WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.160 You know, there's a specific version of history 00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:05.379 we all learn in school. It's the statue in the 00:00:05.379 --> 00:00:08.939 park version. Everything is solid, marble, and 00:00:08.939 --> 00:00:12.859 just inevitable. The sanitized view. Yeah. We 00:00:12.859 --> 00:00:15.160 like our history clean. We like these, you know, 00:00:15.160 --> 00:00:17.460 clear lines from point A to point B. Exactly. 00:00:17.480 --> 00:00:20.160 But usually, if you actually dig into the archives, 00:00:20.519 --> 00:00:23.839 the foundation of those statues is a lot messier. 00:00:24.100 --> 00:00:27.760 Made of mud and luck and sometimes some... Very 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:30.480 gray ethical decisions. And today we are taking 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:32.439 a sledgehammer to one of those marble columns. 00:00:33.179 --> 00:00:35.359 We're doing a deep dive into the life of Burt 00:00:35.359 --> 00:00:38.020 L. Stafford. Now, if you're from Vermont or you 00:00:38.020 --> 00:00:39.939 follow political history, you hear that name 00:00:39.939 --> 00:00:41.840 and you're probably thinking of Robert Stafford. 00:00:41.899 --> 00:00:44.259 Robert is the famous one, sure. Governor, U .S. 00:00:44.280 --> 00:00:47.759 Senator, a huge figure in the 60s, 70s, 80s. 00:00:47.799 --> 00:00:50.000 But today isn't about him. It's about his father, 00:00:50.179 --> 00:00:52.899 Burt. Because without Burt, there is no Senator 00:00:52.899 --> 00:00:56.359 Stafford. Yeah. And Burt's story. It is. I mean, 00:00:56.359 --> 00:00:58.780 it's infinitely wilder than you might expect 00:00:58.780 --> 00:01:01.219 from a guy who looks like a stern librarian in 00:01:01.219 --> 00:01:03.500 his portraits. I was honestly shocked at going 00:01:03.500 --> 00:01:05.239 through the source material on this. It's a lot. 00:01:05.420 --> 00:01:08.239 We are talking about a life that spans from a 00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:13.019 tiny hamlet in Vermont to the malaria -ridden 00:01:13.019 --> 00:01:16.180 jungles of the post -war Philippines, and then 00:01:16.180 --> 00:01:19.200 back to a high -stakes financial scandal during 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:21.019 the Great Depression. It's like three different 00:01:21.019 --> 00:01:23.799 movies rolled into one life. And the common thread 00:01:23.799 --> 00:01:27.540 through it all is this intense drive. We're looking 00:01:27.540 --> 00:01:30.519 at biographical records, legal transcripts from 00:01:30.519 --> 00:01:32.760 the 1930s. And historical accounts of the Philippines, 00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:36.040 yeah. What we see is a man who was constantly 00:01:36.040 --> 00:01:39.060 climbing, constantly surviving, and eventually 00:01:39.060 --> 00:01:42.219 faced with a decision that could have just ruined 00:01:42.219 --> 00:01:44.540 him. So what's the mission today? What are we 00:01:44.540 --> 00:01:46.319 trying to figure out? I think we're trying to 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:48.500 answer a question about power. You know, how 00:01:48.500 --> 00:01:51.200 does a local lawyer become a kingmaker? Right. 