Presilla, Daniel, 212, 216
prestamped penny postcards, 72
private express companies. See also Federal Express
American Letter Mail Company, 31
Blood’s City Dispatch, 32
Boyd’s City Dispatch, 32
closure of loopholes for, 36
DHL, 187–189
Hale and Company, 31–32
Harnden, 27–30
Harnden Foreign Passenger Express, 30
Overland Mail Company, 41–42
Pony Express, 42–45
UPS, 198, 251
Wells, 30–32
Wells Fargo, 41–45
Wickliffe and, 29, 32
private mail companies, 186
Project Pathfinder. See also Air Mail Service
as contest between Miller and Gardner, 99–102
defined, 99
troubles affecting, 100
proof sheets, 126
Purolator, 198
Quay, Matthew, 71
racial tension, 147
Radel, Eddie, 99–100, 101
Rademacher, James
as assistant secretary-treasurer, 166
blessing of Blount’s plan, 170
Blount and, 158, 169
as branch secretary, 160–161
Colson and, 169
combining of dual chapters, 167
in five-day delivery protest, 246
George Meany and, 179
as NALC leader, 158, 161
at Postal Reorganization Act signing, 181
as rising star, 166
“save our service” postcards, 169
in South, 167
as union representative, 160
railway mail clerks, 72
Railway Mail Service, 50, 139
Reagan, John Henninger, 46
Reagan, Ronald
Anthony Frank and, 205
privatization and, 200
Redfield N.Y. post office, 242–243
Reisner, Robert
background, 226
digital postmarks, 227–228
early efforts, 227
e-mailing of flyers/catalogs, 228
GAO audit and, 229–230
hiring of, 226
privatization plan, 232
resignation of, 232–233
technology industry and, 227
Time Warner experiment, 227
as vice president of strategy, 229
relay system, pilot, 88
RFD. See rural free delivery
Rhinebeck post office, 131–132
Rickenbacker, Eddie, 124
riders
accosting of, 14
black ban, 20–21
carrying at night, 12
colonial post, 9–10
Pony Express, 43–44
Rogerson, Cathy, 228
Rolando, Fredric, 245
Roman couriers, 6
Roosevelt, Franklin D.
American Philatelic Society, 119
as assistant U.S. Navy secretary, 87
background, 118
Chicago convention, 133–134
death of, 137
expansion of federal government, 122
Farley and, 120
New Deal, 132, 136
new post offices, 128–129
polio, 118
post office design, 130–131
post office interest, 128–132
presidential campaign, 120–121
reduction of postal worker wages, 164
Rhinebeck post office, 131–132
as stamp collector, 114, 118–119
Roosevelt, Theodore, 75–76, 83, 92, 127, 162
Rosset, Barney, 139
Royal Mail, 8, 12, 34, 35
Royal Oak post office, 211–212, 213–214, 215–219
Roznowski, Paul, 213
Runyon, Marvin
background, 225
early buyouts, 225–226
Reisner hiring, 226
resignation of, 230
in restoring financial health, 229
sales in post offices, 226
Setrakian and, 228
rural free delivery (RFD)
Cleveland administration opposition, 81
Congress lack of support, 80
defined, 78
farmers and, 82
“practicability” of, 77
protest against, 83
testing of, 74, 77, 78, 79
as unprofitable, 82
Russell, William, 42, 43, 44
Rutherford, Lucy Mercer, 137
same-day delivery, 251–252
Sanders, Bernie, 254–255
Sapp, Shante, 251
Schadewald, Craig, 246
Sears, 210
Seinfeld, 219–220
Semrow, Harry
background, 144
at Chicago Stadium, 144
getting out the vote, 145
Setrakian, Robert, 228
Sexual Physiology (Trall), 58, 60
Shaw, George Bernard, 63
Sherrill, Patrick, 202–203, 204
Shoumatoff, Elizabeth, 137
Shultz, George, 173–174
six-day delivery, 246, 247
Smith, Dean, 109
Smith, Fred
background, 189–190
business press and, 193
executives rallying behind, 192
Federal Express and, 189–194
Larry Hillblom and, 193–194
move to Memphis, 191
stepping aside as chairman, 192
subcommittee testimony, 196–197
USPS and, 197
venture capital, 191–192
William Bolger and, 195–197
Smith, Henry Ladd, 89
Sombrotto, Vincent, 208, 232, 234
Sons of Liberty, 14
South Bethlehem PA post office, 243–244
special delivery messengers, 77
Spooner, Lysander, 31
Stamp Act, 13
stamp collectors
children, 116–117
Green, 117–118
in 1930s, 116–117
in 1920s, 116
post office clerks and, 116
Roosevelt, 114, 118–119
Tiffany, 114–115
stamp dealers, 115
stamps
Angelou, 254
celebrating America’s freedoms, 135
“Columbians,” 116
commemorative, 79, 115–116
first issue of, 115
first meeting of United Nations, 136–137
Forever Stamp, 234–235
Franklin and Washington, 37
Inverted Jennies, 117
Leslie writings on, 39
as pre-paid, 39
price raise (1958), 140
Royal Mail, 34
Stamps.com, 230
Stanley-Brown, Rudolph, 131
Staples, 248
Stewart, A. T., 68
