Ohio History Journal

Book Reviews

 

 

The Politics of Community: Migration and Politics in Antebellum Ohio. By

Kenneth J. Winkle. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988. xiii +

239p.; notes, tables, bibliography, index. $32.50.)

This interesting, but ultimately unsatisfying, book probes an apparent

contradiction in the findings of modern political and social historians of the

mid-nineteenth century. Studies of electoral behavior in various constituen-

cies, in Ohio and elsewhere, show an amazing stability in the proportion of the

aggregate vote given to each party from one election to the next; the new social

history reveals that the population was highly mobile and that the individuals

who made up the aggregate figures were not the same from one year to the

next. Dr. Winkle's most important contribution is to use some Ohio township

pollbooks to demonstrate that the annual turnover of population was even

greater than census material alone suggests: "After every election, up to

one-third of all voters might leave a community, only to be replaced before the

next election by as many or more new voters. Over an entire decade, the local

electorate might turn over almost completely" (p. 177). How then was it

possible for townships to continue preferring the same political party by

roughly the same proportion from one decade to the next?

The answer developed here is that each community was dominated by a core

of persisters, who may have been outnumbered by transient voters but who

held public office and commanded the electoral process. In particular, the core

community could exploit the law requiring each voter to prove his legal

residence in state, county and township, if challenged at the polls. The law was

slowly evolving until by 1878 a voter could vote in the township he chose, but

in the 1840s and 1850s the old concept of "consensual suffrage" still survived,

which allowed the local community to decide who was resident in its voting

district. Hence newcomers and migrant laborers could be excluded from voting

by local judges of elections, especially if the supremacy of the locally dominant

party was being challenged. The transient voter therefore was allowed to vote

only on sufferance.

The trouble with this appealing argument is that it gives a misleading

impression of antebellum elections. The main evidence presented of a long

history of wrangling over residence rules is based on poor-law cases, when

townships fought to avoid granting "settlement" to newly-arrived paupers;

yet refusal of residence for that purpose did not imply refusal for voting

(p. 195 n. 4). The author assumes that elections were originally meant to be

"meetings" of the community, though that had never been true in Ohio, except

in the case of the April township elections. There was much concern to ensure

that only locals voted in these latter elections since they could affect township

taxation, but Dr. Winkle concentrates entirely on the October elections for

national, state and county office when precise place of voting was rather less

important. The author makes splendid use of a disputed election in Wayne

County in 1846 which could determine the balance of power in the state senate,

but he does not see how unusual that election was; he is wrong to assume that

the sifting of voters on that occasion was "presumably commonplace" (p.

155). In the first decades of the century newcomers were eagerly welcomed,

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Book Reviews                                                   75

 

and voters were challenged more on the grounds of citizenship than of

residence. Even the migrant farm laborers described by David E. Schob in

Hired Hands and Plowboys (1975; not cited here) were customarily allowed to

vote, as were some 5,000 canal-diggers in the 1828 Presidential election.

Admittedly thereafter the increase in immigration prompted stricter rules on

residence, but this did not stop most new arrivals from voting-as the large

number of one-time voters enumerated by Dr. Winkle in the 1850s illustrates.

Even so, the paradox between voter persistence and social mobility remains.

Dr. Winkle is surely right to emphasize the leadership advantages of the core

community, but he needs to make more allowance for fluctuating participation

rates and for the existence of national party loyalties even among the

geographically mobile: to what extent did they make for communities that were

culturally and politically congenial to them, so that their arrival and departure

made little difference to the balance of power in that constituency? Moreover,

the pollbook evidence (which is quite extensive, even before the 1840s)

requires more thorough exploration: eight townships during one decade are not

a sufficient base to build a thesis on, especially when only one of the townships

represents Ohio south of a line drawn from Youngstown to Greenville!

 

University of Durham                             Donald J. Ratcliffe

 

 

The Road to Respectability: James A. Garfield and His World, 1844-1852. By

Hendrik Booraem, V. (Cranbury, New Jersey: Bucknell University Press,

1988. 301p.; illustrations, maps, appendix, notes, bibliography, index.

$37.50.)

Why should anyone want to write (or, for that matter, read) the biography of

a teenager, even if he would grow up to be president of the United States?

Because adolescence has been for too long the exclusive property of novelists.

It is time that historians had their turn. The problem is that adolescence is an

unmapped country, lacking the wealth of documentation that grown-up events

carry. Until recently young people were expected to be seen but not heard,

which made it especially difficult to penetrate their inner life.

Hendrik Booraem's decision to use James A. Garfield as an exemplar of

coming-of-age in nineteenth century America circumvents some of these

problems. For one thing, young Garfield was exceptionally articulate, leaving

behind an extensive paper trail of diaries and letters. For another, his

subsequent fame would cause this paper to be preserved by its recipients, along

with their memories of the most famous person who had once touched their

lives.

Young Garfield grew up in Ohio's Western Reserve just as it was undergoing

the momentous transition from frontier life to settled society. The chief virtue

of this smoothly written, extensively researched study is how well it conveys

a unique sense of place, creating a touching and evocative portrait of a

long-vanished lifestyle. From its pages the reader learns how a canal boat

operated, what a district schoolhouse was like, how homes were built and food

prepared. In short, this is not merely biography; it is descriptive social history

at its best, recreating the gritty texture of the world in which young Garfield

moved and lived.

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76                                                  OHIO HISTORY

 

The difficulties of such research are well known to anyone who has

attempted it. Sources are scattered, ephemeral and fragmentary. From them

emerges a striking picture of a dirt-poor boy, left fatherless at an early age, who

rises above his crude environment by dint of intellect and ambition. Put so

simply, it sounds like a story by Horatio Alger (who did, in fact, write it, as

From Canal Boy to President). But Booraem's massively detailed account

reveals the ambiguities and cross-currents of the American Dream to an extent

that Alger's edifying fable could not.

Seldom can so much scholarly effort have been lavished on describing the

life of a schoolboy. Yet, even so, much of young Garfield's life remains obscure

and has to be reconstructed by guesswork. Most of the time it is convincing but

at some points it is not. For example, Booraem argues that Garfield and his

mother briefly relocated to Michigan when he was eleven years old. The basis

for this conjecture is a remark in Garfield's adult diary that "When I was ten

years of age I had never travelled fifteen miles from home." From that,

Booraem concludes that when Garfield was eleven he must have travelled far

from home, to wit: Michigan. Another possible reading of this diary entry,

however, would undermine that conclusion. Garfield had just seen his ten-

year-old son off on a trip. The quoted words could be interpreted as contrasting

his own limited experience at age ten to the wider world enjoyed by his son. If

so, the Michigan conjecture collapses.

Such eagerness to jump to conclusions renders suspect other conjectures,

such as the one that Garfield's mother remarried shortly after her husband

died. All that Booraem has to go on is a cryptic string of initials in Garfield's

"Genealogical Notes." Booraem may had decoded them correctly, but one's

confidence would be greater if he could bolster his conclusion with more solid

supporting evidence.

Nonetheless, despite reservations that could be expressed on this point or

that, this is a generally convincing and never less than fascinating reconstruc-

tion of the lost world of Ohio's Western Reserve and the early life of its most

famous citizen.

