Abrahamson - Building home Howard F. Ahmanson and the politics of the American dream

Building Home

The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous contribution to the production of this book provided by Howard F. Ahmanson, Jr., and Pinatubo Press.

The publisher also gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Ahmanson Foundation.

Building Home

HOWARD F. AHMANSON AND THE POLITICS

OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

Eric John Abrahamson

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

BERKELEYLOS ANGELESLONDON

University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu.

University of California Press

Berkeley and Los Angeles, California

University of California Press, Ltd.

London, England

2013 by Eric John Abrahamson

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Abrahamson, Eric John.

Building home : Howard F. Ahmanson and the politics of the American dream / Eric John Abrahamson.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-520-27375-7 (cloth : alk. paper)

eISBN 9780520953420

1. Mortgage loansCaliforniaLos AngelesHistory20th century.

2. Savings and loan associationsLos AngelesHistory20th century.

3. Ahmanson, Howard F. 4. American DreamHistory20th century. I. Title.

HG2040.5.U5A627 2013

332.3'2092dc23

2012031151

Manufactured in the United States of America

21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

In keeping with a commitment to support environmentally responsible and sustainable printing practices, UC Press has printed this book on Rolland Enviro100, a 100% post-consumer fiber paper that is FSC certified, deinked, processed chlorine-free, and manufactured with renewable biogas energy. It is acid-free and EcoLogo certified.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

WHEN HE DIED IN 1968, Howard Ahmanson Sr. bequeathed a fortune to his son, as well as an ambiguous legacy. In the years that followed, no biographer emerged to chronicle the life of one of America's most successful postwar entrepreneurs. And as his son Howard junior matured, the substance of his father's life seemed hidden behind the reflected glare of black-and-white publicity photographs and a veil of cigarette smoke.

I first met Howard junior in the mid-1990s in Perry, Iowa. He and his wife Roberta were working on a number of historical projects in the town where she had grown up. I was part of an interpretive team working to develop a museum to be housed in the old Carnegie Library. Howard told me then that he was collecting material about his father's life and hoping to find someone to write a biography, but it didn't occur to either of us at the time that I might be the author. Although I had done work in California history, I was in a PhD program at Johns Hopkins, and Howard was looking closer to home for a writer.

We connected again after a long break in December 2008 as the nation reeled from the meltdown in the mortgage market. I asked Howard what had become of the biography idea. He told me that the potential authors had turned down the project because of a shortage of archival material and a feeling that Howard senior's story would be of little interest to readers. I told Howard that in light of the mortgage crisis a look back on an earlier era in mortgage finance might have significant appeal to readers newly interested in the subject. Moreover, Howard senior's biography reflected the ethos and character of that era. Howard agreed to underwrite work on the project if a university press and outside peer reviewers also agreed that the idea had merit. He was not interested in supporting a hagiography of his father.

I delivered a book proposal and sample chapters to the University of California Press several months later. The press submitted the proposal to peer review. The peer reviewers expressed support for the project and provided useful ideas for framing the context and argument of the story. On the strength of their review, UC Press offered me a contract for publication pending peer review of the final manuscript.

Throughout the course of my research, Howard junior has expressed enthusiastic support for this work, even when the story did not cast his father a favorable light. The staff that works for him at Fieldstead, Inc. welcomed me during my visits to do research in the family archives. Research performed by Lisa Hausdorfer and interviews conducted by Marc Nurre as part of that earlier effort to enable a biography gave me vital sources to work with. Steven Ferguson and Fieldstead's attorney, John Fossum of Irell and Manella, played a major role in helping me to locate several important interviewees and constantly encouraged the project. At my invitation, Steven, John, and Howard junior read occasional drafts and provided me with additional information on possible sources. All the while, they left me free to interpret the story as I have come to understand it from the available evidence.

One of the major challenges of this project, as other potential authors warned Howard junior, has been the paucity of material in Howard senior's own voice. He left only a few boxes of his personal correspondence and memorabilia. Howard junior never played a role in the management of Home Savings, and after the company was sold to Washington Mutual in 1998, most of its records disappeared. Late in my research, archivists at JPMorgan Chase found and allowed me to review a few boxes of Home Savings corporate materials that provided some additional details but shed little additional light on Ahmanson.

Piecing together information about Ahmanson's life from many sources and relying on the importance of a larger contextual story to drive the argument and the narrative, I was aided considerably by various people who agreed to let me interview them over the phone or in person. I am grateful to all of the following: Beverly Adair, Howard Ahmanson Jr., Mary Jane Bettfreund, Susan Buffett, Warren Buffett, Lou Cannon, Martha Cates, Hernando Court-right Jr., Gene Crain, Richard Deihl, Robert DeKruif, Carolyn Dunning, Sandra Edwards, William Ficker, Kim Fletcher, Marvin Holen, Elbert Hudson, Melinda Hurst, Peter McAndrews, Dolores Morse, Suzanne Muchnic, Charles Munger, John Notter, Margo Leonetti O'Connell, and Rufus Turner. Craig Chapman transcribed the taped interviews with extraordinary attention to the story.

Archivists and librarians at a number of institutions helped me find letters and documents that shed light on Ahmanson's life. I am particularly grateful to staff at the Bancroft Library, the California State Archives, and the National Archives and Records Administration. Special Collections librarians at the University of California Los Angeles, Loyola Marymount, the University of Southern California, Stanford University, the National Association of Home Builders, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art were all helpful. Diana Stickler at the San Jose Mercury News went above and beyond the call of duty to provide me with copies of a series of stories written by Harry Farrell. Dalit Baranoff helped me to understand the history of the fire insurance industry. William Ahmanson and Karen Ahmanson Hoffman were especially gracious and allowed me to comb through the papers of their father, Robert Ahmanson, at the Ahmanson Foundation. The staff at the Foundation were always warm and welcoming.