A time of scandal : Charles R. Forbes, Warren G. Harding, and the making of the Veterans Bureau / Rosemary Stevens.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stevens, Rosemary, 1935- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Forbes, Charles R., 1878-1952.

Forbes, Charles R.

Harding, Warren G. (Warren Gamaliel), 1865-1923--Friends and associates.

Harding, Warren G.

Forbes, Charles R., 1878-1952--Trials, litigation, etc.

Harding, Warren G. (Warren Gamaliel), 1865-1923.

United States. Veterans Bureau.

United States.

Scandals--United States--History--20th century.

Scandals.

History.

Friends and associates.

United States--Politics and government--1921-1923.

Politics and government.

Genre:

Trials, litigation, etc.

Trial and arbitral proceedings.

Physical Description:

xviii, 376 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, [2016]

Summary:

In the early 1920s, with the nation still recovering from World War I, President Warren G. Harding founded a huge new organization to treat disabled veterans: the US Veterans Bureau, now known as the Department of Veterans Affairs. He appointed his friend, decorated veteran Colonel Charles R. Forbes, as founding director. Forbes lasted in the position for only eighteen months before stepping down under a cloud of criticism and suspicion. In 1926--after being convicted of conspiracy to defraud the federal government by rigging government contracts--he was sent to Leavenworth Penitentiary. Although he was known in his day as a drunken womanizer, and as a corrupt, betraying toady of a weak, blind-sided president, the question persists: was Forbes a criminal or a scapegoat? Historian Rosemary Stevens tells Forbes's story anew, drawing on previously untapped records to reveal his role in America's initial and ongoing commitment to veterans. She explores how Forbes's rise and fall in Washington illuminates President Harding's efforts to bring business efficiency to government. She also examines the Veterans Bureau scandal in the context of class, professionalism, ethics, and etiquette in a rapidly changing world. Most significantly, Stevens proposes a fascinating revisionist view of both Forbes and Harding--and raises questions about not only the validity but the source of their respective reputations. They did not defraud the government of billions of dollars, Stevens convincingly documents, and do not deserve the reputation they have carried for a hundred years. Packed with vibrant characters--conniving friends, FBI agents, and rival politicians split by sectional and ideological interests as well as gamblers, revelers, and wronged wives-- A Time of Scandal will appeal to anyone interested in political gossip, presidential politics, the "Ohio Gang," and the 1920s.-- Publisher description.

Contents:

Part I. American dreams

Hidden stories, fateful meetings

Washington, DC, March-April 1921

The dream of efficiency in government

Part II. Reality checks

Harding's flagship program, the US Veterans Bureau

High stakes: controlling veterans hospitals

Hype, hooch and the art of the con

Part III. Winds of change

Taking a friend on a business trip west

Harding resurgent: White House versus Forbes

Transitions in 1923: Forbes's resignation to Harding's death

Part IV. Scandal time

Coolidge, common cause and the politics of scandal

Rush to judgment: a Senate committee investigates Forbes

Scandal weavers: scripting a story of rogues, graft and greed

The trial of Charles R. Forbes

Part V. Aftermath

Making the best of it

Charlie and Bob, masks and mirrors

Coda.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781421421308

1421421305

OCLC:

942744978