THE BONUS ARMY AND THE HYPOCRISY OF HOLDING "MEMORIAL DAY" IN THE MONTH OF MAY
"In the desperate summer of 1932, Washington, D.C. resembled the beseiged capital of an obscure European state. Since May some twenty-five thousand penniless World War veterans had been encamped with their wives and children in District parks, dumps, abandoned warehouses, and empty stores.
"The vets had come to ask their government for relief from the Great Depression, then approaching the end of its third year; specifically, they wanted immediate payment of the soldiers' 'bonus' authorized by the Adjusted Compensation Act of 1924 but not due until 1945. If they could get the cash now, the men would receive about $500 each. Headline writers had christened them 'the Bonus Army,' or 'the bonus marchers.'
"They called themselves the Bonus Expeditionary Force." BEF members had hoped in vain for congressional action. Now they appealed to President [Herbert] Hoover, begging him to receive a delegation of their leaders. Instead he sent word he was too busy and then proceeded to isolate himself from the city."
-- from the Prologue to The Glory And The Dream by William Manchester ( Little, Brown & Company, second edition, 1974 )
Early in the year of 1932, a Broadway dancer and stage actor named Bradford Ropes published a novel entitled 42nd Street, which has since gone out of print. In short order it was picked up by Warner Brothers and producers Hal Wallis and Darryl F. Zanuck took charge of the property, with the view of doing a first-rate musical comedy under the Vitaphone banner.
Screenwriters James Seymour and Rian James worked Ropes' material into a story for the screen and songwriters Harry Warren and Al Dubin got busy with the music and the lyrics. In a stroke of genius, veteran character actor Warner Baxter was selected for the lead role, the part of Stage Director Julian Marsh, while Bebe ( pronounced Beeb ) Daniel and Ruby Keeler were picked as the leading lady and the talented newcomer, respectively. Lloyd Bacon directed. "42nd Street" was produced on a budget of about $400,000 and made its premiere in February of 1933, and by all accounts it was instrumental in saving a tottering Warner Brothers. Seventy-two years later it is available on DVD with a clear soundtrack: it remains one of the most exciting and influential musical motion pictures ever made in the U.S.
Every story ever made into a motion picture is always about two different things. First, it is about the context and subtext of the story itself, whatever that may be. Second, it is about the society and the people in it, at the time the picture is produced and distributed. In the case of "42nd Street," the context of the story and the social positioning of the movie are almost identical, which accounts for some of its legendary appeal. The extraordinary performances of an excellent ensemble account for much of the rest of its enduring popularity, and the choreography of Busby Berkeley completes the embedded values of this film.
"42nd Street" is about Americans in the midst of the Great Depression, but not just any Americans. It is about the talented stars and the young, energetic and emotionally-charged laborers in "the Gulch," as Julian Marsh calls Broadway. It is about the beautiful girls and beautiful guys of New York City, which was then both the technological capital and cultural arts center of the entire country. Strangely, although "42nd Street" is now considered to be a good family-style entertainment, both the atmosphere of the story and its cinematography by Sol Polito are highly charged with sexual energy and innuendo.
In the opening scenes, the blatant agonies of the Great Depression are suggested in a peculiar point-counterpoint way. We are introduced to Dorothy Brock, the singing star of the fictional musical "Pretty Lady," which is the show to be produced on the stage of the 42nd Street Theater by Julian Marsh. Played by Bebe Daniels, Dot Brock is simply gorgeous, elegant, and arrogant. Immediately the elements of sexual tension are introduced, as she discusses her new contract for "Pretty Lady" with the producers' patron and financial backer -- Abner Dillon -- played handsomely by veteran character actor Guy Kibbee.
It only takes a few moments for the audience watching "42nd Street" to figure out that The King Of The Kiddie Cars, Dillon, has come to New York City from Cleveland because he is 'on the make.' Rotund, garrulous and pompous, Dillon is extremely well fixed at a time when millions are out of work and there are thousands of War veterans languishing in Hooverville camps, as the make-shift tent villages of the homeless were called. Dillon is rich enough to sink $70,000 into a highly speculative venture, a musical comedy for Broadway, and it is clear he wants the leading lady "to do something for him". In a neat twist, despite the leering and obvious sexual innuendo, Kibbee's Dillon asks Dot to please "call me Abner."
