THE BULLY PULPIT: THEODORE ROOSEVELT, WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT, AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF JOURNALISM by Doris Kearns Goodwin

One of the most important friendships in American History was the relationship between Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. They had a strong bond that lasted for years and then over a short period of time their friendship began to sour resulting in a schism in the Republican Party that caused them to lose the presidential election of 1912 to the Democrat, Woodrow Wilson. Many historians have reached numerous conclusions as to why Teddy and Will went from being the best of friends to political enemies. In her new book, THE BULLY PULPIT: THEODORE ROOSEVELT, WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT, AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF JOURNALISM, Pulitzer Prize winning historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin goes beyond the issue of friendship between Roosevelt and Taft and has written three books in one that she masterfully integrates as she presents her narrative. First, the reader is offered a detailed biography of Theodore Roosevelt, next we are exposed to detailed biography of William Howard Taft, and lastly, and most importantly Goodwin explores the world of investigative journalism, what Roosevelt eventually referred to as the “muckrakers,” primarily through a history of McClure’s Magazine and their well known stable of journalists. Goodwin does a remarkable job synthesizing a vast amount of material as she merges the lives of S.S. McClure, Ida Tarbell, Ray Stannard Baker, William Allen White, Lincoln Steffens, and others throughout her narrative. The main strength of the book is her argument that it was the influence of these investigative journalists that fostered the Progressive reform era at the turn of the twentieth century. She argues further that Roosevelt’s colorful personality and drive allowed him to develop reciprocal relationships with these writers that fostered public pressure on a small group of conservative Senate Republicans that brought about the reforms of the Roosevelt era. Goodwin writes, “this generation of gifted reporters ushered in a new generation of investigative reporting that allowed Theodore Roosevelt to turn the presidency into the ‘bully pulpit’ to achieve reform.” (xiii) On the other hand, Taft’s personality and laid back approach to politics did not allow him to achieve the same type of working relationships with the press and he lost the ability to codify and expand upon Roosevelt’s legacy, “underscoring the pivotal importance of the ‘bully pulpit’ in presidential leadership.” (xiv) In the background, Goodwin tells the story of the friendship between these two men and why it did not survive the political theater of the day.

The narrative begins with the standard biographical information of both men. In terms of Roosevelt there is nothing that is really new as this story has been well mined by the likes of Kathleen Dalton, Edmund Morris, Henry Pringle and others. The information on Taft is more interesting in that fewer biographies of the twenty-seventh president have been written. In terms of Goodwin’s thesis what is important at the outset is how she compares the personality traits of the two men as they mature as individuals and politicians. We learn that as a child Roosevelt was a fragile and sickly and developed “a fierce determination to escape an invalid’s fate [that] led him to transform his body and timid demeanor through strenuous work. Taft, on the other hand, blessed from birth with robust health, would allow his physical strength and energy to gradually dissipate over the years into a state of obesity.” (34) At Harvard, Roosevelt was a “slender young man with side-whiskers, eyeglasses, and bright red cheeks. While Taft’s sturdy physique, genial disposition, and emphatic manner won immediate popularity at Yale.” (42) On the one hand was an individual who suffered from a inferiority complex who would work his entire life striving for superiority to overcome this self-perception, while Taft developed into a secure person who he was self-aware and accepted his limitations. According to Goodwin, these traits explain a great deal about the course of their careers and their successes and failures.

Goodwin’s frequent verbatim entries into her narrative allow the reader to feel as if they are experiencing life with Roosevelt and Taft. Both men had the good fortune of growing up as favored children in close knit families. Where Taft “developed an accommodating disposition to please a giving father who cajoled him to do better,” Roosevelt “forever idolized a dead father who cajoled him to do more and do better.” (48) The correspondence that Goodwin includes between these sons and their fathers provide interesting insights into their formative years and development of their personalities. Roosevelt learned early on in his career as a New York State Assemblyman the value of the press as he sought a journalistic alliance when he went after a corrupt judge who was a puppet of financier Jay Gould, and learned about poverty from touring tenements with Samuel Gompers. The assembly and his stint as New York City Police Commissioner provided Roosevelt with an important education, as opposed to Taft who shunned the very spotlight that the future Rough Rider craved. Taft favored to fight his battles from the inside, trusting logic, reason, and facts. Taft always tried to avoid controversy, and would hardly ever compromise his principles as he tried to balance the rights of labor with the rights of capital as a superior court judge.

As both men evolved in their careers Goodwin relates the deeply personal details of their personal lives. Goodwin does a nice job exploring Roosevelt’s emotional trauma whether dealing with the deaths of his father, mother, or his first wife Alice. Goodwin provides intimate details reflecting a side of Roosevelt that was not open to the public. His “recourtship” and marriage of his childhood friend, Edith Carow is especially enlightening as Roosevelt had pledged never to remarry, and reflect the author’s insights and handling of their rekindled relationship, a topic that seems missing from most biographies of Roosevelt. For Taft, the love of his life was Nellie Herron who after their marriage would be the driving force behind her husband’s career. At each level ranging from his role as Solicitor-General, a judgeship on the Federal 6^th Circuit District Court, Governor-Generalship of the Philippines, as Secretary of War and then his presidential campaigns, Nellie was his most trusted advisor and confidante. Later, when she suffers a stroke and is incapacitated, Taft will make a series of mistakes that greatly affect his career.

