prosperity through modern tractors farming the plains, wheat fields, and herds of cattle. In 1939, the state legislature budgeted $10,000 to advertise the pamphlet across the state. Attorney and Republican state chairman Harlan Bushfield complained that The Plow That Broke the Plains the film "in one savage blow ruthlessly destroyed all the South Dakotans have built up in a generation." Some residents rejected the criticisms directed at the film and claimed the depictions to be true. One particular resident from Pennington County rebutted Bushfield's critique stating that he viewed everything through political eyeglasses and that "his eyesight is affected so much he can't tell a desert anymore when he sees one". Further condemnation of the film came from the South Dakota Press Association, which petitioned its congressional delegation to get the film withdrawn from circulation due to the belief that it was misrepresenting and harming the state. Because South Dakotans felt that they were more knowledgeable about their own issues and that outsiders such as those involved in New Deal programs had ulterior motives, they rallied behind congressmen Karl Mundt. In Congress Mundt stated that the film was a "malicious and slanderous attempt to misrepresent the homeland of millions of thrifty people living west of the Mississippi River." Due to efforts from politicians like Mundt, the United States Film Service withdrew The Plow That Broke the Plains from US circulation on April 18, 1939, under the pretense that it would be revised to show the improved agricultural conditions. However, funds never were appropriated to have the planned revision, and The Plow That Broke the Plains was not made available to the public again until 1961. In Mundt's 1940 reelection campaign, he listed twenty reasons why he should be re-elected, his first point being that he had driven The Plow That Broke the Plains out of circulation. Significance Legacy The Resettlement Administration and its successor, the Farm Security Administration, and other government agencies distributed The Plow That Broke the Plains as an educational service. In addition to screenings in the U.S., the Plow That Broke the Plains was screened publicly in Canadian educational venues and film societies. At a conference on Canadian-American relations at Queen's University at Kingston in Ontario, The Plow That Broke the Plains screened as part of a program of films that highlighted problems of adapting to the North American Environment. Additionally The Plow That Broke the Plains