High Tension: FDR's Battle to Power America

by John A. Riggs

Overview

An account of Franklin Roosevelt’s battle against the power industry to bring electricity to rural communities in the United States.

When Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office in the depths of the Depression, high tension―or high voltage―power lines had been marching across the country for decades, delivering urban Americans a parade of life-transforming inventions from electric lights and radios to refrigerators and washing machines. But most rural Americans still lived in the punishing pre-electric era, unconnected to the grid, their lives consumed and bodies broken by backbreaking chores.

High Tension is the story of FDR’s battle against the “Power Trust,” an elaborate Wall Street-controlled web of holding companies, to electrify all of America―even when the corrupt captains of the industry and their cronies (led by a formidable and honest champion, Wendell Willkie, whose role in the battle propelled him to a presidential bid to unseat Roosevelt in 1940) cried that running lines to rural areas would not be profitable and that in a free market there would simply have to be a divide between the electricity haves and have-nots.

Roosevelt knew better. And in this story of shrewd political maneuvering, controversial legislation, New Deal government organizations like the Tennessee Valley Authority, the packing of Federal courts, towering business figures, greedy villains, and the crying needs of farmers and other rural citizens desperate for services critical to their daily lives, John A. Riggs has chronicled democracy’s greatest balancing act of government intervention with private market forces. Here is the tale of how FDR’s efforts brought affordable electricity to all Americans, powered the industrial might that won World War II, and established a model for public-private solutions today in areas such as transportation infrastructure, broadband, and health care.

Praise for High Tension

“The little known but captivating story of electricity is at the heart of the New Deal. John A. Riggs is the perfect person to tell the tale.” ―Walter Isaacson, author of The Innovators, Leonardo da Vinci, and Steve Jobs

“[A] lucid and compelling tale. This is a fresh angle of vision on one of the most important and under-appreciated stories of the first half of the 20th century.” ―Jonathan Alter, author of The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope

“An innovative history of the chaos and conniving that created America’s transformative electricity system. . . . A compelling read. Thoroughly researched and gracefully written. . . . A must for historians, it is also a gripping read for all.” ―Martin J. Sherwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning co-author of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

“[A]n exhaustive look at President Franklin Roosevelt’s multipronged war against the private utility sector. . . . Riggs dives deep into the legislative, judicial, and public opinion battles over Roosevelt’s energy initiatives, including the Tennessee Valley Authority, and argues that the hybrid public-private system that emerged in America was critical to the nation’s “economic global supremacy” during and after WWII. . . . [T]his authoritative account is a valuable resource for students of America’s energy policy.” ―Publishers Weekly

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781635767339
Publisher:	Diversion Books
Publication date:	06/25/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

John A. Riggs is a Senior Fellow at the Aspen Institute, where he directed its Program on Energy and Environment from 1995 to 2006. He was principal deputy assistant secretary and then acting assistant secretary for policy and international affairs at the US Department of Energy from 1993 to 1995. Previously he served for twenty years on the staff of the US Congress, including thirteen years as staff director of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Power. He also served in Vietnam and Brazil with the Agency for International Development (1966-72) and taught energy policy at the University of Pennsylvania. John has a BA in history from Swarthmore College and a master's in public policy from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Major Characters xi

Key Dates xxvii

Abbreviations xxxv

Chapter 1 Throwing Down the Gauntlet 1

Chapter 2 The First Wave of Electrification 9

Chapter 3 The Golden Years 31

Chapter 4 The Tide Turns 57

Chapter 5 Creating TVA 87

Chapter 6 Enlarging the Battlefield 111

Chapter 7 Peak Power 135

Chapter 8 Power Loss 163

Chapter 9 Powering the War Effort 191

Epilogue 217

Appendix A How to Build a Holding Company Pyramid 223

Appendix B How to Make Dividends Flow Uphill 225

Acknowledgments 227

Bibliography 229

Notes 255

Index 275

About the Author 283

Editorial Reviews

09/21/2020

Riggs, a former official in the U.S. Department of Energy, debuts with an exhaustive look at President Franklin Roosevelt’s multipronged war against the private utility sector. Before 1933, Riggs notes, “nine holding companies... managed about three-quarters of the nation’s power.” The “vast share” of profits from electrifying the U.S. were pocketed by the companies’ owners rather than reinvested, according to Riggs, and rural farms were often left in the dark. During the 1932 presidential campaign, Roosevelt promised to unravel the holding companies, construct massive government dams to power the electrical grid, and push for rural electrification. The opposition was led by energy company CEO (and 1940 Republican presidential nominee) Wendell Willkie. Riggs dives deep into the legislative, judicial, and public opinion battles over Roosevelt’s energy initiatives, including the Tennessee Valley Authority, and argues that the hybrid public-private system that emerged in America was critical to the nation’s “economic global supremacy” during and after WWII. Thanks to Roosevelt, Riggs writes,“by the mid-1950s, almost all farms had electricity.” Though somewhat ponderous in its level of specificity, this authoritative account is a valuable resource for students of America’s energy policy. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

The little known but captivating story of electricity is at the heart of the New Deal. John A. Riggs is the perfect person to tell the tale. The battles between America’s most politically astute president and a powerful industry created the hybrid, public-private electricity system that we know today. The compromises necessary to ensure equity and the public interest while unleashing the energy of private markets can inform the discussion of current issues such as telecommunications, infrastructure, and tax policy.”