00:01:51.239 --> 00:01:54.379 And when the pressure is on like really on does 00:01:54.379 --> 00:01:57.140 a pillar of the community protect the law or 00:01:57.140 --> 00:01:59.079 does he protect the institution? That is the 00:01:59.079 --> 00:02:01.700 big question, because spoiler alert, there is 00:02:01.700 --> 00:02:04.079 a bank heist involved in this story. And the 00:02:04.079 --> 00:02:05.840 way it was handled is, well, it's not what they 00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:07.519 teach you in law school. Definitely not. OK, 00:02:07.640 --> 00:02:10.300 let's unpack this. We have to start at the beginning 00:02:10.300 --> 00:02:13.360 to understand the trajectory. Burt Linus Stafford, 00:02:13.479 --> 00:02:17.469 born December 14th, 1877. In Tynmouth, Vermont. 00:02:17.789 --> 00:02:20.310 Tynmouth. And for anyone who hasn't driven through 00:02:20.310 --> 00:02:23.370 rural New England, Tynmouth is small. Even today. 00:02:23.569 --> 00:02:26.650 Right. Back then, it was deeply rural. Bert is 00:02:26.650 --> 00:02:29.169 a local kid. He goes to Wallingford High School, 00:02:29.349 --> 00:02:33.349 then the Rutland Institute. He's smart, clearly. 00:02:33.629 --> 00:02:36.930 He gets into Middlebury College, class of 1901. 00:02:37.250 --> 00:02:39.490 And looking at his college days, he's already 00:02:39.490 --> 00:02:41.370 that guy. You know the one running the show. 00:02:41.590 --> 00:02:44.139 Oh, absolutely. Class president. member of the 00:02:44.139 --> 00:02:47.219 Delta Upsilon fraternity. He is checking every 00:02:47.219 --> 00:02:49.699 single box for future solid citizen. If you were 00:02:49.699 --> 00:02:52.199 betting on his life in 1901, you'd say, OK, he's 00:02:52.199 --> 00:02:53.900 going to take over the family farm, maybe run 00:02:53.900 --> 00:02:56.060 a general store and never leave the county. That 00:02:56.060 --> 00:02:58.860 was the standard path. Stay local, build slow. 00:02:59.340 --> 00:03:01.800 But this is where the first big twist happens. 00:03:01.979 --> 00:03:05.340 He graduates. Instead of going home, he packs 00:03:05.340 --> 00:03:07.680 a bag and joins the U .S. Office of Education. 00:03:07.960 --> 00:03:09.580 To go to the Philippines. To go to the Philippines. 00:03:10.090 --> 00:03:12.629 This is such a left turn. We have to contextualize 00:03:12.629 --> 00:03:15.969 this. It's 1901. What is even happening in the 00:03:15.969 --> 00:03:18.210 Philippines? It's a very volatile time. The Spanish 00:03:18.210 --> 00:03:20.349 -American War had just ended, and it transitioned 00:03:20.349 --> 00:03:22.189 immediately into the Philippine -American War. 00:03:22.550 --> 00:03:24.669 The U .S. was setting up a colonial government. 00:03:24.870 --> 00:03:27.750 So chaos. Total chaos. But the U .S. government 00:03:27.750 --> 00:03:30.330 had this initiative to establish a public school 00:03:30.330 --> 00:03:33.530 system there. They needed teachers. So they recruited 00:03:33.530 --> 00:03:36.479 these bright -eyed college grads. Right. They 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:38.500 were called the Thomasites, named after the transport 00:03:38.500 --> 00:03:41.280 ship, the USS Thomas, though Burt went on a different 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:44.120 vessel. But the point is, he signed up to go 00:03:44.120 --> 00:03:45.780 to the other side of the world. Just imagine 00:03:45.780 --> 00:03:47.719 the culture shock. He's a kid from the Green 00:03:47.719 --> 00:03:50.340 Mountains. He's used to snow, maple syrup, and, 00:03:50.379 --> 00:03:54.300 like, silence. And suddenly he's in Manila. The 00:03:54.300 --> 00:03:56.719 heat, the humidity, the smells, a completely 00:03:56.719 --> 00:03:59.479 different language, and all in a war zone context. 