As Goodwin breezes along with the narrative through Roosevelt’s presidency, coverage is not equally distributed. The emphasis of the first half of the book is on Roosevelt, followed by significant sections on investigative journalists, and the remainder on Taft. From my perspective I would have liked more emphasis to have been placed on the journalistic component of the story because Goodwin brings a great detail of refreshing new material to the fore. Her discussion of S.S. McClure, the founder of the magazine of that name is wonderful. Throughout the book the reader is presented with an egomaniac, who suffers from manic-depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, but despite these “limitations,” the man is a literary genius. McClure travels the world to find writers for his new publication with emphasis on the literary, but also investigative articles that will propel a new generation of writers to the American reading public that will foster careers allowing them entrance into the corridors of power, particularly that of Theodore Roosevelt, and engender a tremendous amount of influence as they prepare articles that support major legislative reforms. The private lives of Tarbell, Baker, Steffens and White are chronicled as well as their personal relationship which created a family-like atmosphere at McClure’s. Ida Tarbell’s research and writings dealing with trusts, especially John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, and examination of the tariff structure in the United States are thoughtful and set the stage for Roosevelt’s reputation as a trust buster and a proponent of lower tariffs. John Stannard Baker’s investigation into labor practices and political corruption are the basis for labor legislation and a movement to reform representative democracy. Lincoln Steffens’ SHAME OF THE CITIES educates the American public about political bossism and corruption on the state and local level. William Allen White served as Roosevelt’s eyes and ears in the Midwest from his perch as editor of the Emporia Gazette headquartered in the small town of Emporia, Kansas. Lastly, Upton Sinclair, who was not part of the McClure’s team, novel, THE JUNGLE sent a message to congress about conditions in the meat-packing industry that culminated in the creation of the Food and Drug Administration and regulation of the meat-packing industry, and Jacob Riis, also not part of the McClure’s family educated Roosevelt on the role of poverty in the United States. In all cases Roosevelt established a relationship with these journalists, inviting them to the White House, sharing speeches with them in advance, and gaining their confidence that he proof read some of their articles. This relationship, along with the publicity that McClure’s and other magazines engendered created a climate whereby the Republican conservatives in the Senate who were tied to different industrial trusts eventually had to compromise and give in. As a result Goodwin’s conclusion as to the historical importance of this group of writers cannot be underestimated.

Much of the book is focused on domestic issues but certain important foreign policy problems receive coverage. The traditional story of the Spanish-American War and Roosevelt’s role are related and its affect on the Rough Rider’s growing political profile. As a result of the war the United States acquired control of the Philippines and it is here that Taft reenters the picture as Governor-General of the archipelago. It is at this juncture of his career that Taft is happiest. He enjoys the everyday intricacies of governing and he treats the Filipino people as fairly as possible when compared to the imperialists in the United States. It is interesting to compare Taft’s views on race with that of the social Darwinists views of Roosevelt. Once he is recalled by Roosevelt, who succeeded to the presidency following the McKinley assassination, Taft delays his departure as long as he can until he takes over as Secretary of War. The other major foreign policy issue that the Roosevelt administration is known for is the building of the Panama Canal, or as Roosevelt stated, “I stole it!” Here Goodwin offers a perfunctory approach, but there is little to add to David McCullough’s THE PATHWAY BETWEEN THE SEAS.

The best way to compare how Roosevelt and Taft approached reform and used the levers of presidential power is to compare a few of the many problems that Goodwin explores in depth. The best place to begin is to develop a definition of what progressive reform was in the eyes of Roosevelt which Goodwin does not do. For Roosevelt all trusts were not bad, and conservation was not radical environmentalism. In Robert Wiebe’s BUSINESS AND REFORM AND THE SEARCH FOR ORDER we learn that Roosevelt believed in the concept of “efficiency.” If a trust was deemed to be efficient and benefited the American people and they abided by certain government strictures, Roosevelt saw no reason to go after them. As far as conservation, Roosevelt wanted to conserve America’s land and resources for future generations, but he also allowed their development, if done in a practical manner, and benefited society as a whole. It is interesting that most progressives were not wide eyed radicals, but mostly middle class individuals who wanted to grow the American economy for the benefit of all. In examining Roosevelt’s anti-trust suit against the Northern Securities Company, the Beef Trust, and Standard Oil, we see an executive who uses the levers of power and the publicity generated by his investigative journalist compatriots. In gaining passage of his reform program which turned the 59^th Congress into one of the most productive in American history Roosevelt had to overcome the opposition of a small group of Republican conservative senators who could block any legislation, sound familiar! Roosevelt fed information to Ray Stannard Baker who wrote a six part series for McClure’s, entitled, “The Railroads on Trial.” Goodwin provides interesting excerpts of their correspondence and the information that passed between the two was essential in creating a bill to set maximum rates railroad companies could charge. After wheeling and dealing, the Hepburn Act emerged that allowed the Interstate Commerce Commission to set maximum rates. After reading THE JUNGLE by Upton Sinclair, Roosevelt sent investigators to Chicago, which in the end resulted in the Meat Inspection Act. Finally, Roosevelt met with Mark Sullivan the author of a series of articles for Collier’s Magazine that described the contents of the food Americans consumed as well as industrial practices in their preparation, the result was the Pure Food and Drug Act. As in most cases, Roosevelt would use the “bully pulpit” to gain public support for his reform legislation. As Goodwin describes further, it was not uncommon for the president to travel across the country by railroad to educate the American public and gain their support.

In comparing Roosevelt’s approach with that of Taft after he assumed the presidency there are two glaring examples that reflect poorly on the Ohio native. The tariff issue has dogged most presidents throughout American history. Taft was seen as a conservative Republican who was tied to eastern corporate interests. Taft himself wanted to lower the tariff on certain items and make it easier for the Philippines to export goods to the United States. Taft’s approach was to gain support for legislation through personal relationships rather than “the big stick through the press.” During the 1908 presidential campaign Taft promised tariff reform. When Ida Tarbell wrote a series of articles explaining how high tariffs plagued the poor Taft was in a political corner. Much like President Obama he had recalcitrant conservatives to deal with, particularly Speaker of the House Joseph Cannon. Taft feeling he had no choice decided to support Cannon as he believed it would be very difficult to oust him from the Speaker’s chair. The Payne-Aldrich Tariff that emerged did little to satisfy Republican insurgents who had enough with the conservative minority in Congress. If that was not bad enough Taft’s public declaration after meeting with Cannon that the “conservative leadership’s promise to prepare an honest and thorough revision of the tariff” made him optimistic for the future reflected how weak he appeared. “Perhaps it was inevitable that Taft’s temperament-his aversion to dissension and preference for personal persuasion-would ultimately lead him to work within the system rather than mobilize external pressure from the “bully pulpit.” (588)

