Episode 7: President Cortelyou
PRESIDENT’S CABINET ROOM, WHITE HOUSE
Cortelyou takes the last seat at the cabinet table: Secretary of the Treasury (his forth Cabinet position) – more smiles and nods from the other members.
The date is 1907. Wall Street is buckling. Reckless speculation triggers a banking panic. There is no Federal Reserve, no deposit insurance for investors at the time - just fear.
With President Roosevelt out of town, Cortelyou travels to New York and meets with J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and James Stillman. Cortelyou instructs the Treasury to inject millions of dollars in federal funds into major NY banks to stabilize liquidity and calm public fears. The crisis revealed the nation’s need for a centralized banking system, ultimately inspiring the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913. Roosevelt sends congratulations to Cortelyou and the ‘other patriotic financiers’ who helped alleviate the crisis. It is a great moment for Cortelyou.
Then tragedy. Cortelyou’s daughter, Helen, dies at age 10. The series’ most personal moment plays in near silence. He sits at the piano, playing the same melody from Episode 1. This time, it falters.
INT. PRIVATE DINING ROOM – MANHATTAN CLUB – NIGHT
In a private back room, paneled wood, thick drapes, George B. Cortelyou, composed, reserved and J.P. Morgan, looming in both presence and voice, cigar smoke curling around him like a crown - Morgan offers to back him for President of the United States. Cortelyou is appreciative but does not show his cards.
Newspapers start mentioning Cortelyou as a possible presidential candidate. Cortelyou’s surrogates quietly go to work. They explore the viability to win key southern states for a potential Cortelyou run. Howard Taft looks hard to beat, however, and without TR’s endorsement, impossible.
In a private moment, the White House Chief Stewart tells Cortelyou that he is “rooting for him.”
Roosevelt ultimately endorses Taft, who he believes will carry-on TR’s policies. Cortelyou is disappointed but only privately. Lilly sits next to him while he plays the piano - moody at first, but then, a tune of optimism.
INT. GEORGE B. CORTELYOU’S OFFICE – NIGHT – NEW YORK CITY – 1909
The walls are lined with framed government letters, a modest photographs of President Lincoln and President McKinley, a note from Roosevelt, and a single framed drawing from his late daughter, Helen. Cortelyou, now 47, quietly packs a few personal items into a leather satchel.
At his desk, he takes out a page from his personal notebook. it reads:
“"The success of our great experiment in self-government rests not on the brilliance of its design, but on the character of its citizens. The Constitution is but a piece of paper - it is the people who breathe life into it through vigilance, virtue, and willingness to serve. Democracy is not inherited; it must be earned by each generation. We are each, in our own way, custodians of this fragile experiment. And when history calls, we must answer - not for glory, but because it is our turn."
He closes the book gently.
Cortelyou picks up a newspaper announcing his appointment as president of the Consolidated Gas Company of New York (the largest utility in the United States at the time). A secretary enters to inform him that Mr. Edison is ready for him.
CORTELYOU
"Excellent. Let’s get to work”