Truman’s Choice

The five Securities & Exchange Commissioners last week sat down in their Philadelphia office to pick a new chairman. The choice soon narrowed down to brand-new Commissioner Edward M. Hanrahan and oldtime Commissioner James J. Caffrey.

Hanrahan had plenty of potent political backing, including Postmaster-General Bob Hannegan’s. So did Jim Caffrey; he had Senate Majority Leader Alben Barkley in his corner. After hours of wrangling, the commissioners put in a call to the White House. President Truman made up their minds for them. He wanted Caffrey.

In Jim Caffrey, 48, the SEC had a chairman Wall Street liked. A graduate of Harvard, Jim Caffrey had joined SEC in 1935 after twelve years of legal practice in his native Boston. He made a name for himself by handling more fraud cases than any other SEC man. He also made a name as a man who knew Wall Street’s problems and talked its language, a man who regarded SEC strictly as a regulatory agency, not a political club. Most Wall Streeters thought they would get along fine with Jim Caffrey.