ThoughtGallery.org > Book Discussion and Reception Honoring Rosemary Stevens, MD, MPH

Book Discussion and Reception Honoring Rosemary Stevens, MD, MPH

Presidents Jo Ivey Boufford, MD of the New York Academy of Medicine and Christopher F. Koller of the Milbank Memorial Fund cordially invite you to join a conversation with Rosemary Stevens, PhD, MPH, author of A Time of Scandal: Charles R. Forbes, Warren G. Harding, and the Making of the Veterans Bureau.

Professor Stevens’ new book offers a provocative look at politics and gossip in the 1920s. With the nation still recovering from World War I, President Warren G. Harding founded a huge new organization to treat disabled veterans: the U.S. 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 18 months before stepping down under a cloud of criticism and suspicion. He was sent to Leavenworth Penitentiary after being convicted of conspiracy to defraud the federal government by rigging government contracts. Stevens relates Forbes’s story to major political and social agendas of the time, including professionalism, social class, and efforts to bring business efficiency to government, and concludes that he was almost certainly not guilty of the crime for which he was convicted.

Professor Stevens will be interviewed by David Rosner, PhD, MPH, the Ronald H. Lauterstein Professor of Sociomedical Sciences and Co-Director of the Center for the History and Ethics of Public Health at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.











When: Wed., Jan. 18, 2017 at 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Where: The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Ave.
212-822-7200
Price: Free
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Presidents Jo Ivey Boufford, MD of the New York Academy of Medicine and Christopher F. Koller of the Milbank Memorial Fund cordially invite you to join a conversation with Rosemary Stevens, PhD, MPH, author of A Time of Scandal: Charles R. Forbes, Warren G. Harding, and the Making of the Veterans Bureau.

Professor Stevens’ new book offers a provocative look at politics and gossip in the 1920s. With the nation still recovering from World War I, President Warren G. Harding founded a huge new organization to treat disabled veterans: the U.S. 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 18 months before stepping down under a cloud of criticism and suspicion. He was sent to Leavenworth Penitentiary after being convicted of conspiracy to defraud the federal government by rigging government contracts. Stevens relates Forbes’s story to major political and social agendas of the time, including professionalism, social class, and efforts to bring business efficiency to government, and concludes that he was almost certainly not guilty of the crime for which he was convicted.

Professor Stevens will be interviewed by David Rosner, PhD, MPH, the Ronald H. Lauterstein Professor of Sociomedical Sciences and Co-Director of the Center for the History and Ethics of Public Health at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

Buy tickets/get more info now