“The RFC was, in fact, the keystone of recovery and the foundation of the war effort.”
Raymond Moley, Newsweek, October 15, 1951
“The vastness of our post-war problems may seem more real to me because through the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and other agencies under my supervision, much of the governmental expansion of industrial facilities has been done.”
Jesse Jones, April 14, 1943
Steven Fenberg discusses “Unprecedented Power“ with Paul Bettencourt and David Jones on the HoustonPBS political affairs program, “Red, White and Blue.”
January 10, 2012 speech at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
“Anyone even slightly worn by the drag of this latest downturn should be enlivened by a capital-C Capitalist who viewed business as an agent for public good, who believed government could be a catalyst for economic repair and who worked doggedly to rebuild the nation’s financial structure and prepare the country for unprecedented militarism overseas. Fenberg’s attentive prose and keen research don’t hurt either.”
- Cecily Sailer, The Texas Observer, April 2012
“Given his unprecedented power—which provides the apt title of Steven Fenberg’s meaty new biography—it is no wonder than in 1941 TIME magazine dubbed Jones the second most powerful man in Washington (after President Franklin D. Roosevelt). Roosevelt himself teasingly called him ‘Jesus H. Jones.’…Fenberg’s comprehensive biography should revive interest in this remarkable capitalist and public servant.”
- Mark Reutter, Wilson Quarterly, Winter 2012
Read the entire review (PDF)
“The name of Jesse H. Jones is legendary in the annals of our city's history. Now, 55 years after his death, a definitive biography has been written.”
- Betty T. Chapman, Houston Business Journal, December 16–22, 2011
“Credited with helping to establish Houston as a focal point of industry, Jesse H. Jones has been feted for decades as one of the country's most revered kings of capitalism…His exploits are laid out in a new biography, “Unprecedented Power.”
- Houston Business Journal, October 28–November 3, 2011
“Biography of Jesse Jones, the Houston entrepreneur who helped save the country from the Great Depression.”
- Textra Credit, Texas Monthly, November 2011
“Fenberg expands on the PBS special he produced a decade ago and offers insight into a man whose economic and political acumen would come in very handy today.”
- James Renovitch, Austin Chronicle, October 21, 2011
“If you don't know about Jesse H. Jones and the heavy hands he played in Houston and Washington in the last century, you should read this book.”
- Jim Landers, Dallas Morning News, October 19, 2011
“Jesse Jones is one of those vital figures who has inexplicably slipped into the historical shadows. Now Steven Fenberg has given us a wonderful new biography of a man who played a critical role in the most tumultuous years of the American Century, bringing Jones back to vivid life.”
- Jon Meacham, Author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House and the bestselling Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship.
“A somewhat-forgotten page of U.S. history that holds enormous relevance today.”
- Kirkus Reviews
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Congregation Emanu El
Daughters of the Republic of Texas, San Jacinto Chapter
Federal Reserve Bank Houston Branch
Financial Executives International
Friends of the Texas Room
Friendswood Chamber of Commerce
Harris County Historical Commission
Houston Chronicle
Houston Public Library
Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church
Retired Physicians Organization of Harris County
Rice University
River Oaks Luncheon Club
Rotary Club of Houston
San Jacinto Museum of History Association
South Texas College of Law
St. Paul's Methodist Church
Texas Southern University
U.S. Treasury Department, Washington, D.C.
Houston History Book Fair & Symposium
Houston Arts and Media
Julia Ideson Building
500 McKinney
Houston, Texas 77002—MAP
For more information e-mail info@houstonartsandmedia.com
Books and Beaujolais benefiting
Assitance League of Houston
River Oaks Bookstore
3270 Westheimer
Houston, Texas 77098—MAP
Tickets $50
For more information visit AssistanceLeague.org or call Betty Puryear at 832–444–1075 or the Assistance League office at 713–526–7983