00:04:00.030 --> 00:04:01.849 It says a lot about his character. It speaks 00:04:01.849 --> 00:04:04.849 volumes. He wasn't risk -averse. He taught in 00:04:04.849 --> 00:04:08.330 Manila from 1901 to 1904. That's three years 00:04:08.330 --> 00:04:10.770 in the tropics. It wasn't a vacation. It was 00:04:10.770 --> 00:04:13.250 a grueling assignment. And it almost killed him. 00:04:13.330 --> 00:04:16.069 It did. The sources are clear he didn't come 00:04:16.069 --> 00:04:18.689 back because he was homesick. He came back because 00:04:18.689 --> 00:04:21.389 he got malaria. Which, in the early 20th century, 00:04:21.470 --> 00:04:24.189 was terrifying. Oh, yeah. We treat it easily 00:04:24.189 --> 00:04:27.670 now, but back then it was a recurring, debilitating, 00:04:27.810 --> 00:04:30.949 often fatal disease. It ravaged the American 00:04:30.949 --> 00:04:33.790 teachers there. Bert got hit so hard that he 00:04:33.790 --> 00:04:36.870 had to be medically evacuated. So biology forces 00:04:36.870 --> 00:04:39.629 his hand. He has to come home to Vermont to recover. 00:04:39.910 --> 00:04:42.629 And this is a huge what -if moment for me. How 00:04:42.629 --> 00:04:45.160 so? If he doesn't get sick, does he stay? Does 00:04:45.160 --> 00:04:47.379 he become a diplomat? Does he never set foot 00:04:47.379 --> 00:04:49.600 in a courtroom? It's very possible. The malaria 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:51.800 grounded him, literally. He returns to Vermont 00:04:51.800 --> 00:04:54.860 in 1904 to get his health back. But, and this 00:04:54.860 --> 00:04:57.610 is key. He doesn't use that as an excuse to slow 00:04:57.610 --> 00:04:59.870 down. Not at all. As soon as he can stand up, 00:04:59.889 --> 00:05:02.329 he pivots. He starts reading law. I love that 00:05:02.329 --> 00:05:05.009 phrase. It sounds so, I don't know, gentlemanly. 00:05:05.110 --> 00:05:07.829 It does, but it was a grind. Before law schools 00:05:07.829 --> 00:05:10.269 were mandatory, you apprenticed. Yeah. You found 00:05:10.269 --> 00:05:12.689 a firm, in his case Lawrence and Lawrence and 00:05:12.689 --> 00:05:15.009 Rutland, and you worked for them while memorizing 00:05:15.009 --> 00:05:18.009 statutes. It's hard, lonely work. But he was 00:05:18.009 --> 00:05:21.220 clearly a machine. He passes the bar in October 00:05:21.220 --> 00:05:24.220 1906. And this is where the timeline goes supersonic. 00:05:24.439 --> 00:05:26.759 I was looking at the dates and I actually had 00:05:26.759 --> 00:05:29.300 to double check them. He passes the bar in 1906. 00:05:29.480 --> 00:05:32.019 And in that same year, he gets elected to the 00:05:32.019 --> 00:05:34.120 Vermont House of Representatives. It's a sprint. 00:05:34.620 --> 00:05:37.019 Most people wait years to build a practice before 00:05:37.019 --> 00:05:39.680 running for office. Burt does both at the same 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:42.779 time. He represents Tynmouth in the legislature 00:05:42.779 --> 00:05:47.379 from 1906 to 1908. And he's not done. Two years 00:05:47.379 --> 00:05:49.660 later in 1910, he becomes the state's attorney 00:05:49.660 --> 00:05:52.860 for Rutland County. The chief prosecutor. He's 00:05:52.860 --> 00:05:54.980 the guy putting people in jail. He holds that 00:05:54.980 --> 00:05:58.420 job until 1915. And the moment he steps down 00:05:58.420 --> 00:06:00.259 from that... He becomes the mayor of Rutland. 00:06:00.420 --> 00:06:02.759 So from law student to running the entire city 00:06:02.759 --> 00:06:05.019 in less than 10 years. While recovering from 00:06:05.019 --> 00:06:07.500 a major tropical disease, basically. It suggests 00:06:07.500 --> 00:06:09.759 he was incredibly charismatic. You don't win 00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:12.120 that many elections that fast just by being smart. 