Steven Fenberg
“We must embrace the power of good government.”
Editorial by Steven Fenberg
S
teven Fenberg is the Emmy Award-winning executive producer and co-writer of Brother, Can You Spare a Billion? The Story of Jesse H. Jones, the PBS documentary narrated by Walter Cronkite about the man who throughout the Great Depression and World War II was the most powerful person in the nation next to President Franklin Roosevelt. Fenberg also wrote Unprecedented Power: Jesse Jones, Capitalism and the Common Good, the award-winning biography about Jones and his leadership of the federal government’s Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC).
Fenberg tells institutional stories through books, films, exhibits, articles and presentations that help organizations fulfill their missions. Recently, he completed for Houston Endowment’s new headquarters a permanent interactive exhibit about the foundation’s history and its benefactors Jesse H. and Mary Gibbs Jones. Fenberg wrote and directed Remarkable Experiences, a short film showing how the 1966 opening of the Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts galvanized the performing arts in Houston. Ever Open, another short film he wrote and directed, commemorates the 1944 establishment of Congregation Emanu El, a Reform synagogue in Houston perpetuating Jewish values, particularly freedom of speech and social justice. For AIDS Foundation Houston, Fenberg wrote and produced AIDS: Just Say Know, an educational play performed throughout greater Houston in theaters, community centers, workplaces, churches and synagogues, and as in-service training for teachers and law- enforcement officials. For many years, Fenberg managed community relations and produced annual reports for Houston Endowment, the philanthropic foundation established by Jesse H. and Mary Gibbs Jones in 1937 that continues to serve the people of greater Houston.
Fenberg and his partner Harry De Jonge divide their time between their home by the Brazos River in Texas and their apartment in Amsterdam.
Showcase
HOUSTON ENDOWMENT
Legacy Room
See the interactive Legacy Room at Houston Endowment’s new state-of-the-art headquarters. Six screens show rotating images on walls covered in photographic murals, a touchscreen displays historic images and a timeline celebrates the Joneses and the foundation’s history.
FRIENDS OF JONES HALL
Remarkable Experiences
See in nine minutes the evolution of the performing arts in Houston through the 1966 opening of the Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, which was home to the Houston Ballet, the Houston Grand Opera, the Houston Symphony and Performing Arts Houston.
UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON
HOBBY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Interview
Watch Dean Jim Granato and Steven Fenberg explore how the federal government’s Reconstruction Finance Corporation expanded the U.S. economy during the Great Depression, transformed industry in time to win World War II and how the RFC’s successful strategies can be adapted to address today’s challenges.
UNPRECEDENTED POWER:
Jesse Jones, Capitalism and the Common Good
steven fenberg
“A must-read for those wanting to learn how a great nation—and a great man—can respond to difficult challenges.”
James A. Baker III
61st U.S. Secretary of State
“Steven Fenberg has given us a wonderful biography of a man who played a critical role in the most tumultuous years of the American Century, bringing Jones back to vivid life.”
Jon Meacham
Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian
UNPRECEDENTED POWER:
Jesse Jones, Capitalism and the Common Good
steven fenberg
“A must-read for those wanting to learn how a great nation—and a great man—can respond to difficult challenges.”
James A. Baker III
61st U.S. Secretary of State
“Steven Fenberg has given us a wonderful biography of a man who played a critical role in the most tumultuous years of the American Century, bringing Jones back to vivid life.”
Jon Meacham
Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian
