A Time of Scandal: Charles R. Forbes, Warren G. Harding, and the Making of the Veterans Bureau

by Rosemary Stevens

Overview

Was the founding director of the US Veterans Bureau a criminal—or a scapegoat?

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421421308
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	01/02/2017
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	408
Sales rank:	1,050,537
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Rosemary Stevens is professor emeritus of the history and sociology and science at the University of Pennsylvania and the De Witt Wallace Distinguished Scholar in Social Medicine and Public Policy at Weill Cornell Medical College. She is the author of In Sickness and in Wealth: American Hospitals in the Twentieth Century and The Public-Private Health Care State: Essays on the History of American Health Care Policy.

Table of Contents

Preface
Part I. American Dreams
Chapter 1: Hidden Stories, Fateful Meetings
Chapter 2: Washington, DC, March-April 1921
Chapter 3: The Dream of Efficiency in Government

Part II. Reality Checks
Chapter 4: Harding's Flagship Program, the US Veterans Bureau
Chapter 5: High Stakes: Controlling Veterans Hospitals
Chapter 6: Hype, Hooch and the Art of the Con

Part III. Winds of Change
Chapter 7: Taking a Friend on a Business Trip West
Chapter 8: Harding Resurgent: White House versus Forbes
Chapter 9: Transitions in 1923: Forbes's Resignation to Harding's Death

Part IV. Scandal Time
Chapter 10: Coolidge, Common Cause and the Politics of Scandal
Chapter 11: Rush to Judgment: A Senate Committee Investigates Forbes
Chapter 12: Scandal Weavers: Scripting a Story of Rogues, Graft and Greed.
Chapter 13: The Trial of Charles R. Forbes

Part V. Aftermath
Chapter 14: Making the Best of It
Chapter 15: Charlie and Bob, Masks and Mirrors

Coda
Acknowledgments
Time Line
Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

Carl F. Ameringer

Soundly researched and superbly written, this intriguing and important book will appeal to a broad audience. Weaving together the biography of Charles R. Forbes with the tumultuous early years of the Veterans Bureau and its place in the 'Harding scandals,' the author presents a rich historical account that features hubris, deception, vindictiveness, and an interconnected series of cascading events.

Ronald L. Numbers

A splendid (and highly revisionist) book. A Time of Scandal, written with verve and intelligence by a major player in the history of American medicine and public health, is a fresh, convincing look at Warren Harding's presidency and Charles Forbes's tenure at the Veterans Bureau.

From the Publisher

A splendid (and highly revisionist) book. A Time of Scandal, written with verve and intelligence by a major player in the history of American medicine and public health, is a fresh, convincing look at Warren Harding's presidency and Charles Forbes's tenure at the Veterans Bureau.
—Ronald L. Numbers, University of Wisconsin–Madison, coeditor of Newton's Apple and Other Myths about Science

Soundly researched and superbly written, this intriguing and important book will appeal to a broad audience. Weaving together the biography of Charles R. Forbes with the tumultuous early years of the Veterans Bureau and its place in the 'Harding scandals,' the author presents a rich historical account that features hubris, deception, vindictiveness, and an interconnected series of cascading events.
—Carl F. Ameringer, University of Nebraska Omaha, author of The Health Care Revolution: From Medical Monopoly to Market Competition

Sometimes the best story is the back story—what really happened behind the scenes. Rosemary Stevens reveals the truth behind one of the most colorful scandals in American political history in this incisive and gracefully written work. A tour de force of historical research and insight.
—Evan Thomas, author of Being Nixon: A Man Divided

Equal parts detective, biographer, and keen historical analyst, Rosemary Stevens delves into one of America’s most infamous political scandals with stunning results. Cutting through the mist of intrigue and rumor, she offers a compelling portrait of President Warren Harding and his Veterans’ Bureau chief, Charles Forbes, and in the process forever alters our narrative of high politics in the Roaring Twenties.
—Thomas J. Sugrue, New York University

This is a wonderfully researched and beautifully written examination of a key player—heretofore largely overlooked—who was deeply involved when things went amiss during the Harding presidency, and the book shines fresh light into a few dark corners of history that are worth reexamining.
—John W. Dean, author of Warren G. Harding (The American Presidents Series)

Evan Thomas

Sometimes the best story is the back story—what really happened behind the scenes. Rosemary Stevens reveals the truth behind one of the most colorful scandals in American political history in this incisive and gracefully written work. A tour de force of historical research and insight.

John W. Dean

This is a wonderfully researched and beautifully written examination of a key player—heretofore largely overlooked—who was deeply involved when things went amiss during the Harding presidency, and the book shines fresh light into a few dark corners of history that are worth reexamining.