Another example of Taft’s political implosion in relation to his relationship with Roosevelt took place while the former president was traveling in Africa. Gifford Pinchot, the Director of the Forest Service was a close friend of Roosevelt and shared his conservation views. When Taft became president he replaced John Garfield as Secretary of the Interior with Richard Ballinger. The first dust up occurred because when Roosevelt left the White House he had withdrawn 1.5 million acres of federal land along sixteen rivers in western states to prevent corporate takeovers of the land as the railroad and oil industry had done. Upon taking office, Ballinger who was a former corporate lawyer restored the land to the public domain leading Pinchot to publicly condemn the action that he felt would result in the creation of a “waterpower trust.” Next, Ballinger allowed a Seattle syndicate access to 5000 acres of Alaskan land for development. It turned out that the spokesperson for the syndicate was tied to coal interests and before he was appointed as Interior Secretary Ballinger had been their legal counsel. Goodwin explores this situation in her usual detail and points out that Ballinger may have done nothing wrong, but insurgents led by Pinchot never forgave Taft for firing John Garfield and a political scandal ensued culminating in a nasty congressional investigation. Whether this was a true scandal is irrelevant because of the way Taft handled it. When Louis Brandeis the attorney for the Pinchot forces learned that certain documents were predated by the Attorney General all was lost. Taft should have fired Ballinger, but instead kept him on even after the investigation. Goodwin is correct in stating, “The bitter struggle had consumed the attention of the country for more than a year. Reformers’ faith in the president, already weakened by the tariff struggle, had plummeted.” (627) Once Roosevelt was brought up to date by Pinchot as to what had occurred the Roosevelt-Taft relationship was at the tipping point. What would push it over the edge was the Taft administration’s filing of an anti-trust suit against U.S. Steel. With Roosevelt’s return to the United States and his embankment on a sixteen week tour of the west, a progressive-conservative split in the Republican Party was at hand.

The U.S. Steel issue angered Roosevelt because during the Panic of 1907 it was the work of J.P. Morgan in agreement with the then president that if Morgan assisted the government his company would not be the target of an anti-trust suit. This led to accusations and counter accusations headlined in newspapers across the United States between Roosevelt and Taft forces. By 1912 the Republican Party rupture was complete. Goodwin provides in depth analysis and details of the split that led Roosevelt to challenge Taft for the Republican nomination, and failing that, forming the Bull Moose Party that led to the election of Woodrow Wilson. The campaign was extremely nasty and one could never imagine that the two former presidents would ever rekindle their relationship. Goodwin does their relationship justice as she describes the emotional reunion before Roosevelt’s death. In 1921, President Harding nominated Taft as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a position he longed for his entire career.

Goodwin’s final analysis of their Roosevelt-Taft relationship is accurate. When she states in closing that the “two men had strikingly different temperaments [but] their opposing qualities actually proved complimentary, allowing them to forge a powerful camaraderie and rare collaboration” that during Roosevelt’s presidency brought progressive reform to the nation. Under Taft, that legacy may seem to have been tarnished, but there were many progressive reforms that seem to have slipped past the public’s awareness. After reading Goodwin’s encyclopedic narrative my opinion of Roosevelt remains the same, a man driven by a large ego who was responding to unconscious needs that revert back to his earlier life. For Taft my view has changed; he was exceptionally competent in many areas, and though limited by his own personality and loyalty to what he perceived to be constitutionally correct emerges as the larger man (not physically!) than his lifelong friend. Goodwin has mined an enormous amount of material as she has done in all her books. If you are interested in exploring an age in American history that is rich in substance and contains many interesting characters then sit back and enjoy Goodwin’s latest work.

THE COLLABORATOR OF BETHLEHEM by Matt Rees

February 4, 2014szfreiberger Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thrillers Leave a comment

As a voracious reader of mysteries that have a contemporary political bent I always look forward to title suggestions from others. Last week a friend introduced me to Matt Benyon Rees and his protagonist, Omar Yussef. After reading THE COLLABORATOR OF BETHLEHEM the first of four “Yussef” books, I am sold. Jo Nesbo, Henning Mankell and others of their ilk have nothing on Mr. Rees who has created an evocative character that allows the reader to enter the byzantine politics of the Palestinian movement and its war against Israeli occupation by employing a newly created detective investigating his first crime. In reality, Yussef is a school teacher who is being forced to retire at the age of fifty-six and due to events he is forced, as a matter of honor to try and assist a former student who is falsely accused and arrested for collaborating with the Israelis. The story follows Yussef’s journey to free his protégé and the murderous events that ensue.
Mr. Rees is a superb writer who possesses a strong knowledge of Arab and Muslim traditions which he weaves throughout the narrative. The accuracy of the background political and social mores and institutions provides the reader their own education to try and understand why peace has been so difficult to achieve between Palestinians and Israelis since 1948. The author covers the gamut of issues that confront Israel and the Palestinians today; suicide bombings, corrupt leadership, the “iron fist” of Israeli occupation, and the effects of these policies on the Palestinian people. I recommend this book very highly and I look forward to reading the next one in the series, A GRAVE IN GAZA.

THE BROTHERS: JOHN FOSTER DULLES,. ALLEN DULLES AND THEIR SECRET WORLD WAR by Stephen Kinzer

February 4, 2014szfreiberger American Diplomatic History, Biography, Cold War Leave a comment

Having written or co-authored books on the overthrow of Mohammad Mossadegh, ALL THE SHAH’S MEN, Jacobo Arbenz, BITTER FRUIT, and a general compendium of American coups in OVERTHROW it seems inevitable that Stephen Kinzer, an award winning foreign correspondent for the New York Times would proceed to publish a work on the two men whose goal centered on maintaining American corporate interests abroad and were obsessed with the concept that indigenous nationalism was another term for communism. Kinzer has accomplished his mission in his new dual biography of John Foster and Allen Welsh Dulles who served respectfully as Secretary of State and Director of the CIA during the Eisenhower administration. In THE BROTHERS: JOHN FOSTER DULLES, ALLEN DULLES AND THEIR SECRET WORLD WAR Kinzer presents an in depth study of Foster and Allen (as he refers to them in the book) as they implement American foreign policy during the Cold War. The author goes beyond the analysis of the individual decisions that they made as he places events within the context of American foreign policy today. As a result he reaches the conclusion that both men were active proponents of what has been termed “American Exceptionalism,” which many of our leaders still affirm, and their actions help explain many of the foreign policy problems the United States currently faces. Since the work of the Dulles brothers still rings true today, “understanding what they did, and why they did it, is a step toward understanding why the United States acts as it does in the world.” (328) If that was what Kinzer was trying to achieve in his latest work, he has been remarkably successful.

