Unprecedented Power: Jesse Jones, Capitalism, and the Common Good

by Steven Fenberg
Texas A&M University Press, 616 pp., $35

There’s a reason Franklin Roosevelt is on the cover of Unprecedented Power, even though the title isn’t referring to him directly. FDR serves as a recognizable face next to often-skimmed-over Jesse Jones, who was considered by many to be the second most powerful person in Depression-era America. After almost single-handedly building Houston into the metropolis that it is, he was tapped by Presidents Wilson, Hoover, and Roosevelt to use his investment and money-managing skills to keep the country afloat during wartime and internal strife. Fenberg expands on the PBS special he produced a decade ago and offers insight into a man whose economic and political acumen would come in very handy today.

Big Tex: Outsized Lone Star Personalities: Sunday, Oct. 23, 2:45-3:45pm, Lone Star Tent

This article appears in October 21 • 2011.

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James graduated from Columbia University in 2000 and moved to Austin a year later. Ever since, he has followed the arts and video game scene in ATX, editing and writing stories for the Chronicle along the way. Over his more than 20 years with the paper he has climbed the "corporate" ladder from lowly intern to managing editor.