Dreamers and Deceivers (40 page)

The essence of David Sarnoff’s court testimony in Armstrong’s FM patent suit has been paraphrased for dramatic purposes. On the subject of who invented FM, Sarnoff stated that “[RCA] and [NBC] have done more to develop FM than anybody in this country, including Armstrong.”

If this story has motivated you to take a more hands-on approach to learning about the work and legacy of Edwin Howard Armstrong, there’s a kit available that allows you to build your own one-tube, Armstrong-inspired regenerative receiver. See
http://bit.ly/1tj7egv
.

There is a wealth of resources available for further reading on David Sarnoff, Lee de Forest, and Edwin Howard Armstrong. As a starting point for more in-depth reading on these men, see:

de Forest:
http://fla.st/1tj7BI0

Sarnoff:
http://bit.ly/1tj7Dzy

Armstrong:
http://bit.ly/1tj7Hzk

Chapter 3: Woodrow Wilson: A Masterful Stroke of Deception

Most of the facts used to create this story came from the following sources:

Berg, Scott.
Wilson.
Putnam Adult, 2013.

Chandler, Michael. “A President’s Illness Kept Under Wraps.”
Washington Post,
February 3, 2007.

Cooper, John.
Breaking the Heart of the World: Woodrow Wilson and the Fight for the League of Nations.
Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Deppisch, Ludwig.
The White House Physician: A History from Washington to George W. Bush.
McFarland, 2007.

Grayson, Cary T.
Woodrow Wilson: An Intimate Memoir.
Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1960.

Levin, Phyllis Lee.
Edith and Woodrow: The Wilson White House.
Scribner, 2001.

Pestritto, Ronald J.
Woodrow Wilson and the Roots of Modern Liberalism.
Rowman & Littlefield, 2005.

Most of the dialogue in this chapter was imagined, but the following quotations were taken in whole or in part from the historical record.

• “I should regard it as my duty . . .” (Berg)

• “You know him and he is devoted to you . . .” (Deppisch)

• “President Wilson is a great man with his heart torn out.” (Levin, 49)

• “. . . Easily outrank any other American that has yet lived.” (Levin, 119)

• “Omnipotence might be her middle name.” (Levin, 165)

• “Use this.” (Levin, 179)

• “Universal suffrage is at the foundation of every evil . . .” (Pestritto)

• “I have my own diagnosis for my ailment . . .” (Levin, 277)

• “He’s got the servants acting as spies . . .” (Levin, 295–96)

• “. . . I have caught the imagination of the people. They are eager to hear what the League stands for . . .” (Berg)

• “If you feel that way about it, I will surrender.” (Levin, 331)

• “Please convey our sympathy to the president . . .” (Levin, 348–49)

• “. . . Must have information that I do not possess.” (Levin, 354)

• “I thought it wise to record this interview . . .” Kati Marton,
Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages That Shaped Our Recent History,
Pantheon, 2001, 40.

• “Edith emerges as the master of the cover-up.” (Levin, 13)

Notes on specific scenes, facts, and characters:

• Grayson had recommended the president take long walks and horseback rides. (Chandler)

• Edith Galt had a severe preoccupation about her shoes. (Levin, 50)

• They bonded over their mutual status. (Levin, 57)

• The lawyer told her that it was her destiny to hold in the palm of her hand the weal or woe of a country. (Levin, 57)

• A sign of Edith’s utter devotion: Official Report of the Second Inauguration of Woodrow Wilson, March 5, 1917.

• Grayson agreed with the president’s vision for the League of Nations and believed it would be an historic effort to end all wars: “The Anosognosic’s Dilemma: Something’s Wrong but You’ll Never Know What It Is (Part 3),” August 19, 2014,
http://nyti.ms/1tjdqoJ
.

• It was Edith who managed his workflow. (Levin, 351–52)

• She had written every word. (Levin, 353–554)

• Nobody expected the president to agree to see them. James McCallops,
Edith Bolling Galt Wilson: The Unintended President,
Nova Science, 2003.

• The two men discussed taking a wheelchair to the Capitol so that Wilson could announce his decision to the Congress in person. (Cooper, 319)

• Quitting now was out of the question. (Levin, 420–21)

• Her list had reached a total of fifty-four names. (Cooper, 319)

• His cane appeared to have been erased. (Chandler)

Some scenes in this chapter were imagined or expanded beyond the basic historical record, including:

• The scene of Woodrow and Ellen Wilson with their daughters is invented. Wilson’s animus toward women is well documented in the historical record.

