Portland Public Library

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

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

contains biographical information

illustrations

index present

non fiction

A time of scandal

bibliography

942744978

Rosemary Stevens

Charles R. Forbes, Warren G. Harding, and the making of the Veterans Bureau

"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, Forbes was sent to Leavenworth Penitentiary, convicted by conspiracy to defraud the United States. Although he was known in his day as a drunken womanizer and a corrupt, betraying toady of a weak, blindsided president, the question persists: was Forbes a criminal or a scapegoat? Historian Rosemary Stevens tells this critical story anew, drawing on previously untapped records to reveal Forbes's 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, and she examines the Veterans Bureau scandal in the context of class, professionalism, ethics, and etiquette in a rapidly changing world. Significantly, Stevens proposes a fascinating revisionist view of both Forbes and Harding and raises questions about the validity and the source of their notoriety. 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, rival politicians, wronged wives, plus FBI agents, gamblers, and revelers--A Time of Scandal will appeal to aficionados of political gossip, presidential politics, the "Ohio Gang," and the 1920s."--Jacket

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