Short of the Glory

The Fall and Redemption of Edward F. Prichard Jr.

Biography & Memoir, Political, Historical
Cover of the book Short of the Glory by Tracy Campbell, The University Press of Kentucky
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Tracy Campbell ISBN: 9780813137445
Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky Publication: September 29, 2010
Imprint: The University Press of Kentucky Language: English
Author: Tracy Campbell
ISBN: 9780813137445
Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
Publication: September 29, 2010
Imprint: The University Press of Kentucky
Language: English

Arthur Schlesinger Jr. thought that he might one day become president. He was a protege of Felix Frankfurter and Fred Vinson--a political prodigy who held a series of important posts in the Roosevelt and Truman administrations. Whatever became of Edward F. Prichard, Jr., so young and brilliant and seemingly destined for glory?

Prichard was a complex man, and his story is tragically ironic. The boy from Bourbon County, Kentucky, graduated at the top of his Princeton class and cut a wide swath at Harvard Law School. He went on to clerk in the U.S. Supreme Court and become an important figure in Roosevelt's Brain Trust. Yet Prichard--known for his dazzling wit and photographic memory--fell victim to the hubris that had helped to make him great.

In 1948, he was indicted for stuffing 254 votes in a U.S. Senate race. J. Edgar Hoover, never a fan of the young genius, made sure he was prosecuted, and so many of the members of the Supreme Court were Prichard's friends that not enough justices were left to hear his appeal. So the man Roosevelt's advisors had called the boy wonder of the New Deal went to jail.

Prichard's meteoric rise and fall is essentially a Greek tragedy set on the stage of American politics. Pardoned by President Truman, Prichard spent the next twenty-five years working his way out of political exile. Gradually he became a trusted advisor to governors and legislators, though without recognition or compensation. Finally, in the 1970s and 1980s, Prichard emerged as his home state's most persuasive and eloquent voice for education reform, finally regaining the respect he had thrown away in his arrogant youth.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Arthur Schlesinger Jr. thought that he might one day become president. He was a protege of Felix Frankfurter and Fred Vinson--a political prodigy who held a series of important posts in the Roosevelt and Truman administrations. Whatever became of Edward F. Prichard, Jr., so young and brilliant and seemingly destined for glory?

Prichard was a complex man, and his story is tragically ironic. The boy from Bourbon County, Kentucky, graduated at the top of his Princeton class and cut a wide swath at Harvard Law School. He went on to clerk in the U.S. Supreme Court and become an important figure in Roosevelt's Brain Trust. Yet Prichard--known for his dazzling wit and photographic memory--fell victim to the hubris that had helped to make him great.

In 1948, he was indicted for stuffing 254 votes in a U.S. Senate race. J. Edgar Hoover, never a fan of the young genius, made sure he was prosecuted, and so many of the members of the Supreme Court were Prichard's friends that not enough justices were left to hear his appeal. So the man Roosevelt's advisors had called the boy wonder of the New Deal went to jail.

Prichard's meteoric rise and fall is essentially a Greek tragedy set on the stage of American politics. Pardoned by President Truman, Prichard spent the next twenty-five years working his way out of political exile. Gradually he became a trusted advisor to governors and legislators, though without recognition or compensation. Finally, in the 1970s and 1980s, Prichard emerged as his home state's most persuasive and eloquent voice for education reform, finally regaining the respect he had thrown away in his arrogant youth.

More books from The University Press of Kentucky

Cover of the book The Hatfields and the McCoys by Tracy Campbell
Cover of the book The Lost One by Tracy Campbell
Cover of the book The Birth of Bourbon by Tracy Campbell
Cover of the book Listen Here by Tracy Campbell
Cover of the book The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers by Tracy Campbell
Cover of the book China Looks at the West by Tracy Campbell
Cover of the book The Godfather of Tabloid by Tracy Campbell
Cover of the book What Ever Happened to Orson Welles?: A Portrait of an Independent Career by Tracy Campbell
Cover of the book American Culture in Peril by Tracy Campbell
Cover of the book Kentucky Agate by Tracy Campbell
Cover of the book Thunder in the Argonne by Tracy Campbell
Cover of the book The Philosophy of the Western by Tracy Campbell
Cover of the book Relics of the Christ by Tracy Campbell
Cover of the book Contemporary Public Health by Tracy Campbell
Cover of the book Taking Shergar by Tracy Campbell
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy