1 comments about The story of the Secret Service (Landmark books).

1. As the leading civilian authority on the Secret Service, I modestly recommend this 1957 book by Ferdinand Kuhn (pen name?). This book is not to be confused---as I and others have been---with the 1971 Grossett and Dunlap book of the same title, written by former Secret Service agent Harry Neal. As for this book, it is dry and dated, but it is worth it for a few items (and the foreward by former Chief U.E. Baughman).
   Vince Palamara
   Secret Service expert (History Channel, author of 2 books, in over 32 other author's books, etc.)

3 comments about Picture This: A Visual Diary.

1. Tipper Gore provides a very unique perspective on life in the public eye through this pictorial. Her simple comments and striking pictures tell a story about the Gore family, public affairs in the U.S., and people in general. There is an innocence of the pictures, they present themselves at face value and are very real. Perhaps having someone like Mrs. Gore nonchalantly taking pictures of some of the most powerful and important people from around the world when they least expect it would solicit such simplicity. The photographs are very professional as well. A good gift book for anyone interested in politics or anyone looking for a unique book about family life in the public limelight with a clever twist.



2. What a wonderful book Tipper wrote. I love the photos she took. She is a very professional photographer. She and Al Gore are my biggest admirers in Washington. Though, it was sad to see them leave the White House. But guys, keep democracy alive! Good book, Tipper! And Al, I'm voting for you for president in 2004! See you then!



3. I wasn't expecting much from this book. I assumed it was the vanity project of a second lady with time on her hands. What I found, instead, was an incredible collection of excellent photographs from a talented and experienced photojournalist. Skim past the family pictures (except for the one of Al as Frankenstein!) and concentrate on the pictures that document some of the most important people and places of our day. I'd recommend this book to any photographer who wants to be inspired by fine work.

No comments about Eisenhower: The Prewar Diaries and Selected Papers, 1905-1941.

5 comments about The Contender: Richard Nixon: The Congress Years, 1946 to 1952.

1. In "The Contender, Richard Nixon, The Congress Years" historian Irwin F. Gellman sets for himself a difficult, yet needed correction of mythology posing as history: that Richard Nixon's political career was founded on smears and lies.
   
   Using actual campaign literature, contemporary newspaper accounts, letters, and government documents, Gellman methodically demolishes three Big Lies perpetrated by Nixon's loudest critics.
   
   The first lie is that Nixon used dirty tricks to win his first race for U.S. Congress in 1946. Carefully examining the record, Gellman shows that incumbent New Deal congressman Jerry Voorhis neither took Nixon seriously, nor did he realize the extent to which public opinion was shifting after the war. Gellman writes of Cong. Voorhis campaign manager father observing to his son 11 months before the General election:
   
   "On December 1, Charles informed his son that the Candidate and Fact Finding Committee (Reviewer's note: the GOP committee that recruited Nixon), in contradistinction to the spirit of the primary laws, had endorsed a Quaker named Richard Nixon, Charles optimistically predicted that his son would retain a large Quaker block because of his record. Nixon was `not very well known' and was being discharged from the navy a lieutenant commander: `It is just another campaign that we have to go through but I am quite sanguine as to the outcome. In any event, we have nothing to worry about now.' Jerry's reply was as cavalier as his father's: `I am not worried about the matter and we will just go ahead like we have before.'
   
   "Jerry and his father had badly miscalculated Nixon's success, the extent of his support, and his unifying effect on the Republican Party..."
   
   As the nation was swinging away from New Deal socialism, Voorhis hewed to the old party line in his voting. Yet even Voorhis understood the danger involved in what had become widely known: that some labor unions had been penetrated by Communists. In considering whether to accept the endorsement of the UAW-CIO labor PAC, Voorhis wrote the union leadership that he was, "deeply concerned over the degree to which Communists have succeeded in getting hold of some of the organizations, and I definitely do not want their support..." So, Cong. Voorhis rejected the state UAW-CIO labor PAC's endorsement and they obliged, listing him as not endorsed. Yet Voorhis accepted the local labor PAC's support, an inconsistent decision, given his concern for the impression that would leave. Nixon's campaign started to use the labor endorsement to its advantage - even newspapers took note of it in their endorsements of Nixon. While Cong. Voorhis stayed in Washington, D.C. through most of the campaign, not taking Nixon seriously, Nixon simply out hustled him and out organized him, winning against the incumbent by 56.1 percent to 42.7 percent.
   
   The second lie involves the Alger Hiss, Whittaker Chambers, and Sen. Joseph McCarthy. In 1948, the freshman Congressman from California was on the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). HUAC was investigating Communist penetration in the government and in organizations including espionage activities. Whittaker Chambers, a former Communist, came before the committee and eventually named Alger Hiss, a former well-placed aide in the State Department, as a Communist. Hiss denied it. Eventually, Hiss was proven to have committed perjury and served time in prison. In an attempt to diminish Nixon's role in the Hiss investigation, Nixon's detractors claim Nixon had advance knowledge of Hiss's guilt. This lie was perpetuated for a couple of decades by Father John Cronin, an anti-Communist priest, who was otherwise a Nixon admirer, in an attempt to bolster his own credentials. Cronin eventually recanted his claims. Given that the FBI had its own mole on the HUAC staff and given that there is no record of the FBI, or any other agency knowing of Hiss's Communist involvement, it appears Nixon honestly and methodically broke the case on his own. Interestingly, Hiss was a key aide at the Yalta Conference in 1945, the meeting between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill confirmed the Soviet domination of much of Europe. Nixon's careful and fair handling of the HUAC investigations are in stark contrast with the reckless and flamboyant actions of Senator Joseph McCarthy, who cast accusations both Communist and non-Communist alike. That Nixon is linked to McCarthy by critics completely misses the mark on how assiduously Nixon worked to keep distant from McCarthy in both word and deed.
   
   The final big lie deals with Nixon's successful 1950 U.S. Senate race against Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas. Douglas, a former stage actor and, like Cong. Voorhis, an unreconstructed New Dealer, took on an incumbent moderate Democrat senator and beat him in the primary. It was in this primary that the Democrat senator, not Nixon, first called Douglas the "Pink Lady" in reference to her extreme leftwing voting record. In a highly disciplined campaign, in contrast to the sloppy and poorly funded effort by Douglas, Nixon prevailed. Douglas even ill-advisedly tried to run to Nixon's right on Communism - this only served to highlight Nixon's own record while reducing her own credibility with the voters.
   
   Irwin Gellman's "The Contender" is well worth reading for any Presidential historian or admirer of the first President from California.
   
   Reviewer: Chuck DeVore is a California State Assemblyman, he served as a Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs in the Department of Defense from 1986 to 1988, retired from the Army National Guard as a lieutenant colonel, and is the co-author of "China Attacks."



2. When you read this book, you should be prepare to be challenged on what you have heard about Nixon before. This book undoes--or purports to--all of the early Nixon myths. It appears to be exhaustingly researched, and Nixon haters can take comfort in the notion that Nixon became the Nixon they hated after the 1960 Presidential Election.

   Still, Gellman does sugarcoat some things Nixon does, and appears to draw some charitable conclusions without any backup. It is an interesting read, and a portrayal of what by any accounts is a remarkable journey from unknown to Vice President.




3. Though there were shades of the later Nixon in the young man, he was not nearly as visceral, vulgar or mean-spirited as he was to become as President. There were tinges of guilt in his make-up when he stepped over the line of decency, and such signs were utterly absent in President Nixon. Gellman is a fluid writer who is painstaking in being fair to Nixon and presenting him as a fairly likeable, though monstrously aggressive Congressman. He maintains that the young Nixon was a good father and attentive husband, thought he evidence for this is grossly lacking. He was the quintessential absentee father who spent almost no time with his daughters. Gellman conveniently ignores this.

   More troubling is that Gellman almost seeks to exonerate Nixon from two of the most mudslinging and tawdry campaigns of all time: his 1946 run for Congress against the hapless, though decent Jerry Voorhis, and his inhumane hatchet job against Helen Gahagan Douglas in 1950. Nixon's brutal character assassination of Douglas in conveniently skirted, or excuses are made for RN. Because Gellman frequently falls into the habit of glossing over Nixon's destructive impulses, the book never reaches any grandiose literary heights.

