by Amity Shlaes
The news about homeowners continued to be bad Ben Bernanke, “Nonmonetary Effects of the Financial Crisis in the Propagation of the Great Depression,” American Economic Review 73 (1983).
6
A River Utopia
The Tennessee Valley Authority On the early TVA, Roy Talbert Jr., FDR’s Utopian: Arthur Morgan of the TVA (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1987), proved useful.
TVA’s first rate schedule “Muscle Shoals Electric Rates,” New York Times, Sept 15 1933.
“I recall that we were two exceedingly cagey fellows” To get a feel for Lilienthal, the reader need only dip into The Journals of David Lilienthal (New York: Harper and Row, 1964). The description of his early meeting with Willkie is contained in an appendix to the first volume. more than seven dams as large as Dnieprostroi These facts are drawn from David Lilienthal’s Democracy on the March (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944).
7
A Year of Prosecutions
Sam Insull and Andrew Mellon The key work on Samuel Insull is Forrest McDonald’s Insull (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962). More recently author John Wasik has usefully explored Insull’s contribution to technological innovation in Merchant of Power (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006). An unpublished memoir by Burton Berry, the State Department official who traveled home with Insull, gives insight into Insull’s state of mind. Insull’s papers are at Loyola University. The material on Mellon’s prosecution is drawn mostly from the newspapers of the period; on the justice of the prosecution, Hoover had some comments to make as well in his memoirs. The Diary of Rexford G. Tugwell, edited by Michael Namorato, describes the period in which he was closest with Roosevelt.
Pecora had made a stunning start The Pecora hearings were extensively covered by the press, as in “Pecora Appointed for Stock Inquiry,” New York Times, January 25, 1933, or “Senators Question Him,” New York Times, May 24, 1933.
The same day that Mellon went free, Insull gave himself up “Insull Put in Jail,” and “Mellon is Cleared of 1931 Tax Evasion,” New York Times, May 9; “Insull Released,” New York Times, May 12.
Keynes, the British economist, visited Perkins describes Keynes’s visit in The Roosevelt I Knew (New York: Viking Press, 1946). a Democratic sweep “Democrats Hold 69 Seats in Senate,” New York Times, November 8, 1934.
“a sweeping victory of immense importance” “First Felony Case Is Won under NRA,” New York Times, November 2, 1934.
“ever tasted worse champagne” This material comes from the published diaries of Tugwell and Ickes.
“Previous to the last national election” “M.S. Eccles Heads Federal Reserve,” New York Times, November 11, 1934.
8
The Chicken Versus the Eagle
the Brooklyn Schechters The quotes from the Schechters are drawn from testimony of their trials in the lower courts. Because the Supreme Court heard the Schechter case, that material is readily available; I found it in New York University’s library. In Quarrels That Have Shaped the Constitution (New York: Harper Perennial, 1988) John Garraty treats the Schechter case. G. Neil Reddekopp’s “The Schechter Case and the Constitutionality of the NIRA,” an unpublished paper (Department of History, University of Calgary, 1977), proved useful. Drew Pearson sketches a hostile portrait in Nine Old Men (New York: Doubleday, 1936). The New York Times covered the case from the local and national angles.
Early Willkie material can be found in several biographies, including Joseph Barnes, Willkie (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1952), and Steve Neal, Dark Horse (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1984). On Dorothea Lange and Roy Stryker, Milton Meltzer’s Dorothea Lange: A Photographer’s Life (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2000) provides details. the firing of Jerome Frank In recent decades the declassification and analysis of the Venona code papers has shown that Hiss was a Soviet spy. Jerome Frank, however, was more like Tugwell, a romantic. See John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1999).
Her cheerful mood accorded with that of the country. The 1935–36 rally was the longest of the decade, and the most significant in terms of point increases, going from 110 or so to 190 in 1937. Rallies and declines in this instance are measured in the classic way: from bottom point to top, or top to bottom. The “FDR Rally” that came at the time of FDR’s first election was greater in percentage terms, but did not last as long, and did not come close to recovery levels. For more, see John Prestbo, The Market’s Measure. Prestbo also notes that the Dow of the 1930s was the most volatile of decades on record for the century. This clearly has to do with monetary policy and international changes, but also with an unpredictable White House.