Kinzer minces no words as he traces the early years of the brothers. The reader sees that foreign policy and government overthrow were in their DNA as their grandfather; John Watson Foster was Secretary of State in 1893 when he helped direct the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy. Keeping with tradition, Eleanor Dulles, Foster and Allen’s sister married Robert Lansing, who became Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson. For the brothers many doors were opened by these family connections including positions at the Wall Street law firm, Sullivan and Cromwell. It was early in Foster’s legal career during W.W.I. under the auspices of “Uncle Bert,” (Robert Lansing’s nickname) that he participated in his first foreign intervention as Sullivan and Cromwell clients’ interests were threatened in Cuba in 1917. Foster and Uncle Bert agreed to send American destroyers to Cuba along with marines to protect American corporate clients. As Kinzer correctly points out it showed Foster “how easy it can be for a rich and powerful country, guided by the wishes of its wealthiest corporations, to impose its will on a poor and weak one.” (25)

Foster became the managing partner at Sullivan and Cromwell at the age of thirty-eight at a time when the United States went from a debtor nation to a creditor nation for the first time. New York would replace London as the world’s financial capital and wealthy Americans spread their money and financial interests around the world, and those wealthy Americans “clamored for Sullivan and Cromwell’s services. “The list of those Foster represented reads like a guide to the upper reaches of American commerce, manufacturing, and finance.” (37-38) It was from this perch that Foster and Allen, who joined the firm in 1926, would develop their unquestioned belief in “liberal internationalism,” the idea “that trouble in the world came from misunderstanding among ruling elites, not from social or political injustices, and that commerce could reduce or eliminate this trouble. This was a refined version of the ‘open door’ policy the United States had embraced for decades… [a policy] aimed at forcing other countries to accept trade agreements favorable to American interests. At its core was the reassuring belief that whatever benefited American business would ultimately benefit everyone.” (55-56) According to Kinzer it was this firm belief held by the brothers that guided them through their careers whether it was support for Hitler and the Nazis before Pearl Harbor or the myriad coups they arranged to protect American corporate interests in the 1950s.

World War II found Allen’s career in espionage take off as a member of William Donavan’s inner circle at the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), first as a station chief in New York then moving to Bern, Switzerland to develop American spy capabilities in Europe. He was able to create a web of spies that allowed the United States to learn what was happening behind enemy lines and inside Nazi Germany itself. Following the war Allen’s career took a hit as President Truman abolished the OSS. During the war Foster emerged as one of the top two foreign policy spokespersons for the Republican party (Arthur Vandenberg was the other) as an advisor to Thomas Dewey who ran for President in 1944 and 1948. It was during this period that Foster honed his view of communism that began in the 1920s as the Soviet Union struggled to survive. By the end of WWII Foster was warning that the Soviet Union was bent on “eradicating the non-Soviet type of society and that if the United States did not strike back, an alien faith will isolate us and press in on us to a point where we shall have be faced with surrender or with a new war.” (83)

The shift in American foreign policy in 1950 was embodied in NSC-68, a document that redefined the communist threat and by arguing “that the Soviet Union, unlike previous aspirants to hegemony, is animated by a new fanatic faith, antithetical to our own, and seeks to impose its absolute authority over the rest of the world.” As a result Truman now facing the North Korean invasion of the south immediately asked Congress for $10 billion to expand the army. After the North Korean attack Walter Bedell Smith became head of the CIA and named Allen as Deputy Director of Operations. By 1952 with the election of Dwight Eisenhower as President, Smith became Undersecretary of State, allowing Allen to replace him as head of the CIA, and Foster became Secretary of State. Now all was in place for the brothers. As Kinzer points out, never in history did two siblings hold such powerful offices together and their missionary zeal, belief in American exceptionalism, years of defending corporate interests, and a view of themselves as instruments of destiny would now be put to the test.

When one reads THE BROTHERS, the author’s command of his material as he synthesizes the most important works on Foster and Allen is readily apparent. This is true as he explores how the brothers overthrew of Mohammad Mossedegh in Iran, removed Jacobo Arbenz from power in Guatemala, tried to deal with Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, sought to win Gamal Abdul Nasser to the western point of view, failed to replace President Sukarno in Indonesia, participated in the murder of Patrice Lumumba in the Congo, and failed to cope with Fidel Castro leading to failure at the Bay of Pigs. In all instances the brothers refused to accept the concept of indigenous nationalism and argued that it was nothing more than an excuse for communism. They made no attempt at understanding Third World nationalism and its roots. Once independence was gained many former colonies joined a “neutralist” movement highlighted by the Bandung Conference in 1955. The brothers saw neutral nations as nothing more than communist puppets. They refused to engage “the aspirations of hundreds of millions of people who were emerging from colonialism and looking for their place in a tumultuous world.” (313)

When one thinks about all the covert operations attempted in the 1950s one must ask were the brothers totally responsible and what role did President Eisenhower play. For many years historians assumed that John Foster Dulles set the agenda and Eisenhower allowed him to carry it out. During the last twenty years as further and further documentation emerged the reverse is now believed. One of the first to argue this view was Richard Immerman in his HIDDEN HAND DIPLOMACY and I found in my own research for DAWN OVER SUEZ that Eisenhower held the levers of power and he used them. According to Kinzer it was Ike who ordered the death of Patrice Lumumba, it was Ike who was the guiding hand behind the Bay of Pigs operation. In these and other “coups” the only thing that mattered to Eisenhower was that they be successful and could not be traced back to the United States. According to Blanche Wesson Cooke in her study DECLASSIFIED EISENHOWER there were more coups attempted during the Eisenhower administration than any other in American history. As Richard Bissell, the CIA operative in charge of the Bay of Pigs recalled, “Eisenhower was a tough man behind that smile.” (293)

Kinzer discussion of the overthrow of Mohammad Mossedegh in 1953 was a recapitulation of material he presented in his previous works. Operation AJAX was fully approved by Eisenhower and Foster’s law firm Sullivan and Cromwell had the most to lose once Mossedegh came to power as one of Allen’s most important clients, “the J. Henry Shroder Banking Corporation served as the financial agent for Anglo-Iranian Oil Company… It also jolted Foster who was then seeking business in Iran for another Sullivan and Cromwell client, the Chase Manhattan Bank.” (123) Mossedegh’s attempt at having the Iranian people benefit from its country’s own resources was abhorrent to the Dulles brothers because of self-interest which was couched in virulent anti-communism. After the overthrow of Mossedegh the next target was Jacobo Arbenz the president of Guatemala who wanted to institute land reform. His proposal was simple, it required large landowners to sell the uncultivated part of their holdings to the government for redistribution to peasant families. The problem was that the United Fruit Company, a Dulles client of which Foster held stock in controlled 85% of Guatemala’s uncultivated land. As Kinzer pointed out in a previous book he co-authored on the Guatemalan coup, BITTER FRUIT, the United Fruit Company was the power and the Guatemalan government was the subsidiary. Arbenz was overthrown and Brother’s policy in Central America was clear, “they embraced the regions dictators while working to undermine its few democracies.” (159) The next target for the brothers was Ho Chi Minh who had written President Truman and asked him to support Vietnamese independence and not allow the French to return after WWII. The rationale was simple, “they singled him out not simply because who he was, but where he was. Europe had settled into its Cold War pattern, and although Foster and Allen still considered it the center of the world, they believed the front line had moved to East Asia. They mistakenly saw China as a pawn of the Soviet Union, and Ho, also mistakenly, as a puppet of both.” (176) Following the defeat of the French at Dienbienphu, the Geneva Conference in April, 1954 decided to divide Vietnam at the 17^th parallel, Ho receiving the north, and the new western mandarin, Ngo Dinh Diem as the leader of the south. In addition within two years elections would be held to unify the country. Edward Landsdale was the CIA operative in charge of dealing with coup. His instructions were clear, to recreate his earlier success in the Philippines when he installed Ramon Magsaysay to national leadership and crushed a guerilla insurgency. Landsdale could not repeat history and by early 1956 it was clear Ho might garner 85% of the vote. Landsdale’s major success was organizing the mass movement of one million Catholics from the north to the south by employing psy-ops and other propaganda means. Since Diem was a catholic (in a country that was 90% Buddhist) he thought it could help solidify Diem’s reign after the United States refused to allow an election to take place. For the United States the Vietnam War had begun.

The only area that I have reservations about Kinzer’s analysis is the Middle East. As mentioned earlier the Dulles brothers abhorred the concept of neutralism and the neutral bloc that emerged from the Bandung Conference in 1955. One of its leaders was Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser. Kinzer skirts over all American policy in dealing with Nasser up until the United States reneged on a deal in July 1956 to build the Aswan Dam. He fails to discuss secret project ALPHA which was designed to try and bring about peace between Israel and Egypt and then use Nasser as sort of a pied piper in leading the other Arab states into a Middle East Defense Pact. Nasser played the United States along until a peace mission led by former Secretary of the Treasury Robert Anderson finally failed. The result was a shift in US policy. At a National Security Council meeting on March 28, 1956 Eisenhower and his Secretary of State implemented Operation OMEGA designed to replace Nasser as the preferred Arab leader with King Saud of Saudi Arabia and the withdrawal of food and other financial aid that was designated for Egypt. A March 28 Dulles memo concluded that “planning should be undertaken at once with a view to possibly more drastic action in the event the above courses of action do not have the desired effect.” (Memorandum from the Secretary of State to the President, March 28, 1956, Eisenhower Library, Ann Whitman File) Kinzer further skirts Foster disingenuousness after Nasser seized the Suez Canal in July, 1956 and fails to mention that on October 29, 1956 the same day that Israel invaded the Sinai as part of its conspiracy with England and France that led to the Suez War, an American-sponsored coup was scheduled to take place in Syria, which because of the invasion was rescinded. (DAWN OVER SUEZ, 188) Kinzer correctly points to the issuance of the Eisenhower Doctrine in January, 1957 as another attempt to control communism in the Middle East, but Dulles’ policy in the region would be a failure especially with the overthrow of the pro-western Nuri al-Said and King Feisal II in Iraq in 1958 by the military, and the continued machinations by Nasser throughout the region as he emerged from the Suez War as an Arab hero. Kinzer quotes historian Ray Takeyh who believes that Suez was “a sideshow that disrupted Eisenhower’s policy of covertly undermining Nasser and his radical allies.” (224). I would respectfully disagree as events in France under DeGaulle, Foster’s move to get closer to Israel, and the complete failure of the Eisenhower Doctrine have shown.

As the 1950s was drawing to a close the Dulles brothers continued to pursue foreign policy by coup despite the fact that their record was not as stellar as they believed. When President Sukarno became a major proponent of neutralism in Indonesia and accepted $100 million dollar loan from the Soviet Union in 1957, the brothers began planning a military coup with disgruntled officers. In the end, Operation ARCHIPELAGO’s attempt to foment a civil war by providing weapons, planes and other logistics was concluded in failure. By May, 1958 the coup was called off as The Director of the CIA called the Secretary of State and told him “We’re pulling the plug.” (241) After Foster died in 1959, Allen was left to deal with the next target on the American “hit list,” Patrice Lumumba, the newly elected president of an independent Congo. Both the United States and Belgium, the former colonial overlord of the Congo, opposed Lumumba because the southeastern province of Katanga was “an invaluable source for industrial diamonds, and strategic metals like copper, manganese, zinc, cobalt and chromium.” (260) Once Lumumba began speaking out against the colonialism that dominated the Congo’s past he had to disappear. Working with Belgium, President Eisenhower order Lumumba’s murder, and for the first time an American president ordered the death of a foreign leader. The United States and Belgium fostered the secession of the Katanga province under the leadership of Joseph Mobutu, a Congolese military officer, who had Lumumba captured, tortured, and then murdered. Not what Allen Dulles had expected. The last failure of the Dulles reign of coups was the Bay of Pigs. So much has been written about this catastrophe, but Kinzer brings up a number of interesting points. First, Allen Dulles did not direct the operation, he put it in the hands of Richard Bissell. Dulles’ hand off approach would cost him a great deal in the end to his reputation and it eventually cost him his job. Secondly, Eisenhower was directly involved at all stages of planning and was able to convince John F. Kennedy to continue the operation once the senator from Massachusetts was elected president. Kennedy would fire Dulles and because of the Bay of Pigs fiasco developed an aversion to accepting advice from the CIA and the Pentagon at face value.