 

Cleveland State University                            Allan Peskin

 

 

Letters of Delegates to Congress 1774-1789, Volume 13: June 1-September 30,

1779. Edited by Paul H. Smith, Gerard W. Gawalt, and Ronald M. Gephart.

(Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1986. xxvii + 647p.; editorial

method and apparatus, acknowledgments, chronology of Congress, list of

delegates to Congress, illustrations, notes, index. $27.00.)

Letters of Delegates to Congress 1774-1789, Volume 14: October 1, 1779-

March 31, 1780. Edited by Paul H. Smith, Gerard W. Gawalt, and Ronald M.

Gephart. (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1987. xxix + 600p.;

editorial method and apparatus, acknowledgments, chronology of Congress,

list of delegates to Congress, notes, index. $28.00.)

Nowadays talented and ambitious people sometimes lament that they cannot

get themselves elected to Congress, that they are frozen out by circumstances

of one kind or another. But it appears that this yearning for a congressional seat

has not been equally intense in every period of our nation's history. In the late

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Book Reviews                                                   77

 

1770s, for instance, not a few members of Congress lamented-and not a few

times either-that they had been unlucky enough to be selected for congres-

sional service by their respective state legislatures. Localism in the America of

that era was very strong, and so most people simply did not like the idea of

leaving home for any extended period of time. Nor was there much to lure

them or to keep them lured. The "perks" for delegates to Congress in those

days were precious few. These two weighty tomes make that very clear.

Like many another human being before and since, Cornelius Harnett of

North Carolina had a way of feeling unappreciated, undercompensated, and

overburdened. When he wrote his letter of October 9, 1779, to fellow delegate

Thomas Burke, Harnett was feeling particularly weary and just plain worn out.

"For Gods sake come on to relieve me in Novr., but at farthest the very

beginning of December & make that Domestic creature Whitmell Hill come

with you." As things turned out, the aforementioned "Domestic creature,"

Whitmell Hill, apparently knowing when he was well-off, decided to merely

stay put. Consequently, Hill did not attend Congress at all in the time-frame

covered by these two volumes, though he had been elected to do so. The nearly

desperate Harnett continued to implore: "Send some body or Other to relieve

me & let me, for Gods sake, take my leave of this Laborious, disagreeable,

& perhaps unthankfull Office for ever" (Volume 14, pp. 50-51).

Every delegate to Congress was different from every other, to be sure, but

in some ways Harnett was almost a fitting symbol of that body as a whole. For

it was a body that hardly wanted to exist, one compelled by sheerest necessity

to deal with circumstances that seemed ever to be beyond its power to control.

Would the British make peace and, if so, on what terms? Could the often

asserted American right to the North Atlantic fisheries be maintained? What

could be done about the soaring prices, the profiteering, and the rapid

depreciation of the currency? How could the various states be encouraged to

make speedy payment of their apportioned shares of the $15,000,000 per month

that Congress was now calling for? Could the army be kept together through

the winter? Even Samuel Huntington of Connecticut, the president of Con-

gress and the person who held that post longer than anyone else except for

John Hancock, was fearful that a respectable American fighting force might not

even exist when the time for the next spring offensive rolled around. Such were

the uncertainties of the hour.

There is much of value in these some 1,250 pages, indeed thousands upon

thousands of discrete facts that will help future scholars round out the public

careers and even, to some degree, the private lives of their several subjects.

And it is for such rather specific reference and research purposes that these

well-edited and attractively produced volumes will mainly be used. But these

documents, when taken together as a whole, also serve a broader and no less

vital purpose. They raise some very interesting and historiographically signif-

icant questions about many of the interpretations of the Revolutionary era

posited by historians of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. For example,

the patrician George Bancroft, probably the greatest American historian in the

first century after independence, always professed to see a lot of patriotism

motivating the nation's founders. While one does encounter some evidence of

patriotism in these many pages, one encounters a whole host of other things as

well-frustration, bickering, posturing, self-assertiveness, outraged innocence,

in short nearly the full range of human emotion and motivation. Bernard Bailyn

of our own late twentieth century has made a considerable reputation arguing

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78                                                  OHIO HISTORY

 

that the Revolution was largely the product of forces ideological and intellec-

tual. But one does find much material here that would particularly bolster

Bailyn's thesis about a generation of Americans who were highly ideologized.

After reading these documents, one wonders if our historians all the way from

Bancroft to Bailyn and beyond have not been guilty of imposing a far neater

structure on Revolutionary reality than ever existed.

The main point, then, seems to be that the documents in these volumes and

in the series as a whole might well lead us to question our old interpretations

of the Revolution and to formulate some new ones. There is a vast complexity

here, and there are perhaps a thousand themes. At times, there appear to be

about as many perspectives on the Revolution as there are members of

Congress. Where are all those unifying motifs of which historians are so

enamored? People seem to have gotten along back in 1779 and 1780 in just

about the way most people get along now-not by the sustenance provided by

grand themes but rather from day to day to day and often by hanging on to hope

when that is about all they have left to hang on to. Perhaps Gouverneur Morris

phrased it about as well as anybody, this feeling felt by so many of those who

served: "We hope much, expect much and are Certain of this only That every

Thing in this World is uncertain" (Volume 14, p. 98).

In brief, these two volumes continue a distinguished and highly serviceable

series that was inaugurated some years ago by the Library of Congress as its

own kind of scholarly and lasting commemoration of the "Bicentennial Era."

When the more superficial forms of celebration are over, when the last

fireworks have lighted up the sky, and when the din in due course has finally

subsided, these volumes documenting disordered lives will still be around to

inform, to enlighten, to entertain, and, perhaps most of all, to raise their

questions. Now that is almost something worth shouting about.

 

Marquette University                                 Robert P. Hay

 

 

A Time for Giants: The Politics of the American High Command In World War

II. By D. Clayton James. (New York: Franklin Watts, 1987. xvi + 371p.;

illustration, notes, bibliography, index. $19.95.)

To almost anyone over the age of 45, the names resonate with familiarity:

Eisenhower, MacArthur, Halsey, Patton, Arnold, Nimitz, and Marshall. Other

names of less public reknown but crucially important to American military

leadership strike ready recognition to those well read on World War II: Ernest

J. King, George C. Kenney, Omar N. Bradley, Joseph Stilwell, Carl A. Spaatz,

Raymond Spruance, and A. Archer Vandegrift. D. Clayton James has identi-

fied these men, along with William D. Leahy, Mark W. Clark, Ira C. Eaker,

and Holland M. Smith, as key figures in the American high command of World

War II.

James seeks to answer the question: "how did American high commanders

... attain their lofty positions of authority" (p. xiii)? He sees the war as a time

for giants, and the test of the American military system was to provide giants

equal to the occasion. The author chose these eighteen using a criteria which

included the importance of the position they held, their achievements, con-

temporary assessment of their performances, postwar recognition and leader-

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Book Reviews                                                     79

 

ship, but most importantly, reliance on his twenty years as a military historian.

His subjects all held posts at a level higher than that of a numerically

designated army, fleet, or air force, except George C. Patton, Jr., commander

of the Third Army. James' leaders were partially selected to reflect the relative

wartime strength of each of the armed forces. Consequently, he includes seven

army generals, five admirals, four Army Air Force generals, and two Marine

generals.