9
Roosevelt’s Wager
Felix Frankfurter moved in Max Freedman, ed., Roosevelt and Frankfurter: Their Correspondence (Boston: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1967) proves very useful in understanding the relationship between the law professor and the president. So does Elliott Roosevelt’s compilations of his father’s letters. Harold Ickes’s Secret Diary gives a good feeling for the 1936 campaign. Perkins’s The Roosevelt I Knew provides many details.
“we should consider the truth” McReynolds’s written dissent in Ashwander can be found in Court records; his statement about the power of government to compete with utilities was reported in “Deliberateness of Chief Justice Keeps Court Room Throng in Long Suspense,” New York Times, February 18, 1936.
Now Tugwell had an idea Meltzer, Dorothea Lange, is useful for details on the photographers and their work.
By November, the new CIO had opened an office Brophy’s work at the K Street office is detailed in Melvyn Dubofsky and Warren van Tine, John L. Lewis: A Biography (Champaign: University of Illinois, 1986).
The TVA paid no taxes, he noted Some of this material comes from Barnes, Willkie.
In September, Roosevelt spoke at Harvard See Freedman, Roosevelt and Frankfurter.
10
Mellon’s Gift
Mellon’s paintings must be spared David Finley’s A Standard of Excellence (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1973) sheds light on Mellon’s collection habits, as does Paul Mellon’s memoir. Two biographies of Duveen are also helpful, S. N. Behrman’s Duveen (New York: Little Bookroom, 2002) and Meryle Secrest, Duveen: A Life in Art (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005).
“I built a temple” Paul Mellon published the poem in his memoirs, Reflections in a Silver Spoon.
Mellon, David Cannadine’s outstanding biography of Mellon, came out as I was just finishing this manuscript; it contains all details of the tax and National Gallery stories.
11
Roosevelt’s Revolution
Having learned the importance The construction of the speech is detailed in Samuel Rosenman’s Working with Roosevelt (New York: Harper Brothers, 1952). legislation that would increase the number of justices McKenna’s Franklin Roosevelt is extremely useful. For insight into the justices, I liked Hutchinson and Garrow, Forgotten Memoir of John Knox. Frankfurter’s correspondence with his wife, Marion, on the court-packing plan can be found in H. N. Hirsch, The Enigma of Felix Frankfurter (New York: Basic Books, 1981).
Power, the play Rosenman, Working with Roosevelt, p. 144. http://newdeal.feri.org has some material on Power.
One of the sources for the economic part of the chat was a piece by Stuart Chase The February 15, 1937, submission by Chase to the Times is published in Freedman’s edition of Roosevelt and Frankfurter’s correspondence.
“the Court’s processes had integrity” Frankfurter’s note to Roosevelt is in Hirsch, Enigma of Felix Frankfurter.
Ogden Mills, the treasury secretary These thoughts come from Ogden Mills, The Seventeen Million (New York: Macmillan, 1937).
“trick way of finding loopholes” Roosevelt’s exchanges with Morgenthau on taxes are in Blum, Morgenthau Diaries.
“I am wholly unable to figure out” Roosevelt’s tax return and his letter to Commiss
ioner Helvering are publicly available at taxhistory .org. Joseph Thorndike, the creator of the history project, has also posted the returns of several other presidents.
12
The Man in the Brooks Brothers Shirt
“But don’t ask me about cotton” Rex Tugwell’s start at American Molasses was covered in “Tugwell Bit Hazy about His New Job,” New York Times, January 5, 1927. Some of the detail on Tugwell in this period comes from Michael Namorato, Rexford G. Tugwell: A Biography (New York: Praeger, 1988). More, including the story of Tugwell’s separation from Columbia, can be found in Diary of Rexford G. Tugwell.
