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The president's man : Leo Crowley and Franklin Roosevelt in peace and war

Leo Crowley has been known only as the administrator condemned by President Truman for cutting off Soviet lend-lease after V-E Day. Stuart L. Weiss revises this view while exploring Crowley s long, significant state and federal career, emphasizing his service as Franklin D. Roosevelt s man for all seasons. Weiss deals effectively with Crowley s flaws and virtues as well as those of the administrations he served. Crowley was confirmed as chair of the FDIC in 1934 despite a charge, unknown to President Roosevelt, that Crowley had committed fraud as a banker in Wisconsin. Crowley then served with distinction for more than eleven years as the administration twice buried a 1935 Treasury Department report that, had it been handed to Wisconsin authorities, could have sent him to prison: Roosevelt valued Crowley s political and administrative talents too highly to allow that to happen. In 1939, Roosevelt, anxious to have business support for stopping the Axis powers, encouraged Crowley to take the chair of a holding company about to be prosecuted by the SEC. After Pearl Harbor, like priorities prompted the president first to name Crowley alien property custodian, then chair of the Board of Economic Warfare to supplant Roosevelt s politically troublesome vice president, and, finally, foreign economic administrator, the person responsible for civilian lend-lease activity In this vibrant biography, Weiss furnishes the reader with detailed portraits of a man faithful to his president even when he disagreed with him and of a president willing to do what he felt was necessary for the good of the country.".

The Curt Flood story : the man behind the myth

"Examines Curt Flood's often troubled personal life and explores his possible motives for suing Major League Baseball in 1970. For challenging baseball's reserve system, which he likened to bondage, the St. Louis Cardinals center fielder in time was lionized. But this recognition came at great personal expense"--Provided by publisher.Curt Flood, former star center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, is a hero to many for selflessly sacrificing his career to challenge baseball's reserve system. Although he lost in the Supreme Court, he has become for many a martyr in the later successful battle for free agency. Sportswriters and fans alike have helped to paint a picture of Flood as a larger-than-life figure, a portrait that, unhappily, cannot stand closer inspection. This book reveals the real Curt Flood - more man than myth. Flood stirred up a hornet's nest by refusing to be traded to another team on the grounds that Major League Baseball's reserve system reduced him to the status of bondage. Flood challenged the legality of a system in which his contract could be traded without his consent and in which he was not at liberty to negotiate his services in an open market. Stuart Weiss explores the span of Flood's life, shedding light on the relationships with those close to him as they helped shape his decision to sue baseball and providing a new perspective on the lawsuit that found its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Although a superb player, Flood was known to be temperamental and sensitive; in bringing his lawsuit he transformed his grievances against the Cardinals, and those in the front office who traded him, into an attack on how the business of big-league ball was conducted. Weiss shows that Flood was far from the stereotypical ""dumb jock"" but was rather a proud, multifaceted black man in a business run by white moguls. By illuminating Flood's private side, rarely seen by the public, he reveals how Flood misled a gullible press on a regular basis and how his 1971 memoir, ""The Way It Is"", didn't tell it the way it really was. Drawing on previously untapped sources, Weiss examines more fully and deeply than other writers the complexity of Flood's decision to pursue his suit - and demonstrates that the picture of Flood as a martyr for free agency is a myth. He suggests why, of all the players traded or sold through the years, it was Flood who brought this challenge. Weiss also explains how Flood's battle against the reserve system cannot be understood in isolation from the personal experiences that precipitated it, such as his youth in a dysfunctional home, his unwavering commitment to the Cardinals, and his alcoholism. ""The Curt Flood Story"" is a realistic account of an eloquent man who presented a warm, even vulnerable, face to the public as well as to friends, while hiding his inner furies. It shows that Flood was neither a hero not a martyr but a victim of unique circumstances and his own life.

Online EBSCO Academic Comprehensive Collection

The president's man : Leo Crowley and Franklin Roosevelt in peace and war

Leo Crowley has been known only as the administrator condemned by President Truman for cutting off Soviet lend-lease after V-E Day. Stuart L. Weiss revises this view while exploring Crowley's long, significant state and federal career, emphasizing his service as Franklin D. Roosevelt's man for all seasons. Weiss deals effectively with Crowley's flaws and virtues as well as those of the administrations he served. Crowley was confirmed as chair of the FDIC in 1934 despite a charge, unknown to President Roosevelt, that Crowley had committed fraud as a banker in Wisconsin. Crowley served with distinction for more than eleven years as the administration twice buried a 1935 Treasury Department report that, had it been handed to Wisconsin authorities, could have sent him to prison: Roosevelt valued Crowley's political and administrative talents too highly to allow that to happen. In 1939, Roosevelt, anxious to have business support for stopping the Axis powers, encouraged Crowley to take the chair of a holding company about to be prosecuted by the SEC. After Pearl Harbor, like priorities prompted the president first to name Crowley alien property custodian, then chair of the Board of Economic Warfare to supplant Roosevelt's politically troublesome vice president, and, finally, foreign economic administrator, the person responsible for civilian lend-lease activity. In this vibrant life's story, Weiss has created more than a political biography of Crowley; he also documents new views of Roosevelt's policies and methods, highlighting the president's emphasis on politics as the art of the possible. Weiss furnishes the reader with detailed portraits of a man faithful to his president even when he disagreed with him and of a president willing to do what he felt was necessary for the good of the country.Leo Crowley has been known only as the administrator condemned by President Truman for cutting off Soviet lend-lease after V-E Day. Stuart L. Weiss revises this view while exploring Crowley s long, significant state and federal career, emphasizing his service as Franklin D. Roosevelt s man for all seasons. Weiss deals effectively with Crowley s flaws and virtues as well as those of the administrations he served. Crowley was confirmed as chair of the FDIC in 1934 despite a charge, unknown to President Roosevelt, that Crowley had committed fraud as a banker in Wisconsin. Crowley then served with distinction for more than eleven years as the administration twice buried a 1935 Treasury Department report that, had it been handed to Wisconsin authorities, could have sent him to prison: Roosevelt valued Crowley s political and administrative talents too highly to allow that to happen. In 1939, Roosevelt, anxious to have business support for stopping the Axis powers, encouraged Crowley to take the chair of a holding company about to be prosecuted by the SEC. After Pearl Harbor, like priorities prompted the president first to name Crowley alien property custodian, then chair of the Board of Economic Warfare to supplant Roosevelt s politically troublesome vice president, and, finally, foreign economic administrator, the person responsible for civilian lend-lease activity In this vibrant biography, Weiss furnishes the reader with detailed portraits of a man faithful to his president even when he disagreed with him and of a president willing to do what he felt was necessary for the good of the country.".

Online EBSCO Academic Comprehensive Collection