Florence Umberhocker Bratten had served for 25 years as confidential secretary to Alben Barkley. A plump and jolly woman, she liked to boast that she had a first-name friend in every office in the Government. One of her friends was Charles E. ("Chuck") Shaver, counsel for the Senate Small Business Committee. In the 1948 and 1950 campaigns, Shaver was Barkley's personal aide.
Last week Reporter Jack Steele of the New York Herald Tribune (see PRESS) broke the news that Flo and Chuck were an influential twosome when it came to getting loans from the Reconstruction Finance Corp.* In May 1950, they called...
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