THE PUBLIC YEARS

In this second and final volume of Baruch's memoirs, he covers nearly fifty years of service in Washington in a manner surprisingly brisk, clear and unencumbered for a writer of his age. At 47, we see him for all intents and purposes leave Wall Street, get involved in the Wilson campaign of 1912, and then, a little later, plunge very purposefully into arms production matters which greatly contributed to the defeat of the German Army. Memories, impressions, vignettes of the great and near great crowd each page. Cigar-chomping Samuel Gompers; Clemenceau, looking like ""a great gray cat""; Al Smith; Will Rogers worried about money matters; Roosevelt growing increasingly weary under the weight of World War II; caustic Harry Truman and his energetic comments on the Nye Committee; these and many more are encountered over and over. Much attention is given to the economics which caused the Depression, and to the fighting of the second War. Baruch, although he delves deep only occasionally, crosses a wide area of recent American history. Very readable.