   Nixon has been the subject of much nonsense, particularly of the psycho-babble genre. Gellman thankfully doesn't attempt any of this and the book is a better product for it. Ultimately, this is a readable, balanced (overly balanced!) portrait of a young man driven by demons and a lust for power. For anyone wishing to understand Nixon in his 30's, this is an essential study.




4. The book is well-written, it is effective in presenting details of Nixon's early career, and it bends over backward to be fair toward him. It does not bend over backward to be fair to everyone else: Gellman finds it too easy to lump New Deal liberals with Socialists and Communists - making it seem the only difference that he sees between them is shades of pink. That makes it hard to accept his arguments about red-baiting - arguments that are important to Gellman's treatment of Nixon as an honorable, ethical lawmaker ... Still, this is a stimulating work and one that taught me a lot about one of America's most fascinating political characters.



5. I have never been very knowledgable about Richard Nixon. When I picked up this book, I was pleasantly surprised by what I learned. This book is an honest and factual portrayal of a man who served his country, and not the poobah of Watergate scandals.It is so refreshing to learn about the man and not just read criticism after criticism. Nixon's great character and accomplishments are in this book, and I recommend it to any student of political science or just fans of the genre.

No comments about The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Alone, 1932-1940.

No comments about Lincoln the President: Midstream to the Last Full Measure (Lincoln the President).

2 comments about The Death and Resurrection of Jefferson Davis (American Crisis (Rowman & Littlefield)).

1. Jeff Davis, beloved by many in the South and known as the president of the Confederacy during the Civil War died from heartbreak and mistreatment and looked old in his coffin on Dec. 5, 1889. His funeral train was as popular as Lincoln's removal to his home state of Illinois and much later FDR's train trip back from Georgia to Washington, D. C.
   
   When his body was laid in state in New Orleans, the prominence of the U. S. flags illustrated his burial as an officer in the American Army prior to his notoriety during the Civil War. He was first buried in a tomb of the Army of Northern Virginia in Metairie Cemetery.
   
   In May 28-31, 1893, after it has been displayed in the rotunda of the state capital in Raleigh, North Carolina, it was sent on to Richmond, Virginia. The route of the Jefferson Davis funeral train left New Orleans, stopped in Beavoir, Mobile, Montgomery, Alabama, Atlanta, Georgia, Charlotte, Greensboro, also stopped in Danville, Virginia. The funeral carriage was a remodeled artillery caisson with the U. S. flag prominently displayed. His remains were transferred to Hollywood Cemetery, The Third National Flag of the Confederacy decorated the head of his final resting place, with the Battle Flag at the foot. There is a bronze statute on his grave in the Davis Circle family plot at the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.
   
   Much maligned after the South lost the war, he was imprisoned in shackles and chains at Fort Monroe. His life and reputation has sunk to a seemingly unredeemable low. During the first three years after his death, his public image was ressurrected to a state of near adulation, and his fellow Southerners recognized him as one of their most important sons. He remains so today.
   
   The reburial three and a half years after his death demonstrated that Southerners increasingly were growing more overtly proud of the Confederacy. On June 3, 1907, a remarkable monument designed by Valentine and Noland was unveiled on what would have been his 99th birthday. It still stands in the park named in his honor in Memphis. It included the Confederate flags and symbols. Let by a group of University of Tennessee professors from the North, they are trying to have his memorial park renamed and the statue removed.
   
   It was a great American and did what he thought was best for the South, his beloved countryside. It's too bad that his life following the Civil War was so harmful to his health and what he had stood for. The flag has been removed from South Carolina's state flag, and Maryville College here in Tennessee can't keep their Rebel flag. What on earth is going on? Do those Northerners want another Civil War? It is best to leave dead dogs buried and the prejudices along with them. We natives of the South will always love Jeff Davis and what he stood for; the flag will never die. Resurrection is at hand.
   