00:06:12.379 --> 00:06:14.319 You have to be a guy people want to talk to. 00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:16.540 He must have been a master at the handshake, 00:06:16.600 --> 00:06:19.279 the town meeting, all of that. He was definitely 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:22.279 a joiner. The list of organizations he was involved 00:06:22.279 --> 00:06:26.810 in is exhausting just to read. Freemason. President 00:06:26.810 --> 00:06:29.209 of Rutland Rotary Club, chairman of the State 00:06:29.209 --> 00:06:31.410 Board of Education for six years. President of 00:06:31.410 --> 00:06:34.329 the Bar Association. Right. In that era, those 00:06:34.329 --> 00:06:36.490 weren't just hobbies. That was the infrastructure 00:06:36.490 --> 00:06:39.329 of power. The Rotary Club lunch was where business 00:06:39.329 --> 00:06:41.769 deals were made. The Masonic Lodge was where 00:06:41.769 --> 00:06:44.430 political alliances were formed. Burt made sure 00:06:44.430 --> 00:06:46.529 he was in every single room where a decision 00:06:46.529 --> 00:06:49.149 might happen. He was weaving a web. Exactly. 00:06:49.550 --> 00:06:52.569 He was making himself indispensable. If you had 00:06:52.569 --> 00:06:56.899 a problem in Rutland in, say, 1920, Burt Stafford 00:06:56.899 --> 00:06:58.740 was probably the guy you called or the guy who 00:06:58.740 --> 00:07:00.459 knew the guy you called. And when you have that 00:07:00.459 --> 00:07:03.079 kind of trust and that kind of network. You end 00:07:03.079 --> 00:07:05.360 up guarding the money. Naturally. You become 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:07.500 a bank director. And this brings us to the segment 00:07:07.500 --> 00:07:11.160 where the movie genre shifts. We go from inspiring 00:07:11.160 --> 00:07:15.019 biopic to financial thriller. We need to set 00:07:15.019 --> 00:07:17.560 the scene here. It's the early 1930s. The Great 00:07:17.560 --> 00:07:19.980 Depression. Right. Context is everything. The 00:07:19.980 --> 00:07:22.579 economy is in ruins. Banks are collapsing across 00:07:22.579 --> 00:07:25.360 the country. People are terrified. And if a rumor 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:28.860 starts that a bank is shaky, you get a run. People 00:07:28.860 --> 00:07:31.600 line up, demand their cash. The vault empties 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:35.199 out and the bank closes forever. Everyone is 00:07:35.199 --> 00:07:38.379 on edge. OK, so Bert Stafford is a trustee of 00:07:38.379 --> 00:07:41.060 the Marble Stavings Bank in Rutland. And the 00:07:41.060 --> 00:07:43.300 president of the bank is Charles Manley Smith. 00:07:43.740 --> 00:07:45.839 who, just to add to the stakes, later becomes 00:07:45.839 --> 00:07:48.779 the governor of Vermont. So you have the political 00:07:48.779 --> 00:07:51.699 and legal elite of the state running this one 00:07:51.699 --> 00:07:55.540 bank. And in May of 1932, right in the darkest 00:07:55.540 --> 00:07:57.879 part of the Depression, Charles Manley Smith 00:07:57.879 --> 00:08:00.819 finds discrepancy in the books. A discrepancy 00:08:00.819 --> 00:08:03.120 is putting it mildly. The bookkeeper, a guy named 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:05.339 John J. Coughlin, had been skimming. He had been 00:08:05.339 --> 00:08:07.680 embezzling. For a while. And the total came to 00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:11.199 $251 ,000. I ran that through an inflation calculator. 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:14.100 In today's money, that is roughly $5 .5 million. 