As implied in the title, James examines the process by which these men came

to high command to see if they rose by merit, or whether political influence

counted more than ability. He concludes that "without exception" they

received their appointments "by being the best qualified and most experienced

officers available for the jobs at the time" (p. 268). The generals and admirals

shared several common characteristics, including lengthy service (an average

of thirty-five years), graduation from the two service academies (thirteen of

eighteen), attendance at the higher level military schools, and frequent

personal and professional contact during the interwar years. They were

sufficiently capable that only one of them, Joseph Stilwell, was relieved of his

position, and Stilwell fell prey to national and international politics, not

incompetence.

Beyond these common characteristics, but briefly reviewed in a short last

chapter, James discovers no consistent pattern or stated policy for selecting

high commanders. He sees "a process of natural selection," coupled with

"chance or luck" (p. 51). He need not be faulted for failure to find consistency

if there was none, but his approach works against identifying general patterns.

A Time for Giants is a series of brief sketches, largely anecdotal and based

chiefly on secondary sources. Little new is revealed on the conduct of the war.

Its organization leads to confusion and repetition. Each of the first nine

chapters is tripartite, with the first section quickly reviewing strategic ques-

tions as they bore on American command needs, and the latter two providing

biographical overviews of two commanders selected to meet those needs. The

chapters proceed chronologically from 1941 to 1945, shifting alternately from

the European to Pacific theaters. This approach inevitably creates backtrack-

ing and reiteration, and sometimes perplexity.

Perhaps we have come to expect too much of D. Clayton James, a

meticulous, critical, astute historian of American military affairs. Certainly his

larger theme is timely for there is sufficient distance from the war and adequate

secondary work to evaluate the performance of the giants who led American

forces to victory in 1945. This book is an earnest attempt at evaluation but falls

short in its conception.

 

University of Missouri-St. Louis                       Jerry Cooper

 

 

Witness to Gettysburg. By Richard Wheeler. (New York: Harper & Row,

Publishers, 1987. xii + 273p.; illustrations, maps, quotation sources, sup-

plementary references, index. $19.95.)

Because of the continued appeal to readers of the Battle of Gettysburg, the

author begins with the contention that he probably does not have to justify

producing yet another book about it. Still he feels compelled to follow this

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80                                                  OHIO HISTORY

 

half-apology with a claim of innovation: he promises a story written as much as

possible in the words of participants. He carries out his plan by inserting

frequent, lengthy quotations into his narrative history. Having alluded to the

vast previous literature of Gettysburg, he bases his book on only a limited

sampling of it. For example, his list of "Supplementary References" does not

include Edwin B. Coddington's incomparable The Gettysburg Campaign

(1968). He does, however, quote from many of the familiar military witnesses,

including P. Regis de Trobriand and Frank A. Haskell of the Union Army,

James Longstreet and John B. Gordon among the Confederates. He also has

attempted to find less often reprinted sources, the most unusual of which are

the accounts of several civilians who lived near Gettysburg. The author claims

to have checked all the quoted matter for factual accuracy and credibility and

to have indicated the deletion of any misleading statements. Nonetheless, since

the contemporary witnesses recorded their observations at varying times

ranging from just after the event to a quarter century or more later, there are

differences among them in outlook and tone. Readers who may wish to look for

the quotations in their original context will not find it easy. Because the book

substitutes for footnotes only an alphabetical list of "Quotation Sources," one

cannot always determine even the book which contains a given quotation.

The contents of Wheeler's book are broader than its title suggests. It is at

least a partial history of the Confederate invasion of the North as well as an

account of that campaign's major battle. Beginning with Robert E. Lee's plan

to shift the fighting from Virginia, Witness to Gettysburg treats in some detail

the preliminary cavalry battle at Brandy Station, the Confederate capture of

Winchester with a large part of its garrison, cavalry fights near Aldie, and the

initial movements of the invading army into Maryland and Pennsylvania. More

than two fifths of the book are gone before its author turns to the events of the

first day of the Battle of Gettysburg. The familiar theme of his mainly

chronological account of the battle is that repeated successes had made Lee

and his Confederates overconfident-a contention well supported by the

description of their almost reckless approach to Gettysburg-while on the

other hand the Northern troops, able to stand on the defensive, were

determined to win while on their own soil. Except for a lack of detail on the

related cavalry fights, there is adequate attention to the battle's principal

events. Happily the account of the arguably decisive second day of fighting is

not overshadowed by that of the third day's Pickett's Charge. But in contrast

to the full treatment of the beginning of the invasion, the history of the battle's

aftermath is oddly abbreviated, with no quotations on the actions associated

with the Confederate recrossing of the Potomac.

Presumably this book is not intended for Civil War specialists; certainly its

usefulness is marginal to anyone who has read much about the subject. For the

general reader, however, it may well be helpful and indeed appealing.

Wheeler's style, honed in writing several similar works, is felicitous. His facts

are mainly correct-though General Robert H. Milroy was not "an old-time

United States Army regular" (p. 41). The supplementary material is also

mostly good. There are many well chosen drawings from nineteenth century

sources, including striking portraits of the principal leaders. Except for the lack

of a general chart of southern Pennsylvania, the maps sufficiently illustrate the

text. If only the index had entries subdivided so as to make it possible to find

specific regiments from each state, it too would be fine. For anyone who knows

little about the Gettysburg campaign, Wheeler's book with its focus upon

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Book Reviews                                                     81

 

human interest and its sense of immediacy could be a good introduction to

North America's biggest battle.

 

Kent State University                                Frank L. Byrne

 

 

Police, Prison, and Punishment: Major Historical Interpretations. Edited by

Kermit L. Hall. (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1987. xiv + 750p.;

notes. $110.00.)

This book is so disappointing primarily because Kermit Hall is such a

respected historian within the field of criminal justice history. Indeed, a major

problem with this compilation of articles is that there is so little evidence of any

work by Professor Hall, including as an editor. The subtitle, "Major Historical

Interpretations," also is misleading, for many of the articles contained therein

do not meet that expectation.

Professor Hall's thin three-page introduction provides no good clue regard-

ing his choice of articles, except for the unfounded claim that they "deal with

the evolution of both theory and practice within the criminal justice system"

(p. xiii). It would have been helpful if he told us how they fulfilled that

criterion, but in fact he supplies no comment or analysis of the selected

articles. Furthermore, he arranged the articles in alphabetical order according

to the author's name, which forces the reader to jump about the book to

compare similar topics. A simple division of the twenty-six articles into three

main sections-Police (six articles), Prisons (fourteen articles), and Punish-

ment (six articles)-with Professor Hall's discussion of their differences and

relative merits seems to me a minimum obligation of an editor.

This is especially the case since several of his selections lead this reader to

wonder why they were chosen. Who would want to read "The Waukesha

County Jail-Building, Administration, Inmates: 1901-1904," by Elizabeth

Brown? Ms. Brown claimed that "This study was shaped by the available

facts" (p. 263)-i.e., a Jail Register found for this period-but because she

could not provide any broader framework, she acknowledged that her article

"... must stand in isolation, and any conclusions must be of a guarded,

tentative nature" (p. 264). Similarly, Professor Hall does not share with us his

reason to include John P. Resch, "Ohio Adult Penal System, 1850-1900,"

originally published in Ohio History (1972). This selection even includes

pictures of all of Ohio's wardens during this period, thus demonstrating the

compiler's dogged determination not to exclude anything, including the

original page numbers. Because each article was reproduced as it initially

appeared, the variance in type-setting is impressive.