• Wilson’s conversation with Colonel George Harvey is invented, as are details of the dinner with Ellen Wilson.

• Cary Grayson’s encounter with Taft and Wilson is partially imagined, but otherwise based on Grayson’s own memoir,
Woodrow Wilson: An Intimate Memoir.

• Wilson’s conversation with Grayson over the care of his sister is imagined, though it is based on Grayson’s own recollections and other published accounts.

• Grayson’s care of Ellen Wilson and their conversation is partially invented. It was Wilson who has been widely quoted as saying there was nothing “organically wrong” with his wife, an opinion shared or reinforced by his doctor.

• Edith Wilson’s first encounter with Woodrow Wilson is partially imagined, but based on her own memoir, Grayson’s memoir, and other historical sources.

• Wilson’s proposal to Edith is partially invented, but based on her own recollections in her memoir.

• The dialogue included in the scene describing Edith’s encounter with Colonel House is partially invented.

• The scene involving the arrest of women’s suffragists is partially imagined, but based on real events.

• Grayson’s care for Wilson is pieced together from various historical
accounts, and the text of his letter warning of Wilson’s precarious health is found at the Woodrow Wilson library website:
http://bit.ly/1niL9tK
.

• Wilson’s conversations with Grayson and Edith on the train are partially imagined, but based on sources, including Phyllis Lee Levin’s book, as well as Cary Grayson’s and Edith Wilson’s memoirs.

• Details of Wilson’s stroke in the White House are taken from Edith Wilson’s “My Memoir.” There was also a play that reenacted the scene,
Woodrow Wilson Suffers a Stroke,
found here:
http://bit.ly/1zc7Q8x
.

• Grayson’s poststroke conversations with Edith Wilson are imagined, but based on Grayson’s memoir.

• The scene detailing Wilson’s consideration of resignation is imagined, though largely based on the historical record.

Chapter 4: Streets of Gold: Charles Ponzi and the American Scheme

Most of the facts used to create this story came from the following sources:

Blumenthal, Ralph. “Lost Manuscript Unmasks Details of Original Ponzi.”
New York Times,
May 2009.

Darby, Mary. “In Ponzi We Trust.”
Smithsonian,
December 1998.

Dunn, Donald.
Ponzi: The Incredible True Story of the King of Financial Cons.
Broadway Books, 2004.

Zuckoff, Mitchell.
Ponzi’s Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend.
Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2006.

Most of the dialogue in this chapter was imagined, but the following quotations were taken in whole or in part from the historical record.

• “Student.” (Zuckoff, 24)

• “Dearest Mother, your son has at last stumbled . . .” (Dunn, 28)

• “Your account is more of a bother to us than a benefit.” (Zuckoff, 89)

• “Our returns have been enormous already!” (Zuckoff, 115–16)

• “I can think of no more worthy cause . . .” (Zuckoff, 119)

• “A little dollar could start on a journey across the ocean . . .” (Zuckoff, 121–22)

• “She’s worried about my hat!” (Dunn, 154–55)

• “Tell me, can you come down to our offices?” (Dunn, 179)

• “I’m the man! I’m doing it!” (Dunn, 234)

• “I’ve given back more than two million.” (Dunn, 279)

• “Declares Ponzi is now hopelessly insolvent.” (Blumenthal)

• “How are your newspapers selling?” (Zuckoff, 236–37)

• “I might have.” (Zuckoff, 256)

• “After I am proved on the level . . .” (Zuckoff, 258)

• “Yes, I have agreed.” (Zuckoff, 280–81)

• “The man’s nerve is iron.” (Darby)

• “No man is ever licked” (Zuckoff, 281)

• “I do not anticipate that another Charles Ponzi will ever appear in the financial world.” (Blumenthal)

Notes on sourcing of specific facts, scenes, and characters:

• Satisfied with his letter to his mother, Carlo had a few more drinks. (Zuckoff, 21)

• He was impressed by the man’s skill. (Dunn, 11)

• Banco Zarossi became one of the fastest-growing financial institutions. (Dunn, 24)

• Mattress made from a sack of corncobs and husks. (Zuckoff, 30)

• He’d hinted that he’d worked for the Italian government. (Zuckoff, 79–81)

• Ponzi had already rented a large office and hired two stenographers. (Zuckoff, 88)

• The wife took fifteen dollars from her purse and handed it to Ponzi. (Zuckoff, 121–22)