00:08:14.379 --> 00:08:17.180 It's a massive fortune. For a small Vermont bank, 00:08:17.420 --> 00:08:19.800 it's an absolute catastrophe. So put yourself 00:08:19.800 --> 00:08:22.000 in that boardroom. You're Burt Stafford. You 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:24.680 are the former state's attorney. You are a pillar 00:08:24.680 --> 00:08:26.939 of the law. You just found out your employee 00:08:26.939 --> 00:08:30.480 stole $5 million. What do you do? Well, the law 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:32.600 is clear. You call the police. You have him arrested. 00:08:32.740 --> 00:08:34.860 You press charges. That is not what they did. 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:37.190 No. They look at the ledger. And they looked 00:08:37.190 --> 00:08:39.210 at the line of people standing in bread lines 00:08:39.210 --> 00:08:42.350 outside. And they made a calculation. They realized 00:08:42.350 --> 00:08:45.169 that if the news broke. Marble Savings Bank lost 00:08:45.169 --> 00:08:48.070 quarter million dollars. The public wouldn't 00:08:48.070 --> 00:08:50.210 care about insurance or surplus funds. They would 00:08:50.210 --> 00:08:52.190 panic. There would be a run on the bank. The 00:08:52.190 --> 00:08:55.730 bank would fail. Innocent people, farmers, shopkeepers, 00:08:55.850 --> 00:09:00.590 widows would lose everything. So Smith, Stafford 00:09:00.590 --> 00:09:02.690 and the other trustees decided that the truth 00:09:02.690 --> 00:09:05.389 was too dangerous. They chose the cover up. They 00:09:05.389 --> 00:09:08.509 fired Coughlin, the thief. But they let him walk 00:09:08.509 --> 00:09:11.950 away. No police, no handcuffs. They took the 00:09:11.950 --> 00:09:14.909 loss, charged it against the bank's surplus fund, 00:09:15.070 --> 00:09:18.129 basically their rainy day savings, and swore 00:09:18.129 --> 00:09:20.669 everyone to secrecy. It's incredible. They let 00:09:20.669 --> 00:09:23.090 a guy who sold a fortune just walk out the door 00:09:23.090 --> 00:09:24.669 because they were too afraid of the scandal? 00:09:25.090 --> 00:09:27.330 It's the noble lie. They convinced themselves 00:09:27.330 --> 00:09:29.570 they were doing it to save the town. And to be 00:09:29.570 --> 00:09:31.370 fair, they might have been right about the panic. 00:09:31.629 --> 00:09:34.710 But legally? Legally. It's a nightmare. And here's 00:09:34.710 --> 00:09:36.389 the part that I still can't wrap my head around. 00:09:36.629 --> 00:09:40.649 The cover -up worked for years. Nobody knew. 00:09:40.809 --> 00:09:44.649 From 1932 to 1935, it was a perfect secret. The 00:09:44.649 --> 00:09:48.429 bank stayed open. Coughlin stayed free. But then, 00:09:48.470 --> 00:09:52.330 Coughlin got cocky. He got arrogant. This is 00:09:52.330 --> 00:09:55.169 the human element you can never predict. John 00:09:55.169 --> 00:09:58.299 J. Coughlin. The man who silently stole a fortune 00:09:58.299 --> 00:10:01.539 decided in 1935 that he wanted to run for public 00:10:01.539 --> 00:10:03.779 office. You have to be kidding me. He announced 00:10:03.779 --> 00:10:06.139 his candidacy for city treasurer of Rutland. 00:10:06.299 --> 00:10:08.519 I'm great with money. Just ask my previous employer. 00:10:08.779 --> 00:10:12.360 I mean, wow. The audacity is breathtaking. He 00:10:12.360 --> 00:10:14.139 must have believed that Stafford and Smith were 00:10:14.139 --> 00:10:16.580 so terrified of the secret coming out that they 00:10:16.580 --> 00:10:18.700 would never say a word. He thought he had them 00:10:18.700 --> 00:10:21.120 hostage. But he forgot that politics is a full 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:23.899 contact sport. Exactly. He had political opponents. 