It must be admitted that Professor Hall did a lot of searching. He presents

pieces from the state historical societies of California, Georgia, Louisiana,

New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee, and from the

Law Reviews of Wayne State, Louisiana State, Cincinnati, and Cleveland

State. Interestingly, Francis A. Allen's "The Decline of the Rehabilitative

Ideal in American Criminal Justice," must have been published in the

Cleveland State Law Review on the basis of a tape recording, since the first

paragraph acknowledges that the author is presenting his "interim report"

without benefit of a printed text (p. 1).

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82                                                  OHIO HISTORY

 

State historical journals, as any reader of this review would agree, provide

important insights into their state's history, and frequently publish first-rate

studies. The same is true for the law reviews at places such as Cleveland State.

But Professor Hall has shown that they do not often get the chance to print

major historical interpretations in the field of criminal justice history.

Professor Hall also has preserved several very old pieces, including a paper

read by Harry Elmer Barnes before the New York State Historical Society in

1920, and it is safe to say that the interpretations are dated. Two classics by

Blake McKelvey, published in the 1920s, however, are still worth reading,

although they should have been grouped for comparative purposes with articles

on similar themes.

Finally, the compiler does include some familiar major interpretations, such

as David Brion Davis, "The Movement to Abolish Capital Punishment in

America, 1787-1861," originally published in the American Historical Review

in 1957. Specialists in the study of law enforcement also will be pleased to find

important works by Mark Haller, Wilbur Miller, and James Richardson. But

these offerings are not enough, and not just in the obvious sense that major

articles by important scholars have not been included. That list is too long to

provide here. It is simply that specialists will find the familiar or the forgettable

in this collection, and will determine the cost prohibitive and the selection

questionable for classroom use. As doubtlessly was intended, this is a book

only libraries will purchase.

 

The Ohio State University                          Eugene J. Watts

 

 

Cherokee Renascence in the New Republic. By William G. McLoughlin.

(Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1987. xxii + 472p.;

illustrations, tables, notes, bibliography, index. $29.50.)

Too many studies of American Indians or "Indian policy" lapse into a simple

recital of federal government motives and machinations. Consequently, Native

Americans almost appear as passive observers of their own history. William G.

McLoughlin's Cherokee Renascence in the New Republic is an exemplary

exception to this pattern. Not only does McLoughlin recount the valiant

struggle of the Cherokee to realize the promise of equal citizenship held out to

them by the first six U.S. presidents, he also provides a dimension lacking in

some analyses of Indian-government relations. Consistently, McLoughlin

maintains the Cherokee perspective on an intricate web of political, economic,

social, and religious issues.

As America's Enlightenment egalitarianism shifted to romantic nationalism,

the Cherokee found themselves embattled. Southern states coveted Cherokee

land, and the federal government slid from respect for treaty obligations to

naked racism. The wholesale removal of eastern Indians and the infamous Trail

of Tears serve as malignant monuments to the so-called resolution of that

dilemma.

Significantly, McLoughlin accompanies accounts of the larger political and

economic issues with a sensitive portrayal of the inner conflicts which beset

the Cherokee. The change from hunters to farmers involved far more than

alteration in land use. In the first decades of the nineteenth century, Cherokee

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Book Reviews                                                   83

 

society became irrevocably secularized. The old view of an ubiquitous divine

presence, a delicately balanced natural order, and a harmonious social order

changed forever. These profound and wrenching passages from one world view

to another found expression in bitter factionalism between Cherokees advo-

cating voluntary removal and those determined to maintain the bounds of their

traditional homeland.

McLoughlin also illustrates how the fate of Cherokee revitalization and

progress toward "civilization" posed a crisis for white Americans. According

to the U.S. Constitution, treaties with sovereign nations supersede domestic

laws. Through a long series of treaties with the U.S. government, through their

own stubborn insistence, and eventually through U.S. Supreme Court deci-

sions, the Cherokee Nation achieved an arguable claim to sovereignty. In 1827

the Cherokee even framed their own constitution (modeled after the U.S.

Constitution) and implicitly challenged the American government to live up to

its professed ideals. Yet other impulses in the American heart won out.

Upholding a states' rights-based claim to Cherokee land, even the quintessen-

tial romantic nationalist Andrew Jackson flaunted U.S. Supreme Court vali-

dation of Cherokee sovereignty.

Perhaps the ultimate irony of the eventual Cherokee removal was that since

the 1790s Cherokee culture had evolved in ways similar to the world of white

America. By the 1820s, the zenith of the Cherokee renascence, farming, the

nuclear family, patrilineal hierarchy, Protestantism, the work ethic, and

materialism had replaced many traditional characteristics of Cherokee life. Not

unlike earlier white American nationalists, the Cherokee sought unsuccessfully

to live as members of a distinct sovereign group within a larger state.

Unfortunately for them, the Cherokee never produced a Washington. Given

the futility of armed resistance, the wiles of a Cherokee Henry Clay might have

made a compromise possible. But the Cherokee never had such a spokesman

of their own.

Author of Cherokees and the Missionaries (1984), McLoughlin is well

qualified to discuss how the philanthropic public and the post-1819 influx of

missionaries affected the Cherokee. In a uniquely Cherokee way secular

nationalization and spiritual revitalization combined to fuel the renascence.

In McLoughlin's phrase, the Cherokee strove sincerely to become part of

"the wider world and yet [maintain] their particular ethnic identity within it"

(p. 365).

Kentuckians will be surprised to read that their state gained admittance to

the union in 1796 (p. 7) instead of four years earlier. Equally eye-opening will

be the statement that Daniel Boone led "hundreds of families" (p. 19) through

the Cumberland Gap in the 1760s. (The first permanent white settlement came

in 1774 and not by Boone's efforts.)

But these errors are trivial exceptions to a body of research which overall is

superb. Meticulous attention to the records of Cherokee relations with federal

agents, missionary groups, and a careful tracing of the often subtle shifts in

Cherokee-white associations characterize McLoughlin's treatise. An equally

well done volume on the successful Cherokee renascence after removal would

be a welcome addition to the story of a remarkable people.

 

 

Kentucky Historical Society                    James Russell Harris

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84                                                   OHIO HISTORY

 

Images of America: Travelers from Abroad in the New World. By Robert B.

Downs. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987. 232p.; index. $24.95.)

In Images of America: Travelers from Abroad in the New World, Robert B.

Downs provides forty short summaries of travel accounts written by foreign

visitors to the United States (and, in several cases, other parts of the western

hemisphere). They range chronologically from the observations of the Swedish

naturalist, Peter Kalm, who investigated and reported on the flora and fauna of

Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and southern Canada, 1748-1751, to the

magisterial work of D. W. Brogan, English political scientist, who visited the

United States frequently, and published The American Political System in

1933, and The American Character in 1944. Although the span of time thus

covered is almost 200 years, the eighteenth century is represented by only four

visitors, and the twentieth by three.