At about the same time that Dillon is examining Dorothy Brock's contract with Jones & Barry, the two producers are signing up Julian Marsh ( Baxter ). As they talk him up and praise his work, they are careful to note that he's got the best reputation on Broadway. Marsh is impeccably dressed in the manner of that time -- tailored suit, hat, gloves and walking cane -- but he's broke. Marsh is the Everyman of professional men, circa 1932, still in possession of a fine wardrobe but with no money. He's well-known, he's talented, he's highly respected in his chosen profession, he has enjoyed the company of beautiful women ... but he's broke.
"Did you ever try to cash a reputation at a bank ?" says Marsh. When Jones & Barry scoff at this, saying that "with all your hits" Marsh should be well off, he fires back with an acid quip:
"... ever hear of Wall Street ?"
THE GREAT BETRAYAL OF 1932: ROUTING THE BONUS ARMY
The story of "42nd Street" begins in late summer, 1932. When Abner Dillon and Dorothy Brock are discussing her new contract for "Pretty Lady," there's a brief screenshot of the contract itself. Only lasting a few seconds, through the magic of freeze framing via DVD digital imaging, the top part of the contract can be read by a viewer. Dorothy Brock's contract with Jones & Barry is dated August 29th, 1932. That minor fact places the time of this fictional masterpiece squarely in the event-stream of 1932, the time that William Manchester calls "Rock Bottom".
Barely a month before, at about 11:00 in the morning of July 28th, a former Brigadier General named Pelham D. Glassford -- who was now the Chief of Police in the District of Columbia -- took on the onerous duty of rousting the squatters of the Bonus Army. Glassford, who had made no secret of his compassion for the unemployed veterans, was in an absolutely untenable position.
The Attorney General, William D. Mitchell, had ordered the BEF to be moved off of government property, despite the fact that some of the abandoned and dishevelled buildings and lots occupied by the veterans had only recently been purchased by the federal government. The problem was acute. The Bonus Army was there and they had nowhere else to go, for there were fifteen million people unemployed in the States, and more than two million were homeless and wandering.
At 10:00 AM Treasury Agents went to bonus marchers on Third at Pennsylvania and told them to leave immediately. Then they left and the bonus marchers stayed. So Glassford formed up his police detachment and began clearing some of the abandoned buildings at about 11:00 AM, on a typically hot and humid D.C. summer day.
There were no incidents to begin with, according to Manchester, who writes on the eviction of the Bonus Army with great passion. But by the early afternoon, the greater part of the Bonus Army moved to cross the Eleventh Street bridge from Anacostia, where they had made a huge campground with ramshackle huts and tents. When the police tried to raise the bridge, they found that they were too late, and the surge of ragged veterans became a general melee'. Bricks were tossed and curses exchanged and the melee' became a riot. In one desperate moment the police officers opened fire on the Bonus men. Eric Carlson, a disabled veteran from Oakland, California, was "mortally wounded." William Hrushka, a butcher, of Chicago and the 41st Infantry was shot dead, a bullet to his heart.
Within minutes the word of this rioting and bloodshed was communicated to Herbert Hoover. He was having lunch when he heard the news. As Manchester relates it, "the President told Secretary of War Patrick J. Hurley to use troops" against the Bonus marchers. Hurley communicated this order to the Chief of Staff for the Army, and his principal assistant.
In the summer of 1932, that was General Douglas MacArthur and one Dwight David Eisenhower, a Major. There were, naturally, some delays in getting things organized, not the least of which were caused by the insistence of MacArthur that armored tanks be brought over with the infantry from Fort Myer. The great general proposed to use tanks and bayonets against unemployed veterans, many of whom were camped in shantytown conditions with their children and wives. The only shots fired thus far had been fired by policemen, and the men killed were Bonus marchers.
By late in the afternoon of this sweltering July day, MacArthur and Eisenhower were in uniform and the troops were assembling. Among the detachments were troopers from the 3rd Cavalry, under the command of Major George S. Patton. They advanced with sabres drawn, and the column following them included machine guns and elements of the 12th Infantry and the 13th Engineers.