00:10:24.259 --> 00:10:27.320 And this is a small town. Rumors float. Someone 00:10:27.320 --> 00:10:29.240 knew something. We don't know exactly who leaked 00:10:29.240 --> 00:10:31.519 it. But Coughlin's opponents found out why he 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:33.740 left the bank. And they weren't going to let 00:10:33.740 --> 00:10:35.960 an embezzler run the city treasury. So they leaped 00:10:35.960 --> 00:10:39.279 it to the press. And the dam broke. The headline 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:41.559 wasn't just about Coughlin. It was about the 00:10:41.559 --> 00:10:45.139 bank. The secret was out. And the fallout. Immediate 00:10:45.139 --> 00:10:48.210 chaos. Coughlin was arrested, convicted, and 00:10:48.210 --> 00:10:50.789 jailed. The bank's treasurer got a suspended 00:10:50.789 --> 00:10:54.289 sentence. But then the prosecutor turned his 00:10:54.289 --> 00:10:57.250 eyes toward the big fish. The men who hid the 00:10:57.250 --> 00:11:02.629 crime. The trustees. In December 1936, Burt Stafford, 00:11:02.669 --> 00:11:05.029 along with Governor Smith, who was the bank president, 00:11:05.289 --> 00:11:08.909 were charged with misprision of felony. Misprision. 00:11:08.950 --> 00:11:10.750 That's a term we don't hear often. It's an old 00:11:10.750 --> 00:11:13.240 common law concept. Basically, if you know a 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:15.059 felony has happened and you actively conceal 00:11:15.059 --> 00:11:17.580 it, you are committing a crime. You are obstructing 00:11:17.580 --> 00:11:19.580 justice. So here is Burt Stafford. He's been 00:11:19.580 --> 00:11:21.679 the mayor. He's been the state's attorney. He's 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:24.259 Mr. Respectable. And now he's sitting in a courtroom 00:11:24.259 --> 00:11:26.860 accused of helping cover up one of the biggest 00:11:26.860 --> 00:11:29.399 bank heists in state history. It must have been 00:11:29.399 --> 00:11:31.899 humiliating. It shattered that image of the perfect 00:11:31.899 --> 00:11:34.460 marble column. And remember, Smith is the sitting 00:11:34.460 --> 00:11:36.519 governor at this point. This is a constitutional 00:11:36.519 --> 00:11:40.259 crisis for Vermont. But they were powerful men. 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:43.419 And powerful men often have a different experience 00:11:43.419 --> 00:11:46.559 in court. That is the cynical but often accurate 00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:50.419 take. Governor Smith went to trial first. His 00:11:50.419 --> 00:11:53.759 defense was fascinating. He didn't deny hiding 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:56.559 the theft. So what was his argument? He argued 00:11:56.559 --> 00:11:59.399 he lacked corrupt intent. He argued that his 00:11:59.399 --> 00:12:01.840 motive was pure. He was saving the bank, not 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:03.820 helping the criminal. I broke the law to save 00:12:03.820 --> 00:12:05.899 the village. Essentially. And the jury bought 00:12:05.899 --> 00:12:07.960 it. Smith was acquitted. And once the governor 00:12:07.960 --> 00:12:10.139 walks. The prosecutor knows he can't win against 00:12:10.139 --> 00:12:12.659 the others. Following Smith's acquittal, the 00:12:12.659 --> 00:12:14.720 charges against Burt Stafford and the other trustees 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:17.539 were dismissed. Just like that. Case closed. 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:21.460 Legally, yes. But ethically, it's still debated. 