Downs' emphasis on the nineteenth century is, however, understandable. It

is the period of the "great influx of travelers, an exciting era" (p. 3) in which

the new, expanding republic drew the attention, at once superior yet defensive

of old world culture, dazzled by the sheer size and hustle of the booming

democracy, yet critical of its excesses, vaulting materialism, and especially the

institution of slavery, of an array of literati, adventureers, scientists, politi-

cians, and many others less easily labeled who came to see and experience the

strange new world. For Americans concerned about "who we are," and why,

Downs' brief review of the observations and conclusions of these outside

commentators can be most provocative and enlightening.

Most of Downs' visitors are English, by his own definition, twenty-eight in

all. They range in time from Henry Wamsey, who wrote An Excursion to the

United States of North America in the Summer of 1794, to Brogan. Downs

includes six Scots, three Frenchmen, one Argentine, a Japanese and a Russian.

Thus the overall impression is of a decided "Anglo" interest in the American

experiment and environment, the "New American Order" that Paul Connor

discovered in the writings of Benjamin Franklin. Some of Downs' liveliest and

most thoughtful essays catch the peculiar blend of praise and censure,

fascination and revulsion, elicited from representatives of the old mother

country as they struggled to comprehend such progeny: the incomparable (and

incomparably fussy) Frances Trollope, haughty Harriet Martineau, and bril-

liant James Bryce. Yet among the most rewarding of the brief accounts deal

with non-Anglos: Alexis de Tocqueville, Yukichi Fukuzawa, and David

Macrae especially.

Robert Downs has written a useful, and for the most part, an engaging book.

His book does three things particularly worth the attention of academics and

general readers interested in the roots and growth of our national identity and

character. He introduces us to a valuable, wonderfully interesting literature

about ourselves. In a wide ranging introduction, he points us to a number of

bibliographies of foreign travelers' accounts that will greatly expand his own

brief summaries of a fraction of the literature. Finally, most importantly, he

stimulates our interest in reading the originals.

 

The Ohio State University                            Paul C. Bowers

• 11
 

Book Reviews                                                     85

 

Black Leaders of the Nineteenth Century. Edited by Leon Litwack and August

Meier. (Urbana: The University of Illinois Press, 1988. xii + 344p.;

illustrations, bibliographical essay, notes on contributors,index. $24.95.)

In this volume the editors have brought together a highly useful collection of

essays concerning some of the key black leaders of nineteenth century

America. Leadership is considered as it functioned on several levels and in

varying spheres of activity. There is the religious and community leadership of

Richard Allen and the role of Henry McNeal Turner as church leader and black

emigrationist. There is Harriet Tubman's heroic leadership of runaway slaves

and Mary Church Terrell's emergence as a foremost middle class representa-

tive of black clubwomen who spoke out eloquently against racial oppression,

living long enough to denounce the 1951 indictment of Dr. Du Bois as an

unregistered foreign agent and to sign the We Charge Genocide petition to the

United Nations. We range from those, exemplified by Frederick Douglass,

who believed black purposes could be advanced though unity in struggle with

white people to a Martin Delany who articulated a policy of black nationalism

and following the Civil War sought the best possible deal with white suprem-

acists. We are given quiet activities but also the revolutionary spirit of Nat

Turner. All in all this is a varied and rich portrait of blacks who met the

complex challenges of slavery and the first post-Civil War decades.

Several of the contributions are particularly insightful. Peter Wood's discus-

sion of Nat Turner sheds light on the reliability of Thomas Gray and leads us

to take account of the interaction of evangelical Christianity with African belief

systems that formed Turner's consciousness. Waldo Martin's view of Frederick

Douglass focuses upon the catholic, humanist vision that made this great figure

a spokesman for all humankind. Douglass related the black freedom struggle to

a worldwide tradition of liberation movements. Sterling Stuckey's analysis of

Henry Highland Garnet insightfully sets this figure within a broad context of

democratic struggle against monopoly and labor exploitation. Stuckey stresses

that Garnet's formulation "that exploited whites and blacks have similar

interests, while insisting on the right of blacks to help determine the destiny of

the country, contributed to liberation theory for all because it maximized

possibilities for cooperation across racial lines without sacrificing the souls of

black people." Stuckey's essay is interesting for its thoughtful attempt to

reconcile the claims of nationalism and socialism. Nell Painter's treatment of

Martin Delany is valuable for the reminder that unlike some nationalist trends

of the 1960s and 1970s, earlier versions of black nationalism could be elitist,

disdainful of the black masses. (It might be added that Delany was a striking

blend of elitism and opportunism.) Eric Foner's contribution is a significant

call for greater scholarly attention to black leadership as it existed at the grass

roots level. Benjamin Quarles vividly presents Harriet Tubman as a leader of

mythic proportions whose accomplishments were extraordinary. Tubman

appears as having faith in the Infinite but also as willing to take the pains to

carefully plan her forays against slavery.

Of considerable interest is David A. Gerber's essay concerning the career of

Peter H. Clark, until recent years a figure scholars had most often neglected.

In his varied roles as educator and political advocate Clark had explored

several of the ideological alternatives that Afro-Americans might embrace. The

Gerber essay outlines the changes in outlook occurring in Clark's long life,

although more attention might have been paid to what made his career

• 12
 

86                                                  OHIO HISTORY

 

especially noteworthy, his appearance as the first American black socialist.

Also, it is not quite true that Clark completely disappeared from the public eye

following his departure from Cincinnati. In 1898 the black press reported

Clark's protest, on behalf of the St. Louis Forum Club, against the massacre at

Wilmington, North Carolina.

The brief introductory essay explains the criteria employed in the choice of

individuals selected for treatment but one might still question the omission of

such important figures as Sojurner Truth, Isaac Myers and Charles L. Remond.

As the book stands, however, we have been provided with a valuable collective

biography of black leadership that adds much to our understanding of the

dialogue within nineteenth century black America. These were not isolated

personalities, but true leaders who articulated views shaping and reflecting the

consciousness of millions.

 

University of Cincinnati                           Herbert Shapiro

 

 

Heartland: Comparative Histories of the Midwestern States. Edited by James

H. Madison. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988. 308p.; maps,

notes, contributors, index. $29.95.)

The jacket of Heartland says that the "volume is an attempt to examine the

origins and nature of the unique midwestern cultural phenomenon." Much is to

be said for an attempt to accomplish such a result. And the attempt has borne

much fruit. With twelve authors it is inevitable that the style and clarity will

vary from author to author, and they do but the general level is high. For this

reviewer the climactic piece of work was done when the author of the work on

Illinois described the effects of the Ordinance of 1785 on the geography and

culture of his state, but other work was well done also. From the viewpoint of

clarity it would be difficult to improve on the essay on Nebraska.

Some aspects of the examination of unique midwestern culture are almost

uniformly well done by the twelve authors. The work on geographical origins

and cultural baggage of incoming settlers (or in South Dakota people already

there) and later immigrants is a case in point. This becomes of considerable

importance in accounting for variations in patterns from state to state. Most of

the twelve writers also did an excellent job on state politics accounting for

changes over time and interweaving political, cultural and economic develop-

ments within and among the various states and the whole United States.

One problem did turn up in the field of transportation which has to be

important in any region referred to as Heartland. After adequately dealing with

settlement routes, canals, and railroads, things thin out. Little is found on later

development of highways. State development of major modern tollways in

Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kansas, and their inspiration and interrelation with

the interstate system, is not treated. No mention was found of the St.