"The operation was the worst-timed in MacArthur's career. Fifteen minutes earlier [ 4:30 PM ], the District's civil service workers had begun pouring into the streets, their day's work done." As Manchester describes it, "twenty thousand of them were massed on the sidewalks across from the bewildered, disorganized veterans. Someone was going to get hurt if the cavalry commander didn't watch out". In an incredible moment of irony, the Bonus marchers first applauded the arrival of Patton's 3rd Cavalry troopers, thinking that the soldiers had been ordered to parade for their benefit. They and the thousands of workers watching were badly disillusioned within minutes.
Without "the slightest warning," as reported by J.F. Essary of the Baltimore Sun, the troopers charged into the crowd, which meant that both men and women were "ridden down indiscriminately". George Patton liked action and he wasn't ashamed to see his troopers ride down the innocent bystanders ... including U.S. Senator Hiram Bingham of Connecticut. MacArthur was similarly inclined to take drastic measures. Three thousand gas grenades had been provided to the infantrymen and they used them without hesitation or provocation. Within a few hours most of the Bonus marchers had recrossed the bridge to Anacostia and the main encampment. Herbert Hoover then sent a message to Douglas MacArthur instructing, forbidding, the deployment of any troops across the Eleventh Street bridge "into the largest encampment of the veterans". MacArthur chose to ignore this direct order and marched his soldiers, with Dwight Eisenhower by his side, over to Anacostia and into the campgrounds.
"The Anacostia camp was a jumble of packing crates, fruit crates, chicken coops, burlap and tar-paper shacks, tents", writes Manchester. "It didn't seem possible that anyone could have become attached to so preposterous an array of junk, but it was the only home the BEF families had."
By 10:00 PM the infantry was in the camp and they routed the Bonus Army and their children with their tear gas bombs. The vegetable gardens planted by the homeless veterans were trampled and by 10:30 most of the shacks and tents were a-blaze. The bravado of MacArthur's troops was considerable. A seven-year old boy was bayonetted in the leg for trying to save his pet rabbit and more than a hundred other casualties were reported. Two infants died of asphyxiation from the irritating gas. The final agonizing irony of this scene from Dante's Inferno came at about 11:15.
"Major George S. Patton, Jr. [led] his cavalrymen in a final destructive charge. Among the ragged bonus marchers routed by their sabers was Joseph T. Angelino," notes Manchester, "who, on September 26, 1918, had won the Distinguished Service Cross in the Argonne Forest for saving the life of a young officer named George S. Patton, Jr."
MacArthur compounded the tragedy in the hours and days after the Bonus Army was routed. He never mentioned Hoover's direct orders not to cross the Eleventh Street bridge and instead, praised the President for reacting to "a very grave situation". Later he said that the Bonus marchers were "insurrectionists". He was quoted as maintaining that ... "if there was one man in ten in that group who is a veteran it would surprise me." Herbert Hoover and his aides made the situation even worse by laying down an official line that the Bonus Expeditionary Force was under the leadership of communists and criminals. And that there were not that many veterans among them.
HOOVER AND ROOSEVELT AND THE PATTERN OF OFFICIAL LIES
"Unfortunately for the Hoover administration's place in history, no one thought to check with the Veterans Administration. Before the BEF attacked law and order by becoming the targets of a gas attack," wrote Manchester in the second editon of his estimable history, "the VA had completed an exhaustive study of its membership. According to the VA figures, 94 percent of the bonus marchers had Army or Navy records, 67 percent had served overseas, and 20 percent had been disabled. Glassford and the ragged men he championed were vindicated. It cannot be said that it did them much good.
"Remarkably few newspapers reprinted the survey, and most of those that did ignored it on their editorial pages. The New York Times described the veterans as 'ordinary trespassers' whose 'insubordination' had 'led to a violent outbreak, almost amounting to insurrection.' " That was not the last time The Old Gray Lady printed outright lies on behalf of the federal government.
Wall Street's main apologist, Fortune was even more despicably inclined, praising MacArthur for using "bayonets and an overwhelming show of strength" as a way of "preventing fatalities." In this way the mass circulation newspapers and magazines of the day persuaded the people at large that the bonus marchers were "bent on violent revolution", as Manchester put it.
The Bonus Army of 1932 was, practically speaking, made up of white enlisted men who had served in Wilson's "war to end all wars," and their families. The few radicals who joined the BEF in the early-going had been expelled by the leadership.
The Bonus Army was not demonstrating a desire to overthrow the federal govenment in any way, for they first came to the District of Columbia to lay their grievances before Congress. It was their elected leaders who ignored them, and their elected President who ordered them pushed out, but it was General Douglas MacArthur who ignored the President's direct order not to enter the Anacostia campground who betrayed them. It is a mystery of the first order as to why he was never cashiered by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was the principal beneficiary of Hoover's pathetic decision-making process. The Bonus marchers shot dead were, unfortunately, in a riot situation. The babies who died and the women and children who were injured when MacArthur's troopers used tear gas, represent casualties inflicted on unarmed Citizens by the U.S. Army, against direct orders. It is nothing less than overt murder and assault with chemical weapons.
For that same kind of criminal behavior, President George W. Bush has ordered U.S. military forces to attack, invade and occupy Iraq, and to expel or capture its Arab Socialist leaders. Whether it was the five thousand killed at Halabja on the border with Iran, or five innocents killed in the rout of the Bonus Army, the nature of the crime remains the same. But whereas Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti was hammered down and taken prisoner, Douglar MacArthur was lionized and made into a five-star general in the course of World War II. The callous and brutal Major Patton was never disciplined for using his troopers to trample innocent civilians, along with the Bonus Marchers. And Dwight Eisenhower got himself elected President. Twice.
Thus it would seem, that in the checkered history of the bloody Twentieth Century, betrayal and lies pay handsome dividends. The arch-segregationist Woodrow Wilson, an Anglophile advised by the sinister Colonel Mandell House, lied when he promised to keep the U.S. out of the Great War in Europe in 1916. He betrayed his own promises and the millions who voted for the man "Who Kept Us Out Of War".
It is worth noting that the segregationist measures imposed by Wilson on the District of Columbia were still in effect in 1932 !! Black residents of the District, some 26 percent of the population, were prohibited by law from the "movies, and government cafeterias were closed to them." No private restaurant in central D.C. would serve them, but their shacks and homes in Foggy Bottom or Georgetown were reasonably well-kept. Neither area had yet been claimed by 'official' Washington or by those who eventually migrated there to work or to lobby.
The all-white Bonus Army was made up of what William Manchester called "the American yeomanry". They were the better-educated members of the working class, what might now be called the lower tier of the middle class, and as such they were probably as steeped in racism as the rest of the society was in the 1920s and '30s.
As they came from all sections of the country, from the farms and ranches of the west as well as from the urban centers of Chicago and Detroit, their likely tendency to be racist was not the product of 'being southerners' or farm-boys. After all, as younger men they had responded to Woodrow Wilson's exhortations and marched off to the war in France. And if Professor Wilson was an arch-segregationist and a British-style white supremacist, then it must not have been a disgraceful thing in the 1920s.
On the contrary, the historical record shows clearly that the racist mentality was so prevalent, that the general resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan was inevitable. Their political power peaked in the election of 1924, but in many parts of the south and the midwest, the Klan leaders at the local level were also Democratic Party operatives. Of course, Klansmen were not averse to helping elect Republicans whenever their individual candidates showed them due deference !! There is, however, no extant proof that the Klan had infiltrated the Bonus Army or that its leaders were after anything other than payment of bonuses as an immediate form of relief. Hoover came to the presidency with a reputation for humanitarian works and for frugality in government. His final years, including 1932, sullied his reputation on both counts.
SOCIAL INEQUALITY AND SEXUAL EQUALITY ON THE SILVER SCREEN
"... [they] were just flotsam of the general ruin of the time - honest, decent, middle-aged men with faces seamed by toil and want, and young men, many of them boys in their teens, with thick unkempt hair. These were the wanderers from town to town, the riders of freight trains ... the uprooted, unwanted male population of America. They drifted across the land and gathered in the big cities when winter came, hungry, defeated, empty, hopeless, restless, driven by they knew not what, always on the move, looking everywhere for work".
That was how Thomas Wolfe described the nomads of the highways and the railways, numbering some two million persons in the summer and autumn of 1932. Given that the small towns and small cities of that time had more than they could do with their own, homegrown welfare cases, this vagabond troop had no choice but to keep moving. Often they found transport in empty box cars being shuttled on the great iron highroads. In one year's time, the Southern Pacific Railroad had to evict 683,000 men, women and children from their freight carriers !! The winters of the late 1920s and '30s were extremely cold in most of the United States, so naturally the unemployed migrated to the big cities. Those who did not often died of exposure or pneumonia.
