Book Reviews The Presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes. By KENNETH E. DAVISON. (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, Inc., 1972. xiii + 266p.; illustrations, notes, and index. $12.00.) In his account of the Hayes presidency, Professor Davison has attempted to correct the interpretation of the Gilded Age as an era of ruthless plunder depicted by Parring- ton, Beard, Josephson, Twain, and others. He portrays Hayes as a decent, high-prin- cipled, experienced statesman, a unifier, pacifier, and reformer. He views the Hayes administration amid years of turbulence when workers, blacks, Indians, middle-class factions, and ethnic minorities found them- selves involved in social and economic up- heavals resulting from an expanding econ- omy. A revisionist, the author tries to present a more balanced interpretation based on accurate data, one that attempts to arouse our sympathy for Hayes and his administration. The book is a model of compact erudi- tion. In less than 250 highly factual pages we have a superb portrait of a much ne- glected president and his administration. The book is more than a political narrative. Some chapters depict United States society in an age of transformation and complexity. Others discuss major problems and policies: racial strife, civil rights, politics, Indian af- fairs, the role of the chief executive, the money question, labor upheavals, and the development of a foreign policy which sought to maintain American prosperity through expanded foreign markets. In these chapters, the author's informative data and primary source material constitute a valu- able source book for students of the period. Some readers would want more material on racial, ethnic, and labor problems with critical interpretation. This was not the author's main intention. There are num- erous minor insights, interpretations, and factual materials illuminating the plight of |
blacks, Chinese, Indians, and other minori- ties as Hayes attempted to resolve almost insoluble social and economic problems. Hayes emerges as a harmonizer and ex- cellent administrator concerned with polit- ical, economic, and social issues. Even though he was unable to cope with up- heavals beyond his understanding, he at- tempted with his administrators to alleviate the country's burdens after years of strife and reconstruction. Though convinced of the supremacy of middle-class capitalism, he was perturbed by American capitalism's development and feared what large concen- trations of wealth in the hands of a few would do to America. He was sympathetic to analyses by such social critics as Henry George, Mark Twain, and William Dean Howells. There are anecdotes and seemingly in- significant materials on personalities, pets, and travel in this book. These details, how- ever, help to evoke an era and add a human element to these years. There is some un- evenness in structure, but the scholarship is impeccable, and we are presented with a view of Hayes and his times that seems satisfactory though incomplete. One hopes that the author will elaborate in future works the themes he has begun to expound so well in this book. ARTHUR W. THURNER DePaul University The Presidency of William Howard Taft. By PAOLO E. COLETTA. (Lawrence: Univer- sity Press of Kansas, 1973. ix + 306p.; notes, sources, and index. $10.00.) According to textbook stereotype, the Taft administration was an unfortunate and re- actionary interlude between two reform presidencies. Theodore Roosevelt has been |