Description
Book SynopsisJosephine Roche (1886-1976) was a progressive activist, New Deal policymaker, and businesswoman. As a pro-labor and feminist member of Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration, she shaped the founding legislation of the U.S. welfare state and generated the national conversation about health-care policy that Americans are still having today. In this g
Trade Review"Muncy offers readers a biography of Progressive woman reformer-entrepreneur Josephine Roche, who has been largely overlooked by historians for her many contributions throughout the 20th century ... [A] fine book."--Choice "Relentless Reformer is a very necessary addition to the reading list of any student of the history of the United States of America. For those of a non-academic nature it is a jolly good read. It takes a worthy place in the comprehensive series Politics and Society in Twentieth-century America."--Don Vincent, Open History Journal "In her exemplary biography, Muncy never flinches from telling us the bad along with the good, drawing a portrait of a whole human being with profound lessons to teach."--Alice Kessler-Harris, Women's Review of Books "A model of biography as social and political history, Relentless Reformer tells the compelling story of one life as it shaped and exemplified a larger public life."--Barbara Melosh, Journal of American History "Muncy set out to return Roche to the prominence she deserves, while at the same time demonstrating how and why women's contributions are often ignored and or forgotten... She succeeded in accomplishing this, while writing an engaging and comprehensive biography."--Katherine G. Aiken, American Historical Review
Table of ContentsACKNOWLEDGMENTS IX INTRODUCTION 1 PART I FIRST BURST OF PROGRESSIVE REFORM: ROCHE'S APPRENTICESHIP, 1886-1918 1 Childhood in the West, Education in the East, 1886-1908 13 2 Aspiring Feminist and Social Science Progressive, 1908-1912 26 3 Emergence as a Public Leader, 1912-1913 42 4 Seeking Fundamentals: The Colorado Coal Strike, 1913-1914 64 5 "Part of It All One Must Become": Progressive in Wartime, 1915-1918 79 PART II FIRST TEMPORARY REVERSAL OF PROGRESSIVE REFORM: ROCHE'S NEW DEPARTURES, 1919-1932 6 Work and Love in a Progressive Ebb Tide, 1919-1927 97 7 Migrating to a "Totally New Planet": Roche Takes Over Rocky Mountain Fuel, 1927-1928 110 8 "Prophet of a New and Wiser Social Order," 1929-1932 126 PART III SECOND BURST OF PROGRESSIVE REFORM: HEIGHT OF ROCHE'S RENOWN, 1933-1948 9 Working with the New Deal from Colorado, 1933-1934 143 10 At the Center of Power: Roche in the New Deal Government, 1934-1939 162 11 Generating a National Debate about Federal Health Policy, 1935-1939 177 12 Unmoored during Wartime, 1939-1945 193 13 Becoming a Cold War Liberal, 1945-1948 211 PART IV SECOND TEMPORARY REVERSAL OF PROGRESSIVE REFORM: ROCHE BUILDS A PRIVATE WELFARE SYSTEM IN THE COALFIELDS, 1948-1963 14 Creating "New Values, New Realities" in the Coalfields, 1948-1956 227 15 Democratic Denials and Dissent at the Miners' Welfare Fund, 1957-1963 247 PART V THIRD BURST OF PROGRESSIVE REFORM: ROCHE RECLAIMS THE FULL PROGRESSIVE AGENDA, 1960-1976 16 Challenged and Redeemed by the New Progressivism, 1960-1972 265 17 Only Ten Minutes Left? Epilogue and Assessment 289 ABBREVIATIONS 297 NOTES 299 SELECT PRIMARY SOURCES 375 INDEX 379