—Walter Isaacson, author of The Innovators, Leonardo da Vinci, and Steve Jobs





“Electricity was the internet of its day—and bringing it to the countryside affected more Americans than any other New Deal program. It was also the source of a bitter struggle between public and private power, full of ‘high tension’—the double entendre title of John A. Riggs’s lucid and compelling tale. This is a fresh angle of vision on one of the most important and under-appreciated stories of the first half of the 20th century.”


—Jonathan Alter, author of The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope





"[A]n exhaustive look at President Franklin Roosevelt’s multipronged war against the private utility sector....Riggs dives deep into the legislative, judicial, and public opinion battles over Roosevelt’s energy initiatives, including the Tennessee Valley Authority, and argues that the hybrid public-private system that emerged in America was critical to the nation’s ‘economic global supremacy’ during and after WWII....[T]his authoritative account is a valuable resource for students of America’s energy policy."


—Publishers Weekly





"High Tension: Franklin Roosevelt’s Battle to Power America is an innovative history of the chaos and conniving that created America’s transformative electricity system (judged by The Atlantic to be the greatest invention since the printing press). Jack Riggs has given us a compelling read. Thoroughly researched and gracefully written, it crisply covers the historical panorama of the New Deal’s hard-won achievements of breaking up the giant utility holding companies and bringing light and power to the vast darkened regions of our nation. A must for historians, it is also a gripping read for all.”


—Martin J. Sherwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning co-author of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, and author of A World Destroyed: Hiroshima and Its Legacies





“High Tension vividly tells of FDR’s struggle to control giant utility holding companies, build government dams, and electrify rural America. He took on powerful interests and reshaped the electricity system as a novel public-private enterprise—a legacy that continues to this day. John A. Riggs tells an important story with relevance today, from reinventing electricity regulation to accommodate new clean energy technology to offering lessons for universal broadband access.”


—Ernest J. Moniz, U.S. Secretary of Energy, 2013–2017, CEO Energy Futures Initiative





“Narrative history at its best. Riggs brings FDR to life as he gathers a team of brilliant and eccentric New Dealers to battle for public power, rural electrification, and the abolition of holding companies. The industry fights back with a coalition of stock manipulators and free enterprise proponents led by a remarkable advocate named Wendell Willkie.”


—Bruce Babbitt, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, 1992-2000





“The story of electrification is the story we must return to, over and over again, to understand what it really means to build a public utility. Our age, like every age, has its essential services, and as John A. Riggs demonstrates, getting it right does not happen by accident, nor without a fight, but demands great political courage.”


—Tim Wu, Professor, Columbia Law School; New York Times contributing opinion writer; and author of The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age





“Electric utilities are fascinating combinations of economics, technology, and politics. Somehow all three have to be kept in harness for utility companies to succeed. Mr. Riggs explores the interplay of these factors in one of the most complex periods in the history of the industry. Good reading for anyone who likes the lights to come on and the computer to work.”


—John Rowe, former CEO of Commonwealth Edison and Exelon





“A valuable resource dealing with a largely—and undeservedly—ignored slice of FDR’s New Deal agenda, but also of American history and, indeed, of all human progress.”


—David Pietrusza, author of 1948: Harry Truman’s Improbable Victory and the Year That Transformed America





“John A. Riggs gives us a fresh look at the people and politics that brought electricity to virtually all Americans, shaped today’s economy, and powered the Arsenal of Democracy that led to victory in World War II. High Tension is a strong reminder of Edmund Burke’s 18th Century admonition that ‘politics ought to be adjusted, not to human reasoning, but to human nature, of which the reason is a part.’ It is a joy to read and of enduring value.”


—Charles B. Curtis, Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 1977–1981





“The United States electric system not only underpins our economy, but also our way of life. Yet most Americans know nothing about its history. This story of a critical era in the development of the US power sector is a riveting tale of inventors, entrepreneurs, politics, legal battles, and shenanigans. The reader will come away with a new appreciation for what we take for granted.”


—Elizabeth Moler, Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner, 1988–1997, Chair, 1993–1997; and Deputy US Energy Secretary 1997–1998, Acting Secretary, 1998





"In an engaging narrative, High Tension captures a transformative time in American history with titanic characters, exploring some of the most compelling battles of the early 20th Century with scintillating detail. It’s also a book with powerful relevance today, reminding us that the conflict between corporate concentration of power and public interests is ongoing, unresolved, and demands our attention if we hope to achieve social progress in this century.


—John F. Wasik, author of The Merchant of Power: Thomas Edison, Samuel Insull and the Creation of the Modern Metropolis





"The book features winning vignettes. . . . The meat of the saga, however, is the decades-long struggle to end the financial legerdemain that infested the electricity business, which constructed pyramid schemes with up to 10 levels of holding companies owning holding companies, all designed to divert profits to top financiers while placing the least amount of capital at risk. . . . Presenting a story that mingles business and politics at the highest level, High Tension has a complex tale to tell, one that requires the reader’s attention."



——Washington Independent Review of Books

From the Publisher