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Banking in Oklahoma, 1907–2000 by Michael J. Hightower

2016; Southern Historical Association; Volume: 82; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/soh.2016.0035

2325-6893

Houston Faust Mount,

Cuban History and Society

Reviewed by: Banking in Oklahoma, 1907–2000 by Michael J. Hightower Houston Mount Banking in Oklahoma, 1907–2000. By Michael J. Hightower. Foreword by Frank Keating. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2014. Pp. [xvii], 482. $29.95, ISBN 978-0-8061-4495-5.) This book about financial history is the second volume by Michael J. Hightower on this subject, picking up where Banking in Oklahoma Before Statehood (Norman, Okla., 2013) concludes. Although 1907 marked the end of the territorial era for Oklahoma, the story of banking since statehood as described by Hightower includes a cast of characters and dramatic tension that would not be out of place in a classic Hollywood western. First, there were the staid and respectable conservative bankers who extended credit for economic development, promoted scientific agricultural methods among their farmer customers, and helped hardworking Oklahomans build their state. Then there were the outlaws, like Belle Starr’s nephew Henry Starr and Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd, who preyed on bankers and farmers alike. Other equally colorful but less violent miscreants were found in the ranks of the bankers themselves, some of whom saw dollar signs in the frequent fossil fuel booms that the state experienced. From the failure of the Columbia Bank and Trust Company of Oklahoma City in 1909 to the epic collapse of Penn Square Bank in 1982, readers may ask who was the more insidious bandit: the one who wore the mask and carried the sixshooter, or the one who wore the business suit? And finally, what western is complete without the intrepid lawmen, establishing order for respectable society while dispensing justice to the errant? First there were the literal posses, such as the vigilance committees that the Oklahoma Bankers Association formed in the 1920s to combat bank robberies. But one also finds less likely heroes, such as national bank examiner Steve Plunk, who finally brought down the curtain on the Penn Square Bank debacle in the early 1980s. While these dramatic episodes help push along the narrative, the book also describes the larger economic forces that transformed Oklahoma from a frontier state to a fully integrated member of the national economy. An experiment with guaranteed deposits for state-chartered banks, the rise of the [End Page 202] Oklahoma oil industry, the New Deal and the birth of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the post–World War II boom, the oil crises of the 1970s, the oil bust of the mid-1980s, the savings and loan crisis, the electronics revolution, and the Internet all figure as important events shaping the way banking was done in the state. The state’s hesitant acceptance of branch banking after decades of allegiance to unit banking also proves a significant element of the story. An important analytical framework that Hightower develops involves perceived tensions between democracy and capitalism. The rights of citizens as depositors and taxpayers seemed to conflict with unfettered capitalism when the bad behavior of some bankers resulted in one of the many bank failures related in the text. However, respectable bankers often paid for the sins of others when regulations aimed at preventing abuses by the few proved burdensome for the many. Hightower’s approach in Banking in Oklahoma, 1907–2000 is essentially chronological, dividing the volume into three parts that roughly correspond with the early, middle, and late twentieth century. His research is well grounded in trade periodicals, newspaper reports, archival documents, and personal interviews. The interviews are particularly valuable for his treatment of the late twentieth century. Readers with a general interest in economic history and a particular interest in Oklahoma history will especially appreciate this work. Houston Mount East Central University Copyright © 2016 The Southern Historical Association