Stanley Coben

4386. A. Mitchell Palmer: Politician, by Stanley Coben (read 24 Nov 2007) Palmer was born 4 May 1872 and died 11 May 1936. He served in the House from 1911 to 1915, attaining a leadership role in his first term there. In 1914 he ran for the Senate, but lost to Boise Penrose. He was Alien Property Custodian and then Attorney-General in the last part of Wilson's second administration. His raids on radicals in 1920 gave him prominence but also insured that his effort to be the Democratic nominee for President in 1920 would fail. This is not a bad book, and the career of Palmer is of interest. There are ample footnotes and a bibliography. But I thought the book was kind of skimpy on Palmer's pursuit of the presidential nomination in 1920, and no attention is paid to Palmer's personal life at all.… (mer)