ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I owe a debt of gratitude to the many people who were enormously generous with their time and expertise and who helped make this book a reality. Thanks go to Richard McCulley and William H. Davis, at the National Archives and Records Administration, who fulfilled my many requests for documents from the Senate Banking and Currency Committee hearings. The book would not have been possible without the help of the Oral History Office at Columbia University, which generously allowed me to quote from Ferdinand Pecora’s oral history as well as other oral histories in their wonderful collection. Columbia’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library was also an important resource, particularly the Edwin Kilroe Collection of materials on the history of Tammany Hall and the papers of Frank Vanderlip and George L. Harrison. Doris Peterson and Sarah Hanson at the University of South Dakota I. D. Weeks Library were especially helpful in my journey through Senator Peter Norbeck’s papers. My thanks also go to the staffs at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, the New-York Historical Society, the archives of the New York Stock Exchange, the Museum of the City of New York, the Manuscripts and Archives division of the Yale University Library, and the Library of Congress.

Special thanks go to the librarians at the Rittenberg Law Library at St. John’s University School of Law, particularly William Manz, Aru Satkalmi, and Barbara Traub, who cheerfully tracked down for me even the most obscure books and materials. My research assistants, Lisa Dmiszewicki, Lauren Pennisi, Ryan Pratt, and Brandi Sinkovich, were tremendously helpful as well. I thank them all. For a host of small favors and for prompt responses to my various inquiries I’d also like to thank Bruce Baird, Jeff Bridgers, Susan Brinson, Jeff Cane, Brett Carnell, Jordan Costa, Linda Feinberg, Davis Houck, Michael Klausner, Nicholas Natanson, and Lauren Post. Thanks also go to Dean Richard Matasar of New York Law School and his staff and to Samuel Sanchez of the City College Library Archives, both of whom helped locate information about Pecora’s time at those schools.

Donald Ritchie, the historian of the United States Senate, was unfailingly generous with both his time and his expertise and graciously agreed to read my manuscript. I want to thank all my colleagues at St. John’s, but particularly John Barrett, Christopher Borgen, Vincent DiLorenzo, Luca Melachiona, Keith Sharfman, Michael Simons, and Peggy Turano, who were good sounding boards or who read some or all of the manuscript. Ron and Suzanne Saldarini willingly read very early drafts of several chapters. The comments and suggestions of all these individuals were insightful, and they made the book stronger.

I feel incredibly fortunate that Ann Godoff and Laura Stickney were interested in this project for Penguin Press. It took a leap of faith for them to believe that someone who spent the better part of his career writing inaccessible academic prose about something as arcane as securities regulation could have something to say to a general audience, and I thank them for their willingness to publish the book, for their constant encouragement, and for their many helpful suggestions, all of which improved the book. I could not have asked for a better editorial team. Many thanks also go to my agent, Victoria Sanders, and her staff, and my lawyer, Joseph Gagliano, for guiding me so expertly through the unfamiliar terrain of book publishing. I also got great advice on the publishing world from my friend and publicist Jennifer Richards and her husband, Jamey Ballot.

Last, but most important, thanks go to my wife, Shelley, and my two boys, Joe and John. It is somewhat trite to say that when you write a book it is hardest on your family. That doesn’t make it any less true. They all showed infinite humor when I regaled them at dinner with the minutiae of Pecora’s life, and infinite patience when I would disappear to my office or on one of my frequent jaunts to some library or archive. Shelley was always there to read drafts and to offer her sage advice. She also knew just how to keep me focused when I tried to make the process way too complex and difficult. I could not have written this book without her and the boys. Thank you.