Lawrence Seaway or of the development of air or space facilities. Henry Ford

got due credit but standouts like Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr., the Wright brothers

and Neil Armstrong are missing although their cultural contributions are

considerable.

Since this review is being done for the Ohio Historical Society it is perhaps

fitting to note what is said about Ohio. When it is recorded that Ohio is

• 13
 

Book Reviews                                                   87

 

mainstream American we have a summary that has been true for a century and

a half, although we certainly share that mainstream more today than at most

past times. However, if Ohio is indeed mainstream America we get a pretty

gloomy picture of America. We are told about the Rust Belt; acid rain is

lamented; we are told of the existence of an underclass; "downward social

mobility" is deplored. Fortunately the end of the decade of the eighties does

much to lighten the "gloom." The Rust Belt is obviously gaining a bit of gloss:

new industrial complexes are rising. Witness the Ford expansion near Batavia,

the army tank plant in Lima and the vastness of Honda's installation near

Marysville, to mention three. The latter of these is plowing some new ground

in labor-management relations. In mid-1988 Ohio's unemployment rate for the

first time in years is lower than the national rate. The "downward mobility of

society" is "vanishing upward," according to a recent government study, with

family income rising since 1981 and federal taxes producing record revenues

each year. Probably the liberal mythology that is so pervasive in the picture

that is painted presented too bleak a scene originally. Progress in Ohio is clear

if we may paraphrase an apt quote from the author of the piece on Minnesota:

Ohioans are not telling Cleveland jokes any more!

Overall we close by revisiting our first paragraph: this book is worthwhile;

there is a wealth of fact and insight that will reward the careful reader.

 

Ohio Northern University                           Boyd M. Sobers

 

 

Gentrification of the City. Edited by Neil Smith and Peter Williams. (Boston:

Allen & Unwin, 1986. xiii + 257p.; maps, illustrations, notes, bibliography,

index. $13.95.)

Gentrification, or the improvement of older urban neighborhoods by newly

arrived "urban pioneers," has become a fact of life in many cities. This

anthology provides a comparison of Marxist and traditional perspectives in

historical-urban geography. It critically evaluates the process of gentrification

as a peculiarity of mature, capitalistic systems which encourage the formation

of social class structure and whose cities are heir to major cycles of investment

and disinvestment. The gentrification of American, Canadian, Australian, and

British cities is analyzed and compared in ten separate chapters involving a

total of twelve authors.

Editors Smith and Williams begin with "an invitation to debate" centering

on five basic concepts: 1) the validity of production-side versus consumption-

side explanations of economic behavior, 2) the question of the emergence of

the post-industrial city, 3) the relative importance of social structure and

individual agency, or choice, in the gentrification process, 4) the question "is

there a new middle class and what is its role?" and, 5) an attempt to answer the

question "what are the costs of displacement today and in the future?" That

the authors' findings do not square with the generally conservative philoso-

phies of the 1980s is an understatement. The book's premise is that the myth

of the urban pioneer as individualist is as empty, and arrogant, as the myth of

the frontiersman who had a mission to displace the "savage" Indian. The

authors consider gentrification from both an aesthetic perspective (that is, the

visual imprint of trendy renovations commonly associated with the

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88                                                  OHIO HISTORY

 

yuppification of older neighborhoods) and from the social-geographical, or

spatial, perspective. Gentrification emerges not as a unique experience, but

rather as a more or less predictable outcome of realignments in investment in

the post-industrial city.

Gentrification in the City sheds light on some very important concepts and

questions. The chapter by LeGate and Hartman entitled "The Anatomy of

Displacement in the United States" concludes that displacement is wide-

spread, and creates substantial hardships on those who are displaced. Contrary

to popular opinion, however, the authors note that lower middle class, white,

socially heterogeneous neighborhoods-rather than lower income black neigh-

borhoods-are most heavily impacted by first-generation gentrification. More-

over, it is upwardly mobile urbanites, not immigrating suburbanites, who

comprise the majority of gentrifiers. Peter Marcuse's chapter on gentrification

and displacement in New York City is one of the most definitive place-specific

studies to date, and it, too, points to the large-scale displacement patterns

which evidently affect both the condition of homelessness and may shed some

light on the observation that our older inner suburbs are becoming the slums of

tomorrow. The chapters dealing with gentrification of cities in Canada,

Australia, and Britain are liable to be eye-openers for American readers who

think that gentrification is a home-grown process.

Ohio historians may be disappointed that Gentrification of the City contains

very few references to the Buckeye State's cities, especially since German

Village in Columbus is often cited in the literature as one of the first privately

financed urban revitalization projects, and Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine is

forever mentioned, but never substantiated, as one of the state's largest areas

of potential ethnic/social displacement. Nevertheless, this book uses case

studies primarily to confirm the importance, and impact, of gentrification on all

post-industrial cities where reinvestment is occurring. Ohio's cities are very

much a part of this international developmental process. The authors demon-

strate that the pace of gentrification is increasing, and, even though it will not

eclipse the centrifugal trends toward suburbanization, it will continue to be a

major force affecting our cities. In summary, then, this book provides an

important, if controversial, framework for future research into the impact of

decision-making on the structure, and inhabitants, of urban places.

 

Ohio Historical Society                      Richard V. Francaviglia

 

 

Delivered From Evil: The Saga of World War II. The First Complete One-

Volume History. By Robert Leckie. (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers,

1987. xvii + ⁹⁹⁸p.; maps, bibliographical note, index. $29.95.)

The title of this book reveals its nature. It is a Homeric saga of men at war

contesting transcendent issues across the world's oceans and continents. It is

a volume about global politics, strategy and battle tactics. It is not about those

who worked and waited and produced the sinews of victory at home. It is a

celebration of the achievements of the officers and men of the Anglo-American

and Russian armies and navies. The central theme is crime and retribution, and

the heroes and the villains are unmistakable. If there is any tragedy it is in the

story of the brave, talented and dedicated soldiers of Germany and Japan who

• 15
 

Book Reviews                                                   89

 

were led into disaster by evil masters. But of course they had to be worthy

adversaries or there would be no glory for the victors. It is a sign of the

uniqueness of the Second World War that, after almost half a century and many

attempts at historical revision, a popular author like Robert Leckie can still

write a plausible book on that text.

There is nothing new for the specialist in this book. It is a synthetic work full

of intellectual quirks which reveal the ideological idiosyncrasies and blind

spots of the author. He perpetuates certain historical myths and oversimplifi-

cations like that of the decadence of the French nation which made it

impossible for the army to recover from its initial defeats in the spring of 1940.

Leckie is a conservative cold warrior and his biases show. He still asserts that

it was in part President Roosevelt's belief that he could charm Stalin that led

to the so called Yalta sellout. He pays little attention to the history of

intelligence and code breaking that revolutionized writing about the war in the

late seventies. It suits him to see the SS and the concentration camp authorities

as the sweepings of the European gutters rather than to accept them as the

upwardly mobile middle class professionals and intellectuals that many of them

were. But most of us of a particular age still prefer this morality tale. We like

to remember the world of clear options that we thought was there when we

were young. For sweep and drama, for a memory of the pithy directness of GI

language, for a whopping good evening's read for a military history buff, this

book should not be overlooked.

