Politics
Lasker continued to be active in the Republican Party, and showed the party how to use modern advertising techniques to sell their candidates. He was a key advisor in the 1920 Harding campaign, which resulted in one of the largest landslides in history, as Warren G. Harding appealed for votes in newsreels, billboards and newspaper ads.
On June 9, 1921 President Harding's appointment of Lasker as chairman of the United States Shipping Board was confirmed by the US Senate. Lasker took the job on the condition that he would serve no more than two years. At the time, he was only the third man of Jewish descent to have been appointed to such a high post in the federal government. Lasker inherited a large mess, with over 2,300 ships under Shipping Board control losing money every day. A full quarter of the fleet were wooden hulled, and by this time were obsolete. He disposed of useless ships at an average price of $30 a ton, incurring criticism from Congress for "throwing our ships away".
His accomplishments included the refitting of the SS Leviathan for passenger service, as well as originating ship-to-shore telephone services. Lasker, who had no previous experience in the shipping business before his appointment, true to his word, ended his service in office on July 1, 1923.
Read more about this topic: Albert Lasker
Famous quotes containing the word politics:
“All is politics in this capital.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“The newspaper reader says: this party is destroying itself through such mistakes. My higher politics says: a party that makes such mistakes is finished—it has lost its instinctive sureness.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“While you’re playing cards with a regular guy or having a bite to eat with him, he seems a peaceable, good-humoured and not entirely dense person. But just begin a conversation with him about something inedible, politics or science, for instance, and he ends up in a deadend or starts in on such an obtuse and base philosophy that you can only wave your hand and leave.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)