Skip to search
Skip to main content
Catalog
Help
Feedback
Your Account
Library Account
Bookmarks
(
0
)
Search History
Search in
Keyword
Title (keyword)
Author (keyword)
Subject (keyword)
Title starts with
Subject (browse)
Author (browse)
Author (sorted by title)
Call number (browse)
search for
Search
Advanced Search
Bookmarks
(
0
)
Princeton University Library Catalog
Start over
Cite
Send
to
SMS
Email
EndNote
RefWorks
RIS
Printer
Bookmark
A time of scandal : Charles R. Forbes, Warren G. Harding, and the making of the Veterans Bureau / Rosemary Stevens.
Author
Stevens, Rosemary, 1935-
[Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/Created
Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016.
©2016
Description
xviii, 376 pages, 12 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 26 cm
Availability
Copies in the Library
Location
Call Number
Status
Location Service
Notes
Firestone Library - Stacks
E785 .S74 2016
Browse related items
Request
Details
Subject(s)
Forbes, Charles R. 1878-1952
[Browse]
Harding, Warren G. (Warren Gamaliel) 1865-1923
—
Friends and associates
[Browse]
Forbes, Charles R. 1878-1952
—
Trials, litigation, etc
[Browse]
United States Veterans Bureau
[Browse]
Scandals
—
United States
—
History
—
20th century
[Browse]
United States
—
Politics and government
—
1921-1923
[Browse]
Summary note
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.
Bibliographic references
Includes bibliographical references (pages 323-364) and index.
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: senate hearings target 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.
Show 18 more Contents items
ISBN
9781421421308 ((hardcover ; : alk. paper))
1421421305 ((hardcover ; : alk. paper))
LCCN
2016010032
OCLC
942744978
Statement on language in description
Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage.
Read more...
Other views
Staff view
Ask a Question
Suggest a Correction
Report Harmful Language
Supplementary Information