Stuart, George, 68
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), 174–175
Summerfield, Arthur
background, 138
pornography and, 139
as postmaster general, 138–140
Sunday delivery for Amazon.com, 249–251
Swinging Six, 142, 144
Swiss postal service, 247
system of scientific management, 163
Taft, William Howard, 83, 84, 92
Taylor, Bayard, 39
–40
Taylor, Frederick Winslow, 163
Taylor, John Merlin Taylor, 210
telephones, 74, 138
Tennessee Valley Authority, 154
Thurn and Taxis post, 7–8
Tiffany, John K., 114–115
Tisch, Preston, 204
Tocqueville, Alexis de, 22–23
Tontine Reading Room, 26, 27
“Toward United Nations” stamp, 136–137
Tracy, Elizabeth, 130
Truman, Harry, xiv, xvii, 138, 164, 194
Twain, Mark, 73
Tyler, John, 37
United National Association of Post Office Clerks (UNAPOC), 163
United States Express Company, 83
University of Paris, 7
UPS, 198, 251
U.S. Postal Service (USPS)
abuses, 218
Advanced Services, 221
as beacon, xv–xvi
bulk mail centers, 183, 184
collective bargaining agreements, 185
competition with fast-moving rivals, 252
creative mail delivery, xiii
default on retiree health care payment, 245–246, 248
delivery comparisons, xiii–xiv
DHL and, 188–189
Express Mail, 196–197, 198
Federal Express advertisement and, 199
focus on just mail delivery, 233
gloomy prognosis (1977), 186
health care fund for retirees, 235–236
historical advancements, xiv
losses, xiii, xvii, 185
mail delivery (1971), 183
mail delivery (1982), 200
mechanical letter-sorting machines, 183, 184
mission, 235
optical character readers, 207
personal horror stories, 184
politics and, xviii
Post Office renamed to, 182
preferential hiring treatment, 218
as reflection of government view, xvi–xvii
Royal Oak massacre as turning point, 219
spiraling cost of employees, 184–185
statistics, xiii
stopping subsidy ahead of schedule, 201
Sunday delivery for Amazon.com, 249
Van Doren, Carl, 16
van Pelt Bryan, Frederick, 139
Van Rensselaer, Solomon, 24–25
Vernon, David, 250
“Victorian laptop,” 35
V-Mail messages, 135
von Taxis, Francis, 7
Voss, Peter, 206
Waddell, William, 42, 43, 44
Walker, Frank
background, 134
Esquire and, 135–136
letter airlift, 135
on stamp designs, 134–135
V-Mail messages, 135
Wanamaker, John
as angry and frustrated, 75–76
annual report to Congress, 74
background, 67–68
Bennett and, 67–68
as “Brother Wanamaker,” 78
commemorative stamps, 79
Comstock and, 76
department improvements, 73–74
departure from post, 80
as first to send a parcel post, 84
Grand Depot, 70, 74
Harrison scolding of, 75
Hillary Clinton words and, 255
illness, 68
John Wanamaker & Company on Chestnut Street, 69–70
mocking of, 66
Oak Hall, 68–69
pneumatic tube system, 79
postal reforms, 77
postmaster general appointment, 65, 71
rural free delivery (RFD), 74, 77, 78–80
as socialist, 77–78
“Wanamaker Free Delivery,” 85
Washington, George
as general, 15
post office view, 17
signing of postal act, 19
stamp, 37
Watson, Marvin, 154
Webster, John, 108
Weidenbach, A. C., 97
Wells, Henry
background, 30–31
Butterfield and, 42
California opportunity, 41
cheap postage and, 37
Harnden and, 30–31
joining with other private carriers, 31–32
oysters and, 31
Pomeroy and, 31, 32
Post Office attempt to buy company, 32
trip to San Francisco, 41
Wells Fargo
creation of, 41
mail carriage for Post Office, 41
operation of pony expresses, 45
Overland Mail Company and, 41–42
Pony Express and, 42–45
Post Office Department and, 45
Western Union, 74, 75
White, Wallace, 130
Whitman, Walt, 62
Wickliffe, Charles
cheap postage and, 35
Harnden and, 29–30
as postmaster general, 29
on private express companies, 29
Wilson, Charlie
Far East trip, 197–198
Louis Cox and, 195–196
“midnight visit,” 184
as subcommittee chairman, 195
Wilson, William, 81
Wilson, Woodrow, 88, 163
Winfrey, Oprah, 253–254
Wise, John, 90–91
Withers, Charlie, 211–212, 213, 215
Woman Rebel, 63
Wood, William, 162
Woodhull, Victoria, 54
Word, 62
Works Progress Administration, 122
Wright brothers, 87
Wrong Way Boyle, 96
Yager, Frank, 106
YMCA, 53–54, 56, 57, 68
zip codes
digital representation, 141–142
fantastic zip code scanner and, 142, 143
as fixture for American life, 142
mandatory usage, 146
Mr. Zip and, 141, 142, 143
nine-digit, 194–195
response to, 143
Swinging Six and, 142, 144
Zorack, John, 194
Zych, Henry S., 173
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