Benjamin V. Cohen: Architect of the New Deal

412 Pages·2002·2.05 MB·English

by  Prof William Lasser

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6 Architect of the New Deal
William Lasser
A Century Foundation Book

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Copyright©2002byTheCentury LibraryofCongress
Foundation. Cataloging-in-PublicationData
Allrightsreserved. Lasser,William.
Thisbookmaynotbereproduced,in BenjaminV.Cohen:architectofthe
wholeorinpart,including NewDeal/WilliamLasser.
illustrations,inanyform(beyondthat p. cm.
copyingpermittedbySections107and Includesbibliographicalreferencesand
108oftheU.S.CopyrightLawand index.
exceptbyreviewersforthepublic ISBN0-300-08879-5(alk.paper)
press),withoutwrittenpermission 1.Cohen,BenjaminV.
fromthepublishers. 2.Statesmen—UnitedStates—
PrintedintheUnitedStatesof Biography. 3.Intellectuals—United
America States—Biography. 4.Lawyers—
Acataloguerecordforthisbookis UnitedStates—Biography. 5.New
availablefromtheBritishLibrary. Deal,1933–1939. 6.UnitedStates—
Thepaperinthisbookmeetsthe Politicsandgovernment—1933–1953.
guidelinesforpermanenceand 7.UnitedStates—Politicsand
durabilityoftheCommitteeon government—1953–1961.
ProductionGuidelinesforBook 8.Liberalism—UnitedStates—
LongevityoftheCouncilonLibrary History—20thcentury. I.Title.
Resources. E748.C65L37 2002
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 973.917'092—dc21
2001007151

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Tomyfather, JosephLasser,
inlovingmemory

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TheCenturyFoundation,formerlytheTwentiethCenturyFund,
sponsorsandsupervisestimelyanalysesofeconomicpolicy,foreign
affairs,anddomesticpoliticalissues.Not-for-profitandnonpartisan,
itwasfoundedin1919andendowedbyEdwardA.Filene.
BoardofTrusteesofTheCenturyFoundation
H.BrandtAyers JessicaTuchmanMathews
PeterA.A.Berle AliciaH.Munnell
AlanBrinkley,Chairman P.MichaelPitfield
JosephA.Califano, Jr. RichardRavitch
AlexanderMorganCapron AlanSagner
HoddingCarterIII ArthurM.Schlesinger, Jr.
EdwardE.David, Jr. HarveyI.Sloane,M.D.
BrewsterC.Denny TheodoreC.Sorensen
CharlesV.Hamilton KathleenM.Sullivan
MatinaS.Horner JamesTobin
LewisB.Kaden DavidB.Truman
JamesA.Leach ShirleyWilliams
RichardC.Leone William JuliusWilson
RichardC.Leone,President

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ForewordbyRichardC.Leone ix
PrefacebyArthurM.Schlesinger, Jr. xi
Acknowledgments xiv
one Introduction 1
two Origins 7
three ZionistAttorney 25
four LawyerandInvestor 47
five NewcomertoWashington
TheSecuritiesActof1933 65
six IntotheMaelstrom
TheSecuritiesExchangeActof1934 86
seven ThePublicUtilityHoldingCompanyAct 108
eight AttheCenterofPower 130
nine TheCourt-PackingPlan 150

40 ten DomesticPolitics,1937–1938 182
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seventeen BenjaminV.Cohen:
ArchitectoftheNewDeal 318
AbbreviationsinNotes 339
Notes 341
Index 369
Illustrationsfollowpage254

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In 1919, when Edward Filene founded the institution that would
eventually become the Twentieth Century Fund and still later The
CenturyFoundation,hewasmanifestingoneoftheprincipalbeliefsof
whatwehavecometocalltheProgressiveEra:thatsystematicanalysis
and close examination of the facts could improve governance and ex-
tendprogress.Itisonlyfitting,therefore,thatthetrusteesofTheCen-
turyFoundationshouldhavemadeanexceptiontotheirusualpractice
byagreeingtosponsorthisworkofbiography.
Benjamin V. Cohen had a long relationship with the Twentieth
CenturyFund,servingasatrusteefrom1948to1983.Foranumberof
years, he was chairman of the finance committee and treasurer of the
fund,butheisbestrememberedforhisinsightsandrecommendations
relatingtoourpolicyresearchandwritingagenda.Inviewofhispublic
careerandreputation,therecordofCohen’scontributionstothisorga-
nizationisscarcelyasurprise.Thatcareer,afterall,wasoneofthecen-
tury’soutstandingexamplesofexactlywhatFilenehadinmind.Cohen
was,overthecourseofseveraldecades,aleaderandevenasymbolofthe
oftenquitelonelystruggletoinsistontheimportanceoftheapplication
ofintelligencetopublicquestions.
A child of immigrants, Cohen became an outstanding lawyer and
saw his first government serviceworking for the Shipping Board dur-
ing World War I. More than a decade later, Cohen was fortunate to
connectwithPresidentFranklinD.Rooseveltatatimewhentherewas
a rare confluence of fresh ideas and political purpose. As Arthur M.
Schlesinger, Jr., writes in the preface that follows, Cohen’s abilityand

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