These realities were well known to most Citizens, at the end of 1932, when production on "42nd Street" was being wrapped up. The awful conditions of 1931 had not eased much at all, despite a few bright spots in the general economy. Hoover's policies of making gladdening noises and loaning the biggest banks large amounts of money was of almost no consequence to the fifteen million who were out of work. New York City was an anomaly, in that time, as William Manchester observes in The Glory And The Dream. Even with the influx of summertime nomads, New York was still very lively and there were manufacturing operations in business. There were also peculiar differentials in prices and in the cost of labor for domestic services, too. A good apartment with heat and weekly maid service could be had for about $80 per month at that time, or a little less for those who might ride the trains from Brooklyn or the Bronx.
This is the world which was the real world background, as depicted in the Warner Brothers' musical "42nd Street." The young men and women who populated Bradford Ropes' novel, and who were translated to the silver screen by James and Seymour, were clearly drawn from the ranks of the educated or upper middle class. The cast of this motion picture is not 'all white,' for there are several minor but important roles featuring Negro actors. Unfortunately none of them are credited, and even thorough research as conducted by TV Guide or IMDb.com has not listed their names. In fact, most of the stunningly beautiful chorus girls and dancers in "42nd Street" are only known from payroll records, as they appeared uncredited, too.
These beautiful people represent the opposite end of the social spectrum from the dispossessed young men riding the rails in 1932, the other side of society from the ranks of the Bonus Army and their women and children. "42nd Street" is not at all about family life, rather, it is all about the nuances and energy of sexual tension and sexual longings. The handsome, driven, mercurial Julian Marsh represents the professional man of his time. Some wags who review movies have chosen to proclaim that Warner Baxter's portrayal of Marsh is a triumph for "masculine homosexuality," but there is not one shred of evidence to sustain that airy and fantastic claim in this picture. On the contrary, Marsh's exclamations indicate that he is proud of his career as a Broadway bachelor, and his tone leads the viewer to believe he has enjoyed the company of many beautiful women.
The male dancers and singers in "42nd Street" are depicted as being very interested in their fellow chorines and dancers. As the company of "Pretty Lady" goes through its rehearsals, we see that the piano man attracts the attention of one lovely dancer, and the show's dance director ( played with great energy by George E. Stone ), is lovingly paired with Lorraine Fleming ( Una Merkel ). From beginning to end there is the sexual tension between "the Angel of Broadway," Abner Dillon, and Dorothy Brock. She's in love with Pat Denning ( George Brent ), but strings along the hapless Dillon right up the show's debut on the road in Philadelphia. And of course, to give the picture the necessary and requisite 'happy ending,' lead dancer and singer Billy Lawler ( a young, handsome Dick Powell ) pledges his love to Peggy Sawyer ( Ruby Keeler ), right before she has to replace an injured Dorothy Brock !! Ginger Rogers does a terrific turn as the opportunistic "Anytime Annie" Lowell.
In fact, "42nd Street" is something of a family affair. Joining the wonderfully talented tap-dancer Ruby Keeler are her sisters Gertrude and Helen Keeler. Pat and Martha "Toby" Wing are two of the exotic beauties who populate this extraordinary show about a show. Toby Wing, a platinum blonde who takes center stage in the incredible Busby Berkeley dance routines of "Young And Healthy," was only seventeen in 1932 and her younger sister Pat was sixteen at the time "42nd Street" was in production.
The context of this musical comedy is all about 'making it" as an entertainer in the midst of the Great Depression. The subtext of Lloyd Bacon's movie is all about the sexual equality of these beautiful young dancers and singers. The male dancers work as hard as do the female dancers. All are subject to the tyrannies of Stage Director Marsh, who bullies and cajoles them into giving the most exceptional performances in "Pretty Lady."
In the exciting conclusion of "42nd Street," the company of "Pretty Lady" opens the show on the road in Philadelphia. There Dorothy Brock breaks her ankle in a drunken rage, the night before the show is to premiere, and is thus reunited with her true love, Pat Denning. This disaster opens the door for Peggy Sawyer ( Ruby Keeler ), who carries the lead female role with a superb energy and graceful dance moves. She is buoyed by the fact that her romance with Billy Lawler blossoms at the same time and the final sequence of the "42nd Street" song pairs them, beaming happily at the audience of Philadelphia's social elite.