00:12:21.720 --> 00:12:24.539 On one hand, they did save the bank. No depositor 00:12:24.539 --> 00:12:26.860 lost a dime. But on the other hand, they usurped 00:12:26.860 --> 00:12:29.059 the legal system. They decided they were the 00:12:29.059 --> 00:12:31.600 law. They decided a massive theft didn't need 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:33.559 to be punished if it was inconvenient for business. 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:36.120 It really highlights that too -big -to -fail 00:12:36.120 --> 00:12:39.220 mentality isn't new. We saw in 2008, but here 00:12:39.220 --> 00:12:42.419 it is in 1932 in Rutland, Vermont. It's the same 00:12:42.419 --> 00:12:45.000 logic. Protecting the institution matters more 00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:47.460 than punishing the crime. Now, Burt Stafford 00:12:47.460 --> 00:12:50.419 walked away free. But you have to imagine the 00:12:50.419 --> 00:12:53.379 toll this took on him. It was immense. We look 00:12:53.379 --> 00:12:55.720 at the medical records. During this period, the 00:12:55.720 --> 00:12:57.860 mid -1930s, while The Secret was live and then 00:12:57.860 --> 00:12:59.980 during the trial, Bert suffered three heart attacks. 00:13:00.360 --> 00:13:02.899 Three? And he kept working? He would collapse, 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:05.279 take some time, and go right back to the office. 00:13:05.399 --> 00:13:07.139 It goes back to that resilience we saw in the 00:13:07.139 --> 00:13:10.120 Philippines. He was tough. He refused to let 00:13:10.120 --> 00:13:12.240 the stress break him publicly. But physically, 00:13:12.340 --> 00:13:14.700 his body was keeping the score. It was. It eventually 00:13:14.700 --> 00:13:17.740 caught up with him. He died on July 29, 1941 00:13:17.740 --> 00:13:21.179 from a cerebral hemorrhage. He was only 64 years 00:13:21.179 --> 00:13:23.279 old. That feels young, especially for someone 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:26.240 so active. But while Bert's life ended there, 00:13:26.340 --> 00:13:28.700 the story doesn't really stop because we talked 00:13:28.700 --> 00:13:30.419 at the beginning about the Stafford dynasty. 00:13:30.860 --> 00:13:34.440 Right. Bert had married Mabel Rose Stratton back 00:13:34.440 --> 00:13:37.320 in 1911. They had three kids, Robert, Thomas, 00:13:37.399 --> 00:13:40.639 and Shirley. And Robert T. Stafford is the one 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:42.679 who really took the baton. Robert was born in 00:13:42.679 --> 00:13:45.779 1913, so he was in his early 20s when this whole 00:13:45.779 --> 00:13:48.179 bank scandal blew up. He had a front row seat. 00:13:48.460 --> 00:13:51.059 He saw his father navigate the heights of power 00:13:51.059 --> 00:13:54.009 and the depths of this scandal. And when Robert 00:13:54.009 --> 00:13:56.269 launched his own political career, he was standing 00:13:56.269 --> 00:13:59.149 on the foundation Burt built. The network. The 00:13:59.149 --> 00:14:01.289 network is everything. The Rotary Connections, 00:14:01.389 --> 00:14:04.149 the Masonic Brothers, the Bar Association colleagues. 00:14:04.809 --> 00:14:07.629 Even with the scandal, the name Stafford meant 00:14:07.629 --> 00:14:10.509 leadership in Rutland. Burt had accumulated so 00:14:10.509 --> 00:14:12.710 much social capital that he could pass it down 00:14:12.710 --> 00:14:14.789 like an inheritance. It's interesting. Robert 00:14:14.789 --> 00:14:17.210 went on to be governor, U .S. senator, a huge 00:14:17.210 --> 00:14:20.009 environmental champion. But his path was paved 00:14:20.009 --> 00:14:22.049 by his father's grit. and his father's ability 00:14:22.049 --> 00:14:23.769 to survive things that should have destroyed 