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It is a rather remarkable fact and perhaps an indictment of the history profession and academic publishing that Herbert H. Lehman-who served as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s lieutenant governor for two terms from 1929 through 1932, succeeded him as governor and served four terms through 1940, was the first director-general of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration from 1943 to 1946, and then represented the state of New York in the Senate from 1950 through 1957-is the subject of but one biography, an authorized one, written by Alan Nevins in 1963. The reason for this, his most recent biographer, Duane Tananbaum muses, might be that Lehman left behind him a series of quite significant achievements in local, state, national, and international politics but very few anecdotes, personal stories, or lighthearted reminiscences.
Thankfully for us all, Tananbaum has published a magnificent biography which is as readable as it is comprehensive. Lehman’s trajectory from Lehman Brothers, the family investment banking business founded by his father and his uncles, to the army, to public service...