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ix acknowledgments Our first debt is to serendipity—the unexpected con¶uence of individuals and events which made this book possible. Keith McFarland began this project nearly thirty years ago, early in his career as a history faculty member. With two books completed and this project well under way, Keith got sidetracked into university administration, beginning as an assistant dean and eventually becoming president of Texas A&M University-Commerce. As a result , the research notes and initial drafts for this book languished in ¤le drawers for twenty years. Meanwhile, Dave Roll, an antitrust partner with the law ¤rm of Steptoe & Johnson in Washington, D.C., who knew nothing of Keith McFarland and his work but had learned a good deal about Louis Johnson, was beginning his research for a history of Johnson and the law ¤rm he co-founded (Dave’s law ¤rm, Steptoe & Johnson). One day in 2001, Dave was talking to Judge Frank Maxwell in Clarksburg, West Virginia, who recalled that “some professor” had been in Clarksburg many years ago and was working on a biography of Louis Johnson. Using the Internet, Dave located Keith and proposed that they join forces to make this study a reality. Keith is convinced that if Dave had not taken that initiative, this book would have never seen the light of day, and he is grateful that Dave rescued the manuscript and turned it into a published work. On his part, Dave will be forever indebted to Keith for allowing him the pure pleasure of researching and writing about the fascinating and controversial career of Louis Johnson and the two great presidents he served. Together, we wish to acknowledge with gratitude a number of individuals who early in this project provided the encouragement and support to do the research. Keith’s department heads, Frank Jackson and John Carrier (who would later be president of Concord College, West Virginia), gave him the time and encouragement to pursue the research and write many of the early x acknowledgments drafts. The Organized Research Committee of Texas A&M University-Commerce (then East Texas State University) provided two grants for travel to various research libraries and archives. No political history study can be completed without the knowledge, skills, insight , and dedication of professional librarians, archivists, and other professional staff at facilities that contain historical documents. Thus, we wish to thank those who labored in the vineyards to assist in the study. Especially helpful were staff members at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York; the Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, Missouri; the University of Virginia Library (now Harrison Institute and Small Library), Charlottesville, Virginia; Butler Library , Columbia University, New York, New York; the National Archives, Library of Congress, Of¤ce of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Historical Of¤ce, Of¤ce of the Secretary of Defense, all in Washington, D.C.; the George Marshall Library, Lexington Virginia; the Douglas MacArthur Library and Archives, Norfolk, Virginia; American Legion Library and Archives, Indianapolis, Indiana; Bedford City/ County Museum, Genealogy Library, Bedford, Virginia; the Virginia Room, Roanoke Public Library, Roanoke, Virginia; the Clarksburg-Harrison Public Library , Clarksburg, West Virginia; the May¶ower Hotel archives, Washington, D.C.; and the Kiplinger Research Library, Historical Society of Washington, D.C. Our utmost appreciation goes to the dozens of family members, friends, associates , law partners, and others who knew Louis Johnson and shared with us their views, opinions, perceptions, insights, and ¤rsthand knowledge of Johnson the man and key events in his life. Most but not all of those individuals are listed in the notes and select bibliography. Of all those who assisted, none was of more help than the late Ruth Maxwell Johnson. Through numerous conversations and letters, she provided a rich store of information and insights into her husband’s thoughts and deeds. She placed no restrictions on the use of any materials and information provided. She also put us in contact with many individuals who knew her husband and who otherwise might not have been willing to share their recollections. We owe special thanks to Dave Roll’s assistant for thirty years, Esperance Biegel, who labored alongside us, patiently inputting constant and confusing changes in the manuscript and footnotes and producing a ¤nal manuscript for our publisher. Added thanks go to Marcia Mailey, who worked with Ms. Biegel on the manuscript; to the marvelously cooperative staff at Steptoe & Johnson, including research librarian Elmo Dattalo; and to the Steptoe & Johnson partners who contributed to this project and allowed Dave to...

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