   This historian has also written WAR CRIME OR INJUSTICE? GENERAL GEORGE PICKETT AND THE MASS EXECUTION OF DESERTERS IN CIVIL WAR KINSTON, NORTH CAROLINA and AN UNQUIET TIME: ALABAMA AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, 1950-68, among many other Southern history.



2. I have read many books on the War Between the States and very rarely come across a topic which is new. This book covers a subject that is little known by even culture concious Southerners. A very good read about an event that was pivotal in post war Southern History. If you are a Southerner this is a must. If you have any interest in the post war treatment of the personalities on that conflict, you will enjoy.
   
   Winston Churchill wrote - "Poor is a nation that has no heroes. Poorer still is one that has them and forgets them."
   
   This author has presented us with a way of remembering one of our Southern heroes. I think many readers will be surprised by this work.
   
   Highly recomended to Southerners and anyone who has an interest in the human experience.

5 comments about Boy Clinton: A Political Biography.

1. The cover photo is worth five stars. Alas: you can't judge a book by its cover.
   
   A cursory reading of the chapter on Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose name is (predictably) lampooned by the author, revealed these gems:
   
   "I have detected no evidence that Rodham experienced marijuana, either in brownies or small pipes, as was the fashion for some college gals in that period. Nor have I detected any other coping mechanisms enhancing her student days, such as LSD or certain mushroom concoctions favored by some of her Coat and Tie radical associates."
   
   "Upon being welcomed into the young women's bedrooms, some of the young men, those unfettered by Christian chastity, attempted what young men attempt when placed in the vicinity of a nubile cutie's bed and lingerie chest."
   
   "She arrived at the mansion overweight, wore her hair long and unkempt, and went without makeup or perfumes. Her spectacles were as thick as bullet-proof glass, and the lenses were encased in impressively ugly frames."
   
   Yawn.
   
   Mr. Tyrrell excels in meanness, pettiness, innuendo, and faulty logic. If there are any facts in his book, it's hard to say what form they'll finally have when a reader succeeds in chiseling them out of his prose.



2. While this book is a Political History it is also a psychohistory. Tyrrell tries to delve deep into President Clinton's Psyche and tell us what makes him tick. The Book Covers from Clinton's Birth through his first term and ends with the prediction he would not get re elected to a second term (WRONG), Tyrrell did not know about all the Illegal money raised from Asia that Clinton's campaign used to beef up his popularity before 96 (for More on that subject read Year Of The Rat by Edward Timperlake and William C. Triplett II). Anyway, the book besides being a chronicle of Clinton's political beliefs and where they came from, it also chronicles many crimes and misdemeanors that Bill gets away with. Its a remarkable story. This book is a must read for us political wonks and also cold be a good reference source for Historians in the feature. Find out where the bodies are buried sort of speak.



3. This is one of the weirdest books I've read in a long time. Written by R. Emmett Tyrrell of American Spectator fame, this has to be one of the most scathing attacks on Bill and Hillary Clinton ever written. I gave it five stars because it kept me in open mouthed awe throughout the entire read, as well as illiciting huge belly laughs over some of Tyrrell's word play, which can be truly brilliant. This book isn't a knee to the Clinton groin, it's a shotgun blast to the Clinton groin.

   The book starts out with the L.D. Brown story. Brown was a close confidant of Clinton when he was Governor Clinton of Arkansas. Brown, with Clinton's help, attained a job with the CIA. Brown quickly became entangled in the Barry Seal/Mena drug trafficking operation. Brown is an important figure because he can link Clinton into the drug operations. This part of the book is essentially the same account that can be found in Ambrose Evans-Pritchard's "The Secret Life of Bill Clinton". If Brown is to be believed, this is a devastating indictment of Bill Clinton and sets the tone for Tyrrell's examination of the Clintons.