 

University of Cincinnati                          Daniel R. Beaver

 

 

So Close to Greatness: A Biography of William C. Bullitt. By Will Brownell &

Richard N. Billings. (New York: MacMillan Publishing Company, 1987. xiv

+ 368p.; illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. $24.95.)

The title of this book aptly conveys the authors' assessment of William C.

Bullitt, a man with considerable diplomatic ability and potential, who partici-

pated in many momentous twentieth century events, who knew the prominent

figures of this era, but whose career precipitously ended when he ran afoul of

President Franklin Roosevelt. The Bullitt Will Brownell and Richard Billings

describe was a talented diplomat and at times a farsighted analyst of the

contemporary international scene, a man who moved from left to right on the

political spectrum as his experiences with the Soviet Union affected his

perceptions of world affairs. Bullitt was arrogant, ambitious, and self-assured,

prone to be rash and impulsive in action. The authors aptly trace these

characteristics through his career.

Bullitt was born to Philadelphia aristocracy and educated at Yale, where he

was voted "most brilliant" by his classmates. After leaving school, he

advanced rapidly as a journalist covering the First World War and then as a

diplomat during the Versailles Conference. From the outset, his actions exuded

promise, controversy, and frustration. In 1919, at the age of twenty-eight, he

was sent on a mission to strife-torn Russia, where he met with Lenin and

returned with what he felt was an agreement to end the civil war. But he was

rebuffed by President Woodrow Wilson, earning the president Bullitt's life-

long enmity. The authors suggest that Bullitt's mandate in this mission was

• 16
 

90                                                  OHIO HISTORY

 

unclear and that he may have over-stepped his orders. But they also note how,

following this snub, Bullitt presciently predicted the future problems arising

from the Versailles settlement.

Out of government service in the 1920s, Bullitt lived in Europe, writing and

leading a bohemian existence. He married the notorious Louise Bryant, the

widow of radical journalist John Reed. When Franklin Roosevelt captured the

presidency in 1932, Bullitt used his political connections to return to diplomatic

service. As the United States' first ambassador to the Soviet Union and then

as ambassador to France, he became Roosevelt's friend and confidant, often

reporting directly to the president instead of through official State Department

channels. While in Moscow, the eye-opening experience of dealing with

Stalinist Russia moved Bullitt away from a regime sympathizer and toward

suspicion of Soviet intentions. Consequently, during World War II he predicted

with foresight the coming of the cold war. As ambassador to France, he

unwisely stayed in Paris as the French government fled in the face of the Nazi

advance. Bullitt asserted that he could not abandon his diplomatic post, but as

the authors argue, this seemingly noble gesture lost him the opportunity to

convince the French government to continue its opposition to Hitler.

When he returned to Washington, Bullitt continued as a public servant for

the Roosevelt administration. He coveted a cabinet post, preferably War or

State. However, the president was not so inclined. He enjoyed Bullitt's

company, but felt his ambassador talked too much and was too rash in his

behavior. Frustrated that he was not appointed to the cabinet, Bullitt attacked

Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles, who had committed a homosexual

indiscretion. Roosevelt was appalled and severed all ties with Bullitt.

The authors appropriately end their study with a consideration of the dispute

between the heirs of Sigmund Freud and Bullitt over the publication of Thomas

Woodrow Wilson: A Psychological Study, allegedly coauthored earlier by the

two men. To the end, Bullitt's life exuded controversy. His strengths were

counter-balanced by serious personality flaws, as this book ably corroborates.

This is a very readable biography. Although at times the authors' digressions

into the social background and importance of Bullitt's acquaintances are

disconcerting, and although scholars will be disappointed with footnoting and

documentation, this is a capable study of a diplomatic career filled with

promise and disappointment.

 

St. Louis University                              T. Michael Ruddy

 

 

First Ladies. By Betty Boyd Caroli. (New York: Oxford University Press,

1987. xxii + 398p.; illustrations, notes, appendices, index. $19.95.)

The Oxford University Press, one of the principal publishers of books on

American history, has long enjoyed an enviable reputation for the quality of its

publications. In this era of feminism as well as presidential transition, it now

appears to have pulled a marketing coup as well, with not one but two new

books on a topic hitherto largely neglected by most American historians, the

role of the First Lady in the life of the nation. One of these books is Paul

Boiler's anecdotal Presidential Wives. The other is Betty Boyd Caroli's First

Ladies. Of course there is a distinction in content as well as title of the two. Not

all First Ladies have been presidential wives, as attested by the daughters,

• 17
 

Book Reviews                                                   91

 

daughters-in-law, nieces, and sisters who served as chatelaines in the admin-

istrations of such presidents as Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Martin

Van Buren, John Tyler, the bachelor James Buchanan, and Grover Cleveland.

Nor have all presidential wives accepted the obligations of First Lady, witness

Margaret Taylor who designated her daughter as substitute.

It has been my pleasure to read and review First Ladies, a worthy inclusion

in the long list of Oxford Press titles. Its author, Betty Boyd Caroli, is Professor

of History at the Kingsborough Community College of the City University of

New York. The book is an absorbing, intimate account of how thirty-six

women, from Martha Washington to Nancy Reagan, "handled what may be the

most demanding, unpaid, unelected job in America." According to Caroli,

"They were a remarkably diverse lot-from Eliza Johnson, who remained so

elusive [and obscure] that she was called 'mysterious' [though paradoxically a

1982 poll of historians rated her 21st in effectiveness, ahead of such others as

Sarah Polk, Elizabeth Monroe, Mamie Eisenhower, Pat Nixon, Jane Pierce,

Nancy Reagan, and Mary Lincoln], to Lady Bird Johnson, whose prominence

resulted in cartoons calling for her impeachment.... They ranged in age from

early 20s [Frances Folsom was only 21 when she married the incumbent

president, Grover Cleveland] to the late 60s [Anna Symmes Harrison was

66 years old when her husband was inaugurated]. Some were superbly

educated for their time [Lucy Webb Hayes was the first to attend college

among them]; others poorly schooled [Abigail Adams 'complained that she had

not had a single day of schooling'; Dolley Madison had very little; Martha

Washington 'had so much difficulty with spelling that George finally took to

writing out her letters for her and having her copy them']. Some [such as

Elizabeth Monroe and Louisa Adams] were courageous and adventuresome; a

few [among them Mary Todd Lincoln] were emotionally unstable. Some were

ambitious [for example, Helen Taft]; others [such as Margaret Taylor and

Abigail Fillmore] despised the public arena." Surprisingly, from Washington to

Reagan, most American presidents married women "who ranked above them

in social and economic status;" notable recent exceptions, Nixon, Ford, and

Carter. Not surprisingly, the expectations for presidential wives have enlarged,

from docile, supportive roles to politically active "associate presidencies."