“we believe that the Soviet Union” The source for this is Peter Filene, American Views of Soviet Russia (Homewood, Ill.: Dorsey Press, 1968); the petition and signatories are reprinted on p. 117.
Stuart Chase still wrote Richard Vangermeersch, Life and Writings of Stuart Chase (New York: Elsevier, 2005) contains the material about Harvey Chase’s correspondence with Roosevelt. Chase’s The Tyranny of Words (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1938) marked the beginning of a new stage for the author.
Betty Glan Douglas writes about his discovery of Betty Glan’s death in In the Fullness of Time: The Memoirs of Paul Douglas (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1971).
Mary McCarthy typified Mary McCarthy’s own writings, especially her Intellectual Memoirs (New York: Harvest, 1993), give a feel for the period. Steve Neal, Dark Horse, covers this period in Willkie’s life especially well.
“Wendell told me, rather explicitly” The Lilienthal remark is from his diary, also quoted in Neal, Dark Horse.
A new respect for conservatism New York Times, “Bestsellers of the Week, Here and Elsewhere,” July 5, 1937; “Sellers of the Week, Here and Elsewhere,” July 12, 1937.
“There was no real place for me” This material is from Diary of Rexford G. Tugwell.
13
Black Tuesday, Again
On an August evening at his daughter’s “Andrew Mellon Dies at Age of 82,” New York Times, August 27, 1937.
Wall Street already knew that The concept of regime uncertainty developed by the scholar Robert Higgs helped me enormously in understanding the period 1937–38. Both Morgenthau’s and Adolf Berle’s diaries and papers are useful for these years, as are Beckoning Frontiers, Eccles, and Anderson, Economics and the Public Welfare. Anderson’s insights are astonishing.
At Casa Grande Crucial to the story of Casa Grande is Edward C. Banfield’s book Government Project (Chicago: Free Press, 1961). Banfield, a young scholar, detailed every stage of the Casa Grande project, and its sorry outcome; Tugwell wrote an ambivalent introduction. Herb Stein’s explanation of the monetary environment is also important. Some of the details from Roosevelt’s fishing trip appear in Robert Jackson, That Man (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003).
Currie was also a Soviet spy Currie was one of the few Roosevelt Administration figures who actually served as a genuine spy for Moscow. The federal government’s Venona Project, made public only in the 1990s, showed that Currie had reported to the KGB. But for the moment this mattered less than the more immediate problem of the U.S. economy.
“Eccles was in the doghouse” The source for this is a 1981 interview with Lauchlin Currie on London Weekend Television, reprinted in Journal of Economic Studies 31, no. 3 (2004).
“more differently colored glasses” The transcript of the debate between Jackson and Willkie appears in This Is Wendell Willkie (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1940). Ray Moley’s After Seven Years is also important when it comes to understanding the state of mind of business. the Supreme Court had ruled See, for example, “Decision of the Supreme Court on PWA,” New York Times, January 4, 1938, or “Utilities’ Grief,” Time, January 10, 1938.
14
“Brace Up, America”
Bill Wilson was struggling Francis Hartigan, Bill W. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000), sheds light on this stage in Wilson’s life.
“Father is going to make Ulster County” Much of the material on Father Divine comes out of the papers of the period; the New York Times covered him extensively. See also Weisbrot.
“people do not like the business depression” See, for example, “Ickes Says Roosevelt Won in Vote,” New York Times, Nov 11, 1938.
Casa Grande Banfield, Government Project, conveys the Casa Grande detail.
The Roosevelts…were deeply distracted Roosevelt’s preoccupation with war comes through in both his letters generally and his correspondence with Frankfurter.
Roger Baldwin was on the beach at Chilmark Roger Baldwin’s biographer, Robert Cottrell, details both his Soviet trip and his disillusionment with Soviet Russia in the late 1930s, as well as the purge at the ACLU, in Roger Nash Baldwin. Other details on Roger Baldwin come from Lamson, Roger Baldwin.