• Ponzi told them that such information was a trade secret. (Darby)

• Ponzi thought he and Columbus were similar in many ways. (Zuckoff, 135)

• Ponzi concluded that the story could not have been better. (Darby)

• Ponzi was infuriated by the accusations. (Dunn, 246)

• The story included photos of his mug shot. (Darby)

• Sixty years old, nearly blind, and partially paralyzed from stroke. (Dunn, 337)

Some scenes in this chapter were imagined or expanded beyond the basic historical record, including:

• Ponzi’s conversation with William H. McMasters is imagined, but is primarily based on Donald Dunn’s
Ponzi: The Incredible True Story of the King of Financial Cons.

• Young Ponzi’s letter to his mother and his college exploits are partially imagined, but based on Mitchell Zuckoff’s
Ponzi Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend.

• Ponzi’s conversation with his uncle is partially imagined. His uncle’s declaration that the streets of America “are literally paved with gold” is, however, taken directly from Zuckoff’s book.

• Why Ponzi briefly changed his name to Bianchi is an educated supposition.

• Most of the details surrounding Ponzi’s involvement with the Banco Zarossi are taken from Dunn’s book, though parts of the conversation are imagined.

• Ponzi’s letter from prison to his mother appears in Donald Dunn’s biography, though his motivations for the letter are partially theorized.

• The details of Ponzi’s encounter with Detective McCall are taken from the Zuckoff biography.

• The conversations with Ponzi and the immigration official at the New York border are partially imagined and partially taken from Donald Dunn’s biography, 32–34.

• The details of Ponzi’s encounters with Charles Morse come from Donald Dunn’s biography, including Morse’s quote about “it’s all a matter of keeping your sights high.” (Dunn, 42)

• Ponzi’s conversations with Rose are imagined and based on the Dunn and Zuckoff biographies, as well as other sources.

• Ponzi’s conversations with potential investor Gilberti are partially imagined and partially taken from the Dunn and Zuckoff biographies.

• William McMaster’s views and conversations with Ponzi are partly imagined but also influenced by McMaster’s lost manuscript, which was detailed in the
New York Times
on May 4, 2009:
http://nyti.ms/1rq97KN
.

• Accounts differ as to whether Ponzi compared his exploits as being bigger than the landing of the Pilgrims or if he instead referred to the
Mayflower.

Chapter 5: He Loved Lucy: The Tragic Genius of Desi Arnaz, the Inventor of the Rerun

Most of the facts used to create this story came from the following sources:

Arnaz, Desi.
A Book.
Morrow, 1976.
http://bit.ly/1rpZThD
.

Edwards, Elisabeth.
I Love Lucy: Inside the World of Television’s First Great Sitcom.
Running Press, 2011.
http://bit.ly/1w9TCZJ
.

FBI Records on Desi Arnaz. Part 3 of 7.
http://1.usa.gov/1w9RTU2
.

Folkart, Burt A. “Desi Arnaz, TV Lucy’s Loving Co-Star, Dies.”
Los Angeles Times,
December 3, 1986.
http://lat.ms/1w9Wo0N
.

Harris, Warren G.
Lucy & Desi: The Legendary Love Story of Television’s Most Famous Couple.
Simon & Schuster, 1991.

Kanfer, Stefan.
Ball of Fire: The Tumultuous Life and Comic Art of Lucille Ball.
Knopf Doubleday, 2007.

McGrath, Douglas. “Television/Radio: The Good, the Bad, the Lucy: A Legacy of Laughs; The Man Behind the Throne: Making the Case for Desi.”
New York Times,
October 14, 2001.
http://nyti.ms/1w9QfSq
.

Sanders, Coyne S., and Tom Gilbert.
Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.
HarperCollins, 1994.

Schindehette, Susan. “The Real Story of Desi and Lucy.”
People,
February 18, 1991.
http://bit.ly/1w9PYPx
.

Most of the dialogue in this chapter was imagined, but the following quotations were taken in whole or in part from the historical record.

• “Instead of divorce lawyers profiting from our mistakes . . .” (Desilu, 29)

• “Oh, Desi, It just isn’t the same, is it?” Bart Andrews, “Last Five Years Were Rocky for Lucy & Desi,”
Philadelphia Inquirer,
May 3, 1989.

• “Dios mio! What is happening?” (Arnaz, 26)

• “Especially you, Desi. You’re a young boy . . .” (Arnaz, 31)