Thomas J. Sugrue

Equal parts detective, biographer, and keen historical analyst, Rosemary Stevens delves into one of America’s most infamous political scandals with stunning results. Cutting through the mist of intrigue and rumor, she offers a compelling portrait of President Warren Harding and his Veterans’ Bureau chief, Charles Forbes, and in the process forever alters our narrative of high politics in the Roaring Twenties.

Editorial Reviews

[A] nuanced and well-documented exploration of the controversies around the early Veterans Bureau. A Time of Scandal is a multifaceted and strong account of an interesting time.
—Foreword Reviews

Her colorful narrative makes a convincing case for Forbes' rehabilitation and, in light of other recent revisionist histories, a full reconsideration of an allegedly corrupt president and administration. An engaging argument for justice for a flawed but perhaps wrongfully disgraced civil servant.
—Kirkus Reviews

Stevens offers a richly detailed account that portrays Forbes and Harding more favorably than most previous historians. Although aimed at scholars, general readers will be fascinated by the courtroom scenes and Forbes's rehabilitation during his two- year sentence in Leavenworth Penitentiary.
—Library Journal

Professor Rosemary Stevens has produced what is certainly the definitive work on Forbes in A Time of Scandal.
—NY Journal of Books

Recomended.
—Choice

From the Publisher

Professor Rosemary Stevens has produced what is certainly the definitive work on Forbes in A Time of Scandal.

NY Journal of Books

[A] nuanced and well-documented exploration of the controversies around the early Veterans Bureau. A Time of Scandal is a multifaceted and strong account of an interesting time.

Foreword Reviews

Recomended.

Choice

11/01/2016
The Warren G. Harding administration (1921–23), known for its widespread government corruption, receives a more evenhanded assessment from Stevens (emerita, history of sociology & science, Univ. of Pennsylvania; In Sickness and in Wealth) in this persuasive revisionist account of the Veterans Bureau and its flawed yet, according to the author, overly maligned director Charles Forbes. Forbes was given the daunting task of creating a centralized system of hospitals that would treat 30,000 returning World War I vets. While his complex, off-putting character cost him politically, the author claims his worst enemies were Charles Sawyer, the personal physician to Harding; and Elias Mortimer, a scoundrel and government witness whose discredited testimony nevertheless led to Forbes's 1924 federal conviction on conspiracy to commit fraud charges. Stevens concludes that Forbes should be best remembered for creating a Veterans Bureau that is the forerunner of today's agency. VERDICT Despite the use of few primary resources, Stevens offers a richly detailed account that portrays Forbes and Harding more favorably than most previous historians. Although aimed at scholars, general readers will be fascinated by the courtroom scenes and Forbes's rehabilitation during his two-year sentence in Leavenworth Penitentiary.—Karl Helicher, formerly Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA

Library Journal

2016-10-20
A reconsideration of one of the most notorious scandals of the Warren Harding presidency.Charles R. Forbes (1877-1952), the first director of the U.S. Veterans Bureau, appears in the popular conception of the early 1920s as "a dashing playboy who embezzled approximately $200 million selling hospital supplies, took kickbacks from contractors, and accepted a $5,000 bribe," part of the "Ohio gang" who purportedly betrayed a naïve President Harding. That characterization is rubbish, writes public policy scholar Stevens (Emeritus, History of Sociology and Science/Univ. of Pennsylvania; The Public-Private Health Care State: Essays on the History of American Health Care Policy, 2007, etc.), who sets out to restore Forbes' reputation in this first-ever reassessment of his downfall. Forbes had the unenviable task of combining into the Veterans Bureau personnel from three existing agencies; the resulting turf battles and bruised egos created numerous powerful enemies. He had begun an ambitious program of hospital construction when he resigned shortly before Harding's death in August 1923. Forbes might have faded into obscurity, but he was caught up in the anti-corruption furor driven by the new Calvin Coolidge administration. Further, he ran afoul of Elias Mortimer, a government informant and, according to Stevens, a sociopathic liar who blamed Forbes for alienating his wife's affections and vowed to bring him down. Mortimer's testimony resulted in Forbes' conviction for bribery and conspiracy to commit fraud. The author's extensive research into the arcana of hospital contracting, Congressional hearings regarding the bureau, and Forbes' trial leaves her convinced that he was a victim of political hysteria and personal malice, guilty of none of the crimes and flamboyant excesses of which he stood accused but only of "social inadequacies, managerial failures, and behavioral sins." Her colorful narrative makes a convincing case for Forbes' rehabilitation and, in light of other recent revisionist histories, a full reconsideration of an allegedly corrupt president and administration. An engaging argument for justice for a flawed but perhaps wrongfully disgraced civil servant.

Kirkus Reviews