00:14:23.769 --> 00:14:26.549 him. It adds so much texture to history. It does. 00:14:26.610 --> 00:14:28.629 We tend to think of senators as these inevitable 00:14:28.629 --> 00:14:31.909 forces. But Robert Stafford's career exists because 00:14:31.909 --> 00:14:35.210 Burt Stafford survived malaria in 1904 and survived 00:14:35.210 --> 00:14:39.370 a grand jury in 1936. It's all connected. So 00:14:39.370 --> 00:14:41.649 when we step back and look at the full picture 00:14:41.649 --> 00:14:44.970 of Burt L. Stafford, what's the takeaway? How 00:14:44.970 --> 00:14:47.490 should we remember him? I think he's a realistic 00:14:47.490 --> 00:14:51.049 portrait of how power actually works. He wasn't 00:14:51.049 --> 00:14:54.090 a cartoon hero and he wasn't a villain. He was 00:14:54.090 --> 00:14:58.269 a guy who showed up. He served his country in 00:14:58.269 --> 00:15:01.470 a war zone. He served his city, but he also operated 00:15:01.470 --> 00:15:04.269 in the gray areas. It's that complexity. He was 00:15:04.269 --> 00:15:06.169 willing to sacrifice his health for his job, 00:15:06.250 --> 00:15:08.370 but he was also willing to bend the law to save 00:15:08.370 --> 00:15:10.549 his bank. And that's the reality of leadership 00:15:10.549 --> 00:15:13.899 in a crisis. It's rarely black and white. It's 00:15:13.899 --> 00:15:16.340 usually a group of terrified men in a boardroom 00:15:16.340 --> 00:15:18.659 trying to figure out the least bad option. And 00:15:18.659 --> 00:15:21.379 sometimes the least bad option involves hiding 00:15:21.379 --> 00:15:24.960 a $5 million theft. Precisely. Before we wrap 00:15:24.960 --> 00:15:27.220 up, though, there is one thing that keeps nagging 00:15:27.220 --> 00:15:29.759 at me. It's a real sliding doors moment. What's 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:32.500 that? It's about Coughlin. The embezzler. The 00:15:32.500 --> 00:15:34.620 catalyst. The only reason we know any of this, 00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:37.559 the theft, the cover -up, the surplus fund manipulation, 00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:40.340 is because Coughlin decided to run for treasurer. 00:15:40.500 --> 00:15:42.399 That's true. If he had just taken his freedom, 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:45.700 moved to Florida, sat on a beach, and kept his 00:15:45.700 --> 00:15:49.299 mouth shut. Then the scandal never breaks. The 00:15:49.299 --> 00:15:52.399 surplus adjustment remains a boring line in a 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:55.519 ledger that no one ever checks. Burt Stafford 00:15:55.519 --> 00:15:57.840 is never charged. The governor never goes to 00:15:57.840 --> 00:15:59.929 court. And the history books would just list 00:15:59.929 --> 00:16:02.570 Burt as a spotless, perfect pillar of the community. 00:16:03.070 --> 00:16:06.009 No scandal attached. It's a sobering thought. 00:16:06.169 --> 00:16:08.330 It makes you wonder how many other respectable 00:16:08.330 --> 00:16:11.090 historical figures are just people whose secrets 00:16:11.090 --> 00:16:13.470 never got leaked. How many scandals are buried 00:16:13.470 --> 00:16:15.970 in the surplus funds of history? Probably more 00:16:15.970 --> 00:16:18.210 than we want to know. On that cheerful note, 00:16:18.309 --> 00:16:20.029 we're going to wrap up this deep dive into the 00:16:20.029 --> 00:16:22.809 life of Burt L. Stafford. From the jungles of 00:16:22.809 --> 00:16:25.690 Manila to the courtrooms of Rutland, what a ride. 00:16:25.929 --> 00:16:28.490 A fascinating life indeed. Thanks for listening. 00:16:28.649 --> 00:16:30.070 We'll catch you on the next deep dive.