Suzanne Fields on the Monuments Men leaves out an interesting local note.
The effort to preserve cultural treasures was created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt who appointed Supreme Court Justice Owen Roberts to head a commission known as the Roberts Commission. The Commission created a Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives section unit of over 300 men and women who helped identify the treasures. The MFAA worked with Eisenhower and the military to collect and preserve the artworks.
Roberts was born in Philadelphia and went to Penn and Penn law school. Unlike many justices who stayed until they died, Roberts left the Supreme Court to become dean of the Penn law school from 1948-1951. He was dean during the same three years that my father, Sam, went to Penn law school.