Jerry and Marvy Finger Lecture Series
The Heritage Society
1100 Bagby
Houston, Texas 77002—MAP
For more information visit heritagesociety.org or call 713–655–1912
Second Saturdays at the Julia Ideson Building
Houston Public Library, Julia Ideson Building Auditorium
500 McKinney Street
Houston, Texas 77002—MAP
Details to follow
An Evening with the Authors
Texas Library Association Conference
Details to follow
The Jung Center's 26th Annual Benefit Dinner
River Oaks Country Club
1600 River Oaks Boulevard
Houston, Texas 77019—MAP
For more information visit junghouston.org or call 713–524–8253
Saturday, January 14, 4:00pm
Friday and Saturday Afternoon Lecture Series
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
1001 Bissonnet
Houston, Texas 77005—MAP
Free for MFAH members; $7 for adults; $3.50 for seniors
For more information visit mfah.org or call 713–639–7300
Holiday Book Fair
Humanities Texas
Byrne-Reed House
1410 Rio Grande
Austin, Texas 78701—MAP
For more information visit humanitiestexas.org
Kiwanis Club of Houston
The Houston Club
811 Rusk
Houston, Texas 77002—MAP
For more information see kiwanishouston.org
or phone Keith Solomon at 713-623-2451
Talk of the Town
Discovery Green, Morgan Outdoor Reading Room
1500 McKinney St.
Houston, TX 77010 —MAP
For more information visit discoverygreen.com
39th Annual Jewish Book and Arts Fair
Jewish Community Center, Joe Frank Theatre of the Arts
5601 S. Braeswood Blvd.
Houston, TX 77096 —MAP
For more information visit jcchouston.org
Distinguished Speakers Series
The Houston Club
811 Rusk—Texas Room
Houston, TX 77002 —MAP
For more information call 713-225-1661
Houston History Conference
Hilton University of Houston Hotel
4800 Calhoun Road
Houston, TX 77004 —MAP
For more information visit houstonhistoryassociation.org
16th Texas Book Festival
State Capitol Building
Austin, TX—MAP
For more information visit texasbookfestival.org
Festival schedule to follow
- December 30, 2011—Texas Observer
Jesse Jones and the Making of Houston - October 22, 2011—C-SPAN 2 , Book TV
Watch Steven Fenberg Interview - October 16, 2011, 12:30pm—KAZI 88.7 FM, Austin, Texas
Listen to Steven Fenberg Interview
- October 10, 2011—“For Your Ears Only (On Air)” interview with Steven Fenberg
For more information about “For Your Ears Only (On Air)” please click here.
- JULY 25, 2011, 12:30pm—Texas A&M University Press
Written Interview with Steven Fenberg
Walter Cronkite on Jesse Jones from PBS's Brother, Can You Spare a Billion?
Steven Fenberg interview on KUHT-TV during Science and Technology Night.
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- Jewish Herald-Voice, September 22, 2011
- Houston Modern Luxury, October 2011
- Dallas Morning News, October 11, 2011
“Refighting the Depression” by Jim Landers.
- Houston Chronicle Op-ED , October 23, 2011
- Houston Chronicle, October 23, 2011
- OutSmart, November 2011
- The Texas Observer, April 2012
- Rice University’s Jones Journal, Spring 2012
Steven Fenberg at the Texas Book Festival in Austin.
Houston’s Mayor Parker with “Unprecedented Power.”
Photo by Jim Olive ©2011
“It is probably a safe assertion that everyone in the United States has directly or indirectly benefited by the operations of the RFC.”
Jesse Jones, January 20, 1935
“He has allocated and loaned more money to various institutions and enterprises than any other man in the history of the world.”
Vice President John Nance Garner, October 31, 1936
“Our government can operate efficiently in business when necessary.”
Jesse Jones, November 23, 1936
“I have no check of taxes in other countries, but we know they are very high and are being largely expended for military purposes rather than civil, as with us. Our government expenditures are to build people, not to destroy them.”
Jesse Jones, October 14, 1937
“Jones’s judiciously aggressive leadership not only revitalized the weaker elements of the banking system, but also established the fact that New Deal participation in the banking business was not necessarily inimical.”
Fortune magazine, May 1940
“We again entered the mortgage field only after our offers to become partners with private capital had fallen on deaf ears … In the jargon of the government's alphabetical agencies, it quickly came to be called Fannie Mae.”
Jesse Jones, Fifty Billion Dollars, 1951
“The Act of June 25, 1940—which gave us the dictionary—authorized us to purchase plants, lease plants, build plants, whatever we wished, and in any way we might find feasible.”
Jesse Jones, Fifty Billion Dollars, 1951
“Jesse Jones, Federal Loan Administrator, is playing a much greater part in the national defense picture than most people realize.”
Drew Pearson and Robert Allen, Washington Merry-Go-Round, June 18, 1940
“A factor which became an actuality in 1942 and which some Americans fail to take into account is that this country at present is—in fact and not just in theory—the storehouse of freedom. The United States is now the only place to which the [Allied Forces] can look for many absolutely essential war supplies.”
Jesse Jones, February 22, 1943
“The war has forced us to move with top speed in the manufacture of rubber, going from laboratory stage to building an entire industry. It is the industry which the men at RFC, with the approval of the president, brought into being, and they take pride in its approaching completion.”
Jesse Jones, June 28, 1943
“Our biggest investment in manufacturing facilities for a single industry is that of aviation. We have built and own 521 plants for the production of aircraft, aircraft engines, parts, and accessories, at a total cost of $2.7 billion [$29 billion]. This is ten times the value of privately owned investments in this industry.”
Jesse Jones, July 21, 1943
“[In 1940] President Roosevelt could not get appropriations directly for war work, [but] the RFC could get the funds and do what was needed … to get us ready for the greatest test that we have ever faced … The 17 months jump that we got on Hitler … shortened the war considerably in my opinion.”
Jesse Jones, December 11, 1947
“I am sure [President Roosevelt] was displeased that I had not carried out his wish to buy the [Empire State Building] and that he never forgave me for not doing it.”
Jesse Jones, Fifty Billion Dollars, 1951
“It gives me more encouragement than I can tell … that you think I am doing a good job. I am trying with every energy at my command … and I am sure that with … your advice and counsel I can come nearer to succeeding than would otherwise have been possible.”
Lyndon Johnson, April 17, 1951
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- Book Cover (tif)
- TAMU Press Release (pdf)
- Photos of Steven Fenberg (zip)
- Bio of Jesse Jones Wins Ottis Lock Book Award Press Release (pdf)