediate actions against soil erosion to maintain national security. His influential publications attracted a great deal of public attention,and prompted successfully the federal government to take responsibility in soil conservation. The nation-wide publicity and education of soil conservation before the 1930s were the prelude and foundation of the national-scale soil conservation during the period of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.

Key words: soil erosion, soil conservation, national security, Hugh Bennett, the United States