The Brothers policy of replacing governments was mostly a failure if one takes into account the long range implications of what they tried to accomplish. Allen emerges “not the brilliant spymaster many believed him to be. Nearly every one of his major covert operations failed or nearly failed. Foster’s diplomatic planning and Allen’s operational failures spread all across the globe: Berlin, Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Laos, Burma, Indonesia, Tibet, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Cuba, and beyond.” (319) In the end Foster and Allen could not have attempted what they had without the complete support of President Eisenhower. In the final analysis, “Foster and Allen were born into privilege and steeped in the ethos of pioneers and missionaries. They spent decades promoting the business and strategic interests of the United States. More than any two figures of their age, they were the vessels of American history. No other secretary of state or director of central intelligence could have done what they did. Only brothers could have achieved it—and only these two.” (319) As Kinzer correctly points out, we are still reaping the “lack of benefits” from what they sowed—this is why this book is an important read.

THE BERLIN-BAGHDAD RAILWAY by Sean McMeekin

February 4, 2014szfreiberger Middle Eastern History Leave a comment

Sean McMeekin is a historian who specializes in the diplomacy of World War I and has written an interesting survey of Turkish-German relations leading up to and during the “Great War.” The author concentrates on the role and construction of the Berlin-Baghdad Railway project that was designed to allow Germany to penetrate the Middle East and present the British with a diplomatic and economic defeat in the region. The railway was to counter the importance of the Suez Canal and was to be an integral part of Germany’s strategy to upset the balance of power in Europe and the Middle East. The book is well researched and documented and provides useful insights into German and Ottoman policies apart from the railyway itself, ie; Armenian massacre, Gallipoli. The important characters of the period, ie; Mustafa Kamal, Winston Churchill are discussed in detail resulting in a very satisfying read.

THE BAT by Jo Nesbo

February 4, 2014szfreiberger Mystery/Thrillers Leave a comment

During the first Harry Hole mystery Jo Nesbo takes the reader on a tour of Australia’s crime seen and ethnic problems. Hole investigates the murder of a woman from Oslo who has gone missing in Sydney. There are numerous twists and turns in the story and lays a sound foundation for the entire Harry Hole series. I could not find a copy of the US edition of the book but the UK edition that I read had an excellent translation. I recommend it very highly.

THE ABSENT ONE by Jussi Alder-Olsen

February 4, 2014szfreiberger Mystery/Thrillers Leave a comment

The group of mystery writers from the Baltic region has a new and exciting colleague. The likes of Jo Nesbo, Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell are joined by Jussi Adler-Olsen now that all are in English translation. Adler-Olsen’s The Absent One takes the reader on a thrilling journey centering on a former boarding school clique that acted out their fantasies through gruesome crimes. As he did in his previous novel, The Keeper of Lost Causes the author employs the character of Detective Carl Morck, a brilliant investigator of the newly created Department Q of the Copenhagen Police Department, as he strips away layer upon layer of each character to provide psychological insights into events. Focusing on “Kimme” one of the leaders and ultimate victim of this school clique Morck is able to rally the members of his own small department and his own flawed personality to in the end solve years of unresolved murders. Every few pages the plot is altered slightly keeping the reader on their toes and at the end of the book Morck is once again deprived of his own personal satisfaction. This is a great read and fans of Adler-Olsen can look forward to his new Carl Morck based novel, A Conspiracy of Faith due to be released at the end of May.

TATIANA by Martin Cruz Smith

February 4, 2014szfreiberger Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thrillers Leave a comment

“What do you want? The murder of journalists, the beating of protesters, corruption at the top, the rape of natural resources by a circle of cronies, a fraudulent democracy, the erection of palaces, a hollow military. If you had been a source, the mention of any of this could earn you or someone close to you a bullet in the head. It’s all here in single-spaced articles.” (237) What follows is the culmination of Martin Cruz Smith’s eighth installment of his Arkady Renko series, TATIANA, a story that encapsulates the rot that exists in Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Arkady Renko is an investigator attached to the prosecutors office in Moscow who has survived the old Soviet Union and and finds himself in the “New Russia” under very similar circumstances. In his other adventures found in Smith’s earlier books, GORKY PARK, STALIN’S GHOST, POLAR STAR among others we meet a stubborn man who believes in the truth, in a society that does not. According to Smith during an interview on NPR’s Diane Rhems program last Monday, the character of Tatiana Petrovna is modeled after a Russian journalist who was murdered because her writing exposed the corruption that dominates the oligarchy that now controls Russia. That journalist was “Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative journalist who was a strident critic of the Kremlin, who was murdered in 2006…Amid international clamor for answers regarding her death, Mr. Putin…noted caustically that ‘the level of her influence on political life in Russia was utterly insignificant.’…Ms. Politkovskaya’s editor at Novaya Gazeta, Dimitri Muratov, has maintained from the beginning that she was killed because her investigations were threatening the financial interests of figures within Russia.” (New York Times, June 26, 2009).

The storyline in TATIANA reads as if it were another contemporary plot that was unfolding in Russia, this one centering on oligarchs or gangsters who hoped to reap millions of rubles involving a Chinese shipyard repair of a Russian submarine. Arkady Renko’s investigation includes; the Russian Defense Ministry, various Russian billionaires, details of high end cycling, and a number of unsavory characters that are based on Smith’s extensive research in Russia. The book begins with the murder of Tatiana and evolves from there. The usual twists and turns that one comes to expect from Smith permeate the plot carrying Renko from Moscow to Kaliningrad as he investigates the murder of Tatiana who supposedly jumped from her apartment and committed suicide. Renko learns that when she jumped that she screamed, something people who are taking there own lives do not usually do. With his interest peaked Renko is off and the reader is now engaged in another thriller that will keep them enthralled through the final page. I really do not want to give any more details because it will lessen the reading experience, but I guarantee if you enjoy international mysteries and want to gain insight into Putin’S Russia this will be a good read.