“Well, I’ve done it” Neal, Dark Horse, provides the detail about Willkie’s decision to register as a Republican in 1939. Some biographical material about Davenport comes from there as well.
15
Willkie’s Wager
Root decided to…float Willkie as a candidate Oren Root’s memoirs, Persons and Persuasions (New York: W. W. Norton, 1974), supply the story of his enthusiasm for Willkie. Material on the campaign comes also from the Willkie Papers at Indiana University.
“Wonder Boy” Felix Frankfurter’s attitude toward Willkie comes from Freedman, Roosevelt and Frankfurter.
“Learn to Say: President Willkie” “Willkie Serves Notice on Democrats,” New York Times, July 17, 1940.
“They will vote to continue the New Deal” Potofsky’s position is reported in Dubofsky and Van Tine, John L. Lewis.
“essential to the national defense” See “For TVA Speed Up as Defense Move,” New York Times, July 10, 1940; and, for the details of Lilienthal’s press conference, “Roosevelt Signs TVA…,” New York Times, August 1, 1940.
Coda
Roy Stryker The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s online exhibit of urban photography provides details of Stryker’s bio.
Sixty thousand people filed outside “Willkie Tribute Paid by 60,000 Here,” New York Times, October 10, 1944.
selected bibliography
In researching this book I found period papers and magazines most useful. Newspapers and magazines used as sources include the Washington Post, the New York Times, the New York American, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Nation, the New Republic, Newsweek, and Time.
Archived Papers
Roosevelt’s papers are at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library at Hyde Park, New York. The Lilly Library at Indiana University at Bloomington, Indiana, houses Wendell Willkie’s papers. Some of the Insull material comes from Loyola University Archives; especially interesting is an unpublished manuscript by Burton Y. Berry, the State Department executive who escorted Insull home from Greece (“Mr. Samuel Insull,” Berry, Burton Y. Loyola University Archives, Insull Collection, Folder 17-2).
Alzada Comstock’s papers are at Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections, 8 Dwight Hall, 50 College Street, South Hadley, Massachusetts.
Rexford Tugwell’s papers are at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library at Hyde Park, New York, with the president’s and Mrs. Roosevelt’s.
Irita van Doren’s papers, in the Library of Congress, contain some material from the period of her relationship with Willkie.
Much of the Schechter material comes from Supreme Court documentation from the October term, 1934, found in Case No. 854, A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corporation, Schechter Live Poultry Market, Joseph Schechter, Alex Schechter, and Aaron Schechter, Petitioners v. United States of America.
Online Resources
Dow Jones Indexes, djindexes.com; Dow Jones Industrial Average and utilities index.
“Bridging the Urban Landscape,” online exhibit, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit.
The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute’s online library, the New Deal Network, http://newdeal.feri.org.
Books
and Articles
Adler, Stephen J., and Lisa Grunwald. Letters of the Century. New York: Dial Press/Random House, 1999.
Alexander, Melinda, et al. Soviet Russia in the Second Decade: A Joint Survey by the Technical Staff of the First American Trade Union Delegation. New York: John Day, 1928.
Allen, Frederick Lewis. Only Yesterday. New York: Harper, 1931.
Allen, Frederick Lewis, and Agnes Rogers. I Remember Distinctly: A Family Album of the American People in the Years of Peace, 1918 to Pearl Harbor. New York: Harper, 1947.
Allen, Robert Loring. Irving Fisher: A Biography. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1993.
Alter, Jonathan A. The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006.
Anderson, Benjamin. Economics and the Public Welfare: Financial History of the United States, 1914–1946. New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1949.
Antwerp, William C. Van. The Stock Exchange from Within. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday Page, 1914.
Arkes, Hadley. The Return of George Sutherland. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1994.
Axtell, Silas B. “Russia and Her Foreign Relations.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 138 (July 1928): 85–92.
Badger, Anthony J. The New Deal. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1989.
Banfield, Edward C. Government Project. Introduction by Rexford Tugwell. Chicago: Free Press, 1951.