[LS]

Yes, you're right on A.P. Felice Bonadio, the last historian to write a bio of A.P., was on the faculty of UCSB when I did my Ph.D. there. I met him and talked to him, but even though I was a business historian specializing in . . . BANKING history, Bonadio would have nothing to do with me. He wanted the Giannini papers all for himself. The result was an entertaining book that failed to get into the real finances of the Bank of Italy/Bank of America empire---superficial fluff.

The film that is referred to here is "They Made America" by Harold Evans, who did a 15 minute segment on Giannini.

A.P. was a BIG FDR supporter, even though the Dems screwed him on his nation-wide branch banking bill. FDR did, apparently (and this was something Bonadio didn't bother to check) allow the BofI to reopen in the "Bank Holiday," even though by government standards some think it was not solvent.

[Fedora]

Thanks for the very interesting information. I have not seen that covered in anything I've read on FDR, that I can remember.