After completing the book I thought of the upcoming winter olympics in Sochi that had an initial budget of $12.5 billion that has now ballooned to over $50 billion. When Renko finally traps the perpetrators of the swindle which is the core of the novel, Ape, the nickname for one of the characters, responds to Renko’s concerns about having a Russian submarine refitted in China and the overall cost of $2billion, “Yes. It’s called outsourcing…Business costs. Totally normal. Administration of a task of this magnitude is often fifty percent of a budget.” (275) I guess that Sochi overruns are somewhat larger than expected, even by Russian standards

STILL FOOLIN ‘EM by Billy Crystal

February 4, 2014szfreiberger Biography Leave a comment

Ever since I saw When Harry Met Sally and City Slickers I have been a fan of Billy Crystal. Periodically he would pop up as the #1 fan of the New York Yankees thereby increasing his credibility with me. When I heard he had published a memoir, STILL FOOLIN ‘EM I knew it was a must read, I was not disappointed. Combining his wit, sarcasm, and knowledge of the human condition he has written a poignant autobiography that encompasses subtle political commentary, insights to his family and personality, and thoughts that we all have and usually are afraid to say. His Jewish upbringing, comments about his father, mother, and uncle allow the reader to enter Crystal’s inner world and since I have a similar background I found them funny and deeply personal. His friendships with numerous “show business” personalities lead to many hysterical reminiscences that show the humanity of many of his friends and well known “stars.” His relationship to the New York Yankees reflects well on the Steinbrenner family and the players he speaks of. At times I laughed, at times I shed tears as I read the book as it went by too quickly as I turned each page. If after the government “meltdown” we have just experienced you need a quick entertaining pick me up, Crystal delivers.

SASHA AND EMMA by Paul and Karen Avrich

February 4, 2014szfreiberger American Social History, Biography Leave a comment

Each day Americans are bombarded with news sound bites dealing with the actions of the National Security Administration and their machinations to keep citizens safe from terrorist attacks. The concept of terrorism has been in existence for centuries and is nothing new, but the new book by Paul and Karen Avrich, SASAH AND EMMA presents a fresh approach by exploring the rise of anarchism in America in the late 19th century. Anarchism is defined as the abolition of all government and the organization of society on a voluntary basis without resorting to force. According to Emma Goldman it is defined “as a philosophy of a new social order based on liberty, unrestricted by man-made law; the theory that all forms of government rest on violence, and therefore wrong and harmful, as well as unnecessary.” As anarchism developed in the United States part of the debate rested on whether to employ violence as a means to achieve goals, thereby using terrorism as a tactic for the overall good of humanity. In SASHA AND EMMA the reader is presented a dual biography of Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman integrated into the context of the rise of anarchist thought and actions in turn-of-the-century America.

“Before his death in 2006, Paul Avrich, a distinguished historian of anarchism, asked his daughter Karen, a writer and editor, to complete this book. The result is an account, at once densely detailed and lively, that traces the pair from their births in what is now Lithuania to their deaths in exile in the shadow of World War II. With generous contemporary accounts and Paul Averich’s interviews with anarchists and their children, as well as Berkman’s and Goldman’s extensive writings, the book draws readers into the lives of its characters.” (New York Times, December 7, 2012, “Anarchy in the U.S.A. by Elsa Dixler) The turning point for Berkman and Goldman was the Homestead Strike in Pennsylvania in 1892 which destroyed unionization of the steel industry until 1936. Berkman, who went by the name Sasha, acted out of emotion and conviction in trying to assassinate Henry Ford Frick who operated the steel complex for Andrew Carnegie in order “to galvanize workers to revolt…..as Frick was seen as the embodiment of the capitalist class.” (57-58) For Sasha it was not an act of violence or terror, but an act to try and liberate the working class. What is apparent throughout Averich’s discussion of the Homestead Strike is how naïve Berkman was at this point in his intellectual development and some might say he was living in what Kurt Vonnegut might describe as “cloud cuckoo land!” Averich does an excellent job in describing in detail the prosecution and imprisonment of Berkman. The description of Berkman’s odyssey in prison reflects the horrendous treatment of prisoners and the utter contempt most prison officials had for their charges. In fact, there seems to have been much in common between American prisons and those of Tsarist Russia. When Berkman is released from prison fourteen years later he emerges as a “thirty-five year thoughtful adult” who has become an exceptional linguist and a master of literature and writing that he would put into good use. (183)

During the time of Berkman’s imprisonment Goldman traveled and became involved in a number of love affairs as she fine tuned her own ideology. In November, 1899 she left for Europe with the intent of attending medical school, but in the end she continued her various flirtations and grounded herself further in her anarchist beliefs. After returning to the United States Goldman was confronted with the assassination of President William McKinley. Avrich presents a thorough description of the assassination and goes on to discuss the prosecution of the “anarchist paranoia” that swept the United States. Of great importance is the author’s analysis was the developing schism that emerged within the anarchist movement as to whether the assassin, Leon Czolgosz’s actions benefited the movement or not. It is interesting to note that Goldman supported the attempt on McKinley’s life and Berkman, still in prison, opposed it. Following the assassination Goldman went by an alias as the government tried to tie her to Czolgosz actions through her writing and speeches. During this period Goldman became involved in a number of vocations apart from her propaganda work running a facial massage parlor, a restaurant, engaging in nursing as well as becoming the publisher of Mother Earth, an anarchist magazine. Goldman’s writing during the time of Berkman’s imprisonment also encompassed the literary world and you could characterize her as a true “renaissance woman!”