   The rest of the book traces Bill's ascension to the White House. We get an account of Bill and his education at Oxford and Yale, where he quickly hooked up with what Tyrrell calls the "Coat and Tie Radicals", which are those New Left hippies that smoked dope and engaged in Marxist thought on the weekends, but spent the rest of their time carefully cultivating their public image so as to land good positions in government, law and corporate America. Tyrrell shows that during the time between the 1960's and the 1990's, these Commies never changed their attitudes or beliefs. They simply waited through the Reagan years for their chance to impose their warped values on America. Their beliefs can be summed up in what Tyrrell calls the "kultursmog", a choking mess of touchy-feely and Marxist/Socialist ideas that clouds traditional American values. Tyrrell continues his assault on the Clintons by showing their financial scams, their rabid pursuit of power over everything else, how they are products of the corrupt "Ole Boy" network of Arkansas politics, and how the first year of the Clinton presidency, 1993, was an utter disaster for America. Tyrrell outlines all of the scandals and flubs that made the Clinton presidency the most corrupt and inept administration in American history. Tyrrell also looks at Clinton's childhood, throwing aspersions on Clinton's mother Virginia, who is portrayed as a loose woman without any morals. He also points out that we can't be sure who Clinton's father really is.

   A separate chapter offers a treatment of Hillary Clinton and reveals the true colors of our illustrious First Lady. She is exposed as a closet Communist who clerked for a well known Marxist lawyer who defended the Black Panther Party. Hillary also edited a journal at Yale that was extremely hostile to authority figures. One edition depicted police officers as racist pigs who should be killed. Hillary's infamous behavior is also closely detailed. Apparently, our First Lady has a temper problem, and likes to heave objects in fits of volcanic anger.

   Tyrrell explodes the Clinton mythos and shows them to be two black holes in power suits. The portrait painted here reveals them to be grasping, petty, manipulative power seekers without a shred of decency. They dragged America through the mud, and the country will forever be stained by the Clinton legacy. And this was written in 1996, well before the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal broke.

   It's important to note that Tyrrell uses an astounding vocabulary throughout the book. Words such as foozle, avuncular, and lumpen predominate. The style is also extremely snide and can get pretty ugly. Tyrrell pulls no punches in this treatise, and liberals will scream bloody murder while reading this, if they can finish it in the first place. It is, without a doubt, a polemic, and should be read accordingly. I have to give it five stars for its sheer audacity. I'll read it again.




4. I'm sure Mr. Tyrrell would be pleased to know that Steve Kangas not only read the book before his suicidal attempt to assassinate Richard Scaife (no doubt inspired by all the compassion and love of such Clintonistas as Sidney Blumenthal, James Carville, and Larry Flynt), but even gave it a star.



5. Contrary to other reviews listed here, this contains many facts--and most aren't in dispute. This book gives you a true picture of both Clintons, not the spin images of the national media. My complaint? Tyrrell is not the writer he thinks his is, and the style grows tiresome.

4 comments about Thomas Jefferson: America's Paradoxical Patriot.

1. I found it rather difficult to finish this rather long book. (422 pages not including endnotes and index). Length, however, was not what made it difficult. For some reason Alf J. Mapp believes it necessary to use difficult language at nearly every turn when such language is not necessary. I consider myself an above average reader and I must say that I struggled all the way through. The book would have been far more enjoyable had Mapp conversed in a style more acceptable to those of us who aren't quite up to his education level.
   
   His use of language, quite frankly, makes his biography quite boring. Unless you're a collector of Jefferson books as I am, I would recommend getting your biography elsewhere.



2. This volume is the first of Mapp's two volume biography of Jefferson. It concludes at the time of Jefferson's first election as President of the United States. The author has done extensive research on the events of Jefferson's life and the circumstances of the days during which he lived. He benefited from access to materials at the College of William and Mary, Jefferson's and Mapp's alma mater.
   
   The writing style is academic in nature. This is not a book written to be widely purchased by the book-buying public. Many will find the writing style to be burdensome. But, the depth of detail on Jefferson is enough to satisfy the most ardent Jefferson-phile.
   