Another element of the subtext of "42nd Street" speaks of the absolute failure of Prohibition as a social experiment. Whether it is a basement restaurant in 1932 New York or the four-star hotel in Philadelphia, distilled liquors and champagne can be had for the asking. All it takes is money. Another interesting subtext is the ubiquitous presence of tobacco: Marsh is a chain smoker and there are cigars and cigarettes galore. Most everybody smokes.
In the beginning of this exquisite musical melodrama, Julian Marsh tells Jones and Barry that he has to make "Pretty Lady" a success, for it is to be his last show. He says "it has to carry me for a long time to come." Abner Dillon puts up the $70,000 in seed money for Jones & Barry because he wants to acquire a trophy girlfriend: rejected by Brock, he is, at the end of the movie, the love-slave of Annie Lowell, a ravishing songstress who knows an opportunity when she sees it !! And grabs it.
According to some sources, "42nd Street" made more than $4 million for Warner Brothers after its general release on March 8, 1933. Even by the nearly-criminal accounting standards of Hollywood, that's a ten-fold increase on the original costs. Warner Baxter, who was by 1932 a polished and veteran actor, would continue on his amazing career. He played "the Cisco Kid" four different times and starred in some of the best entertainments of the 1930s. Una Merkel and Ginger Rogers never lacked for work from that time on, nor did the sour-faced, snappish Ned Sparks, who was excellent in "Lady For A Day," another Depression era Hollywood triumph. The Wing sisters enjoyed a few brief years of regular work as second-tier beauties in the Hollywood studio system, and both married well.
Dick Powell probably enjoyed the most success of all the cast members, turning from "juvenile roles" to artful and masculine portrayals in later years, including "Murder, My Sweet" in 1944. He played the clever but conscientious Philip Marlowe in that superb murder mystery. All in all, he had sixty-five film or television credits by the end of his career.
William Manchester was absolutely right, in many ways, in calling the summer of 1932 the "Rock Bottom" for the United States, as the Great Depression never seemed more hopeless than it did at that time. "42nd Street" was released when the economic situation had grown even worse, as banks failed by the dozens and the last weeks of the Hoover administration demonstrated an abject political paralysis in the country's leadership. Other authors have examined those events and that time, and like John T. Flynn, some of them have come to the conclusion that President -elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt deliberately ignored Hoover's entreaties in order to see the Republican ranks thinned out and their leaders blamed for all of the economic dislocations.
But in this grim, awful time, the Busby Berkeley dance routines and the singing and acting talents of the entire cast of "42nd Street" gave movie-goers something wonderful to ponder. They could see and identify with these characters, the younger men and women finding others like them 'making it' on Broadway; and older men and women would be heartened by the sweet resolution of Dorothy Brock's love for her vaudeville partner, Pat Denning. After she breaks her ankle in a drunken rage, the shock of it all brings her to her senses. They agree to marry and she casts her lot with him, something which she relates to the upstart newcomer in a pivotal scene near the end of the film.
At a time when the social and economic situation in these States united was extremely bleak and forbidding, "42nd Street" resonates with youthful vitality, energy, and brings all things to a happy ending. Judging by its immediate success, and by the enduring nature of its appeal, "42nd Street" was just what the doctor ordered, for that day and time. It was a marvelous tonic for the heart and the soul of the music lover.
And yet the other, hard and cruel facts, remain. The Bonus Army of 1932 was routed from the capital city of these States by the orders of a hard-hearted Republican administration, and by the deliberate disobedience of General Douglas MacArthur, who never was called to face the consequences of his perfidy on July 28th of 1932. Perhaps the later successes of his command and his strategies, in the Second World War or in Korea, are sufficient to absolve him of that dastardly and criminal decision, when he sent armed men with tear gas into Anacostia to rout the army of unemployed veterans. Never again can the name MacArthur be closely associated with honorable service .... There are those among us who do not see those later successes as being sufficient to erase the stain of negligent homicide induced by tear gas, or the wilful disobedience of a direct order, or the abuse of Citizens and veterans who only sought the redress of grievances and a fair chance to be heard in the halls of federal power.