This brings us to the underlying theme of the book: that the role of the First

Lady has been changed not only by the character and personality of each

woman who held the position but also by the increasingly demanding times

through which the nation has passed. Because the author combines the

inevitable succession of biographical vignettes with periodic generalizations

relating to the eras through which the nation was passing, there is occasional

redundancy, but it is minimal. The titles of her chapters define both time and

topic of these eras, for example: "Setting Precedents: The First Presidents'

Wives (1789-1829)"; "Young Substitutes for First Ladies (1828-1869)"; "Three

Exceptions: Sarah Childress Polk, Mary Todd Lincoln, and Julia Dent Grant";

"The Limited Promise of the 'New Woman' (1877-1901)"; etc.

Most memorable of the vignettes for this reviewer were those described in

the highly visible, often unconventional Eleanor Roosevelt; the regal yet

influential Dolley Madison; the popular and politically astute niece of James

Buchanan, Harriet Lane; the unfairly described "surrogate president," Edith

Bolling Gait Wilson; the faceless and tragic Patricia Nixon; the chic though

uncaring Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy; and the enigmatic, sometimes fanatical

Mary Todd Lincoln.

• 18
 

92                                                  OHIO HISTORY

 

Of particular interest to Ohio historians are the vignettes of the First Ladies

of the eight presidents from this state: Anna Symmes Harrison, whose husband

William died one month after taking office; Julia Dent Grant, who may have

been the first presidential wife to be called "First Lady"; Lucy Webb Hayes,

nick-named "Lemonade Lucy" because of the "dry dinners" and activist

stance on temperance; Lucretia Rudolph Garfield, who sublimated her own

feminist inclinations to help her husband's political career; Caroline Scott

Harrison, who not only began the White House china collection but also helped

make the Johns Hopkins Medical School coeducational; Ida Saxton McKinley,

whose "doll-like appearance" masked "one of the most demanding invalids in

American history;" Helen Herron Taft, who is perhaps best remembered for

arranging for thousands of Japanese cherry trees to be transplanted about the

tidal basin of the nation's capital; and Florence Kling Harding, who "could not

free herself from the belief' that "matters of life and death" depended on the

stars. (Ironically, "a medium whom she frequently consulted had predicted

that Warren would win the presidency but that disaster would follow: Warren

would die in office and Florence, soon afterward. When he won the nomina-

tion, Florence was widely quoted as saying she saw only tragedy in his

future.")

Betty Boyd Caroli has written a solid, well-researched, well-documented

book. Her style is eminently readable; she "makes the reader want to turn the

page," as my old mentor, Allan Nevins, used to say. The illustrations have

been selected judiciously. Fortunately, only a handfull of minor errors escaped

the proofreader's scrutiny: Barbara Welter on page vii; forebade on page xvi;

Frances Williard on page 93; "a reticent women" on page 134. Though

end-notes are extensive, a bibliography would have helped.

All, in all, First Ladies is a book of substantial merit. It deserves to be read.

 

Miami University                                  Phillip R. Shriver

 

 

Military Effectiveness. Volume I: The First World War. Edited by Allan R.

Millett and Williamson Murray. (Boston: Allen & Unwin, Inc. for the

Mershon Center, The Ohio State University, 1988. 361p.; maps, notes,

index. $50.00.)

Military Effectiveness. Volume II: The Interwar Period. Edited by Allan R.

Millett and Williamson Murray. (Boston: Allen & Unwin, Inc. for the

Mershon Center, The Ohio State University, 1988. 281p.; maps, tables,

notes, index. $50.00.)

Military Effectiveness. Volume III: The Second World War. Edited by Allan R.

Millett and Williamson Murray. (Boston: Allen & Unwin, Inc. for the

Mershon Center, The Ohio State University, 1988. 375p.; maps, tables,

notes, index. $50.00.)

Military Effectiveness is a work of amazing scope. In three volumes,

twenty-four authors assess the military effectiveness of Britain, France,

Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.S., and the U.S.S.R. from 1914 through 1945. All

of the authors approach the topic using the same general model for their

evaluation, surveying in each case the political, strategic, operational, and

tactical dimensions of the problem.

• 19
 

Book Reviews                                                     93

 

A number of specific questions define the model, with the focus ranging from

the ability of a military organization to assure itself "a regular share of the

national budget" (a measure of political effectiveness-I, p. 4) to the degree to

which tactical systems place "the strengths of military organizations against

their adversary's weaknesses" (I, p. 25). Both the model and the authors using

it recognize the complexity of military activity and the sometimes tenuous

connection between effectiveness and success. This well researched and

extensively documented collection provides an excellent starting point for any

number of projects, from the study of a single nation in a single period or over

the span of all three volumes to more complex comparisons of two or more

nations at a particular point or over the entire period.

The World War I volume is well focused, and Paul Kennedy's conclusion in

the final chapter, that tactical failure affected everything above the tactical

level, identifies the war's primary problem: applying force in operations and

tactics to achieve political or strategic ends. As "the first, all-out mass

industrialized coalition war of this century," the war "tested effectiveness at

all levels-political, strategic, operational, and tactical-and usually found

things wanting" (1, p. 329).

Although more diffuse than either of the other two volumes, Volume II

clearly demonstrates the difficulty that most military forces had integrating the

lessons of the First World War. The "small wars" of the interwar period made

the interpretation of the 1914-18 experience more difficult, and as Robert

Doughty concluded in his very sympathetic view of the French, "From the

perspective of military effectiveness, ... no definitive measure of military

readiness can be reached in peacetime" (II, p. 66).

The two final chapters of Volume III indicate clearly the utility of the many

fine chapters preceding them. Lt. Gen. John Cushman's forward looking

analysis of the many tactical and operational lessons evident in Volumes I-III

stresses the importance of leadership in "an atmosphere of open, shared

thought" (III, p. 336). Cushman's conclusions reinforce Paul Kennedy's view

that "military effectiveness is a complicated, multi-layered phenomenon,

and one that is unlikely to be attained by a few smart reforms here and there"

(I, p. 348).

Russell Weigley does a masterful job of bringing together the political and

strategic threads running through the three volumes. Readers should reflect

upon his observation that "the hypertrophy of war through war's assumption

of global dimensions and almost unlimited destructiveness has led most

emphatically to the emergence of war not as the servant but as the master of

politics" (III, p. 341) and recognize the dangers inherent in such a situation.

Weigley also raises the key question for any policymaker considering the

problem of military effectiveness: "effective in pursuit of what purposes"

(III, p. 342)? By the time of World War II, civilians had gained firm control

over their military organizations in virtually all of the nations studied, but that

control did not bring an end to militarism. Instead, civilians have demonstrated

that they could be as militaristic as an uncontrolled military.

The volumes contain another message of importance to world leaders, both

in and out of uniform. As Weigley observed, the great powers of the twentieth

century often sacrificed their effectiveness "on the altar of inordinate ambi-

tion" (III, p. 364). Fortunately, the way to make armed forces effective is as

apparent as the problem: "tailor their responsibilities and goals to the limits of

tactical, operational, strategic, and policy-making practicability" (III, p. 364).

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94                                                   OHIO HISTORY

In a work of such breadth, readers can easily find problems or topics they

would like to see covered in more detail. Many historians of intelligence, for

example, will feel that their field has been slighted, particularly given the

meager references to "Ultra" in Volume III and the importance of surprise at

all four levels of the effectiveness model. Even that omission seems tolerable,

however, given the incredible achievement of editors Millett and Murray. They

have produced a well crafted work filled with examples of military history at its

best.

 

The College of Wooster                                John M. Gates

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