Avrich is on sound ground as she describes the affect prison had on Berkman. While incarcerated he had immersed himself in literature and foreign languages and “developed a feel for the written word and discovered his full potential as a writer.” (183) Berkman became the editor of Mother Earth upon his release and at the same timer wrote PRISON MEMOIRS OF AN ANARCHIST which Avrich correctly points out was remarkably successful as it “provided the stimulus for investigations into prisons and the penal system.” (212) The government would do its best to block dissemination of Berkman and Goldman’s work by using the postal system to impede sales of the book as well as Mother Earth. As World War I approached numerous stories of police brutality against labor, anarchists or anyone who spoke out against working conditions became the norm. This culminated in a plot to kill John D. Rockefeller, Jr. who owned a controlling interest in the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. Workers went on strike against the company in 1913, a labor action that led to the famous Ludlow Massacre as the Colorado governor called out the National Guard which after weeks of harassing the workers, opened fire on April 20, 1914 killing five miners and a boy. Rockefeller spoke out vehemently in support of the National Guard thus inciting anarchist even further. The ensuing assassination plot failed due to an accidental explosion, but for Berkman who was not directly involved it became the last straw in moving away from peaceful protest to employing violence. The period witnessed numerous explosions and plots across the United States and Berkman whether warranted or not was always implicated.

The author does an exceptional job in detailing Berkman and Goldman’s movements and work throughout World War I. Both spoke out against the war and hoped to convince Washington not to enter the fighting. As the United States entered the war in April 1917 the pair continued to speak out against the fighting and were arrested and charged with violating the 1917 Espionage Act for actions taken to block conscription. Both were tried and convicted and immediately imprisoned. Soon Washington began the process that would result in their deportation. Avrich is correct in arguing that the deportation proceedings against Berkman and Goldman, as well as many others, reflected the violation of civil rights that was endemic to the Wilson presidency both during and after the war. The author provides details to support this conclusion presenting strong evidence in discussing the Palmer Raids and other aspects of the Justice Department’s persecution of those who opposed them.
Avrich’s narrative continues as she does a superb job describing their voyage to the Soviet Union and their travels throughout the country. The author goes on to explore Berkman and Goldman’s views of Bolshevik ideology and the reality of Communist repression. At the outset of their stay in the Soviet Union the pair was willing to make excuses for Bolshevik excesses in the hope of future revolution. This reflected Berkman and Goldman’s idealism, or just plain naiveté when it came to the reality of revolution in their home country for which over the years they maintained a romantic view. After four months in the Soviet Union both became disillusioned as Goldman wrote “there is no health in it….. [The State] has taken away even the little freedom the man has under capitalism and has made him entirely subjected to the whims of the bureaucracy which excuses its tyranny on the ground that all is done for the welfare of the workers.” (305) Goldman was shocked by the treatment of people as they were imprisoned for their ideas. As the pair grew more aware of the torture and murder of political prisoners they turned against the revolution. The Bolshevik massacre and arrests following the Kronstadt Rebellion saw the pair witnessing the purge of anarchists, many of whom were their closest friends. Berkman wrote in his diary, “The Bolshevik myth must be destroyed. I have decided to leave Russia,” (313) they would leave Russia shortly after the rebellion and would begin a period of wandering around Europe and Canada to find a home for the remainder of their lives.

The area that Avrich excels at is her discussion of the relationship between Berkman and Goldman. Throughout the book she describes their feelings for each other on an emotional and intellectual level that shows that no one could replace either no matter where their other relationships took them. Even when apart the poignancy of their bond and the fidelity to their cause is always apparent. Throughout the 1920s into the 1930s they lived apart both their feelings for each remained as strong as ever.

Throughout the book Avrich takes the reader on an intellectual journey as she follows Berkman and Goldman as they try to justify their own beliefs and fit them into contemporary social and political events they were exposed to. This is very apparent during the next phase of their lives as they continued to speak out and write about conditions in Russia. Goldman wrote for the public press, i.e.; The New York World and anarchist publications, while Berkman worked on a book that resulted in what can be considered the first expose of the Gulag Archipelago (the title of Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn’s three volume work published in 1973-1975 made the world aware of the camps) entitled LETTERS FROM RUSSIAN PRISONS. The next blow for that struck the core of Berkman and Goldman’s beliefs set was the trial, conviction, and execution of Sacco and Vanzetti in the United States. “Nicola Sacco, a shoe worker, and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, a fish peddler, both Italian immigrants and anarchists” were charged with the murder of two men during a robbery at a shoe factory in Massachusetts. (341) To this day the guilt or innocence of the two is open to question, but for Goldman and Berkman it fostered the realization that after years of work they were helpless in preventing the death of their compatriots. It brought back memories of Chicago and Haymarket and left them increasingly depressed.

The last part of the book follows Goldman as she tried to gain entrance into the United States. She still saw America as her home and missed it terribly. She was allowed a speaking tour in February 1934, but the US government refused to extend her visa. Later, she became involved in supporting the communist/anarchist cause during the Spanish Civil War until the Franco emerged victorious. Before her death in 1940 she was able to write her autobiography. Berkman would remain in Europe during the same period but grew increasingly ill after numerous surgeries and he would commit suicide in 1936. Karen Averich has done an amazing job in telling the story Sasha and Emma. She has integrated her father’s work and research into a cogent and personal story which at times reads as a novel. For any reader interested in the odyssey of Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman, their relationship, their comrades, and the time period in which they lived this book offers a fresh interpretation that should foster a large readership.

NEW YORK: A NOVEL by Edward Rutherfurd

February 4, 2014szfreiberger Historical Fiction Leave a comment

Over the years I have grown more impressed with the historical novels of Edward Rutherfurd. Beginning with SARUM years ago to the present novel, NEW YORK: A NOVEL I read the last page of each book with a feeling of satisfaction that I have just completed a remarkable blend of historical license and impeccable research. In his latest effort Rutherford presents another “Michneresque” type journey, this time through the history of New York City from the 17th through the 20th century. What drew me to the book was recently viewing the Martin Scorcese film “Gangs of New York.” The description of the draft riots in New York in 1863 during the Civil War were very poignant, but historically accurate. Through the descendants of the van Dyck and Master families the reader becomes engrossed in the important historical events that are explored in the narrative. Whether the main characters are confronted by the political machinations of Tammany Hall, the disastrous Triangle Shirt Waist Fire or economic catastrophe the reader becomes fully absorbed. Mr. Rutherfurd has become one of my favorite practitioners of historical fiction and I am thrilled that his latest effort, PARIS will be released next month.