When Attorney General Harry Daugherty secured a federal court injunction against a burgeoning nationwide railroad strike in September 1922, little did he realize the series of events he would set in motion. Burton Wheeler, soon to be elected as a populist U.S. senator from Montana, set his sights on the attorney general, first using him as a whipping post during his campaign for the U.S. Senate, and later seeking to impeach Daugherty, thereby setting up a showdown that would “profoundly reshape the Justice Department, Bureau of Investigation, and even the Senate, and forever change the way political scandals played out across America,” writes Nathan Masters in his new book, Crooked: The Roaring 20s Tale of a Corrupt Attorney General, a Crusading Senator, and the Birth of the American Political Scandal. Join us for a discussion of 1920s America with Masters, Manuscript Division reference librarian Lewis Wyman, and historian Ryan Reft at noon on August 23, 2023.
The event took place online only on Wednesday, August 23, 2023, 12:00pm-1:00pm EDT. Watch the program here:
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Made at the Library is an event series highlighting works inspired by and emerging from research at the Library of Congress. Featuring authors, artists and other creators in conversation with Library experts, this series takes a deep dive into the process of working with the Library’s collections.
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