   The last chapter of this volume is a discussion of whether Jefferson is a liberal or a conservative. Mapp has written a very enjoyable and enlightening discussion that highlights the contradictions of Jefferson's life. For example, slavery versus "all men are created equal" or his purchase of the Louisiana Territory without Congressional approval versus his antipathy for a monarchial President and his leanings toward very limited government action. All of this forms the framework for a discussion that is on point with political ideologies of the current times. The suggestion by Mapp that Jefferson's contradictions are born of his great intelligence and the ability to see every side of every issue is a very intriguing notion. If you were to read no other chapter of the book, this last chapter would be worth the time and may even stir the reader to start at the beginning and read the whole book.



3. This is a decent book. I was truly excited about reading it. I was particularly fascinated by the author's use of the paradoxes of Jefferson's words and deeds.

   However, I found it hard to read due to the author's needlessly pretentious word choice. My appetence for consummating the reading of this tome was stymied by a repetitious exigence to avail myself of a dictionary due to polysyllabic profundity. ;-)




4. Alf J. Mapp, Jr.'s biography of Thomas Jefferson, A Strange Case of Mistaken Identity, successfully conveys the unique personality qualities that resided in one of our most influential and least understood Founding Fathers.

   Rereading this biography on the heels of the Clinton Presidency one is struck by the similarities and differences between these two politicians. While Jefferson's intellect and accomplishments will never be equalled by William Jefferson Clinton, the outgoing incumbent shares certain characteristics with his namesake which the Mapp biography lucidly described five years before Clinton ran for office. The major difference between these two men may be that Thomas Jefferson did not hunger after the public's love the way a modern politician must in order to succeed. It is also highly doubtful that the American Public today would ever vote for an intellectual of such obviously of artistic temperment and intellect as the 3rd President. The "Elvis Presley" folksy charm of Bill Clinton is probably why he succeeded in his quest while Al Gore fell short in the Electoral College. Mapp's book succeeds in bringing forth what eluded many biographers before him, and that is the intensity of the passion and animosity that Thomas Jefferson stimulated in his politican adversaries. In this he clearly brings our outgoing current President to mind.

   There are other parallels between the Jefferson legacy and the Clinton White House, the commitment to internationalism for one, and an egalitarian commitment to popular access to higher education for another. But the times and the men are ultimately different, and understanding this basic fact is made most palbable by Mapp's major contribution to a considerable trove of already existing Jefferson literature.

4 comments about Politics & Pot Roast: An Unofficial, Unauthorized & Completely Unclassified Cookbook.

1. I received this as a gift from a friend who knows I love food and politics. It is terrific with a huge span of notable "recipe contributers", and great anecdotes that accompany the recipes. I ended up buying several more to give as gifts to friends who enjoy the banter, and love getting together for a good meal. Also bought as gifts for family from abroad, visiting Washington DC. I have enjoyed using the recipes for 4th of July, and Memorial (or was it Labor?) Day, as they make great conversation pieces - NOT that I need ideas for conversation :)!



2. More than just a good cookbook, great anecdotes on every president. I'm a high school history teacher, and found out funny facts I didn't know! The recipes are great too, the book worked as a great theme for my Fourth of July party, and everyond loved the food. I would maybe avoid Eisenhower's squirrel stew, but some of my favorites are Thomas Jefferson's macaroos, Lyndon B Johnson's barbeque sauce, and Mamie Eisenhower's fudge is amazing (but not very Atkin's friendly!).



3. With entries for every president and first lady, this book is more than a compendium of recipes. It is an entertaining collection of historical anecdotes including recipes reflecting the culinary habits of our highest elected officials. A perfect gift for anyone in Washington, DC, for a cook who thinks they've seen it all, or a US history buff. The reader is bound to be amused, entertained and well fed. A cookbook that can sit by your bedside table for light reading as easily as used in the kitchen. Five stars for combining history and good food.



4. Last evening I read "Politics & Pot Roast"-and thoroughly enjoyed it. I already have several "White House" cookbooks, but I think Sarah's book is exceptional. She's done a great job of combining interesting recipes and amusing anecdotes about both the Presidents and their wives (many of which I had never read before.) I think the book is just the right size too. This book will be a hit!
   Signed,
   A cookbook fan (I own more than 800 cookbooks!)