Book Read Free

Neither Snow Nor Rain

Page 36

by Devin Leonard


  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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