Charles Harwood
Charles A. Harwood (1880 – October 23, 1950) was an American lawyer and politician from
Life
Harwood was born in
He was a member of the New York State Assembly (Kings Co., 10th D.) in 1910.
In 1936, he was appointed as a Special Assistant to the
President Roosevelt sent Harwood's nomination to the Senate on 6 January 1941, and Harwood assumed office on 3 February. The press noted that Harwood was a long-time friend of the president's.
Virgin Islands historian William Boyer noted that despite being urged to appoint, for the first time, a Negro as island governor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt "chose an old Brooklyn Democrat and former federal judge in the Canal Zone, Charles Harwood, on the recommendation of Bronx political boss Ed Flynn of New York City."[3]
The patronage appointment of Harwood, opposed by many in the Administration, was viewed as the end of the activist
In August 1945 it was revealed during the investigation of President Roosevelt's son, Elliott Roosevelt's finances in connection with the John Hartford loan scandal that in 1939 Elliott had obtained a loan of $25,000 from Harwood. It was one of many loans Elliott solicited in an attempt to save his foundering radio network. Harwood told Reconstruction Finance Corporation chairman Jesse Jones that he had been promised a federal judgeship for the money, "and, if that was not available, he would take a commission as a general in the Army or in the high brass of the Navy." He was thus disappointed with the governorship, and when Elliott's business went bankrupt, Harwood refused Jesse Jones's offer (on behalf of FDR) to settle the loan for $1,000. Jones and Harwood met on numerous occasions without reaching agreement; instead, Harwood kept the collateral network stock, which Jones had called worthless, and it soon became valuable.[5]
President
The highway from the
References
Sources
- CHARLES HARWOOD, FORMER U. S. AIDE. Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES. New York Times. New York, N.Y.: Oct 24, 1950. pg. 29, 1 pgs
- America's Virgin Islands. William H. Boyer, Carolina Academic Press, Durham, NC, 1983.
- Fifty Billion Dollars. Jesse Jones, MacMillan, New York, 1951.
- Enfant Terrible: The Times and Schemes of General Elliott Roosevelt. Chris Hansen, Able Baker Press, Tucson, 2012.
- The Roosevelt Years. James Farley w. Walter Trohan. McGraw Hill, New York, 1948.
- The Secret Diary of Harold L. Ickes, Vol. 3. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1955.