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Review
| American Statesmen: Secretaries of State from John Jay to Colin Powell, Edward S. Mihalkanin, ed. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2004. 608 pp. $99.95, cloth.
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Between the hard covers of this slick, high school-like textbook are foreign policy analyses for more mature readers, like political science majors and graduate students contemplating careers in diplomacy and foreign affairs. Following four uninspired esoteric quotes on the role of the historian, the career achievements and failures of America's 65 secretaries of state are profiled in often minute, hard to fathom detail. The profiles are arranged alphabetically. More advantageous would be a chronological listing to allow readers of the whole book to follow the development of American foreign policy. For example, it is disconcerting to jump from Dean Acheson's containment of Soviet and Chinese communism to John Quincy Adam's containment of the British along our borders; or from Robert Bacon's attempts to placate South America to James Baker's peace efforts in the Middle East; or most strikingly, from William R. Day's concern with the questionable benefits of Hawaiian annexation to John Foster Dulles' policy of brinkmanship with the Soviet Union that threatened many times to make the cold war hot. Chronological order would have guided readers step-by-step through all the accumulating diplomatic initiatives and crises faced by our young republic: impressment of U.S. seamen leading to the War of 1812, the Monroe Doctrine and support for Latin America, the Mexican War, the annexations of Texas and Hawaii, the Spanish-American War, the rise the U.S. from a neutral country to one involved in the internal affairs of other nations, and the change from a friend to all to an advocate of balance of power and a power pursuing selfish national interest. Had this been done it would be easier to sense the difficult—almost impossible—task faced by the secretaries to protect and advance American interests in a less than black and white world. |
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Many secretaries were not up to the task due to illness on the job, the strain of political infighting with the White House and Congress, and plain incompetence. For example, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, who served 1881-1885 under President Chester Arthur, was intermittently sick. That plus his natural caution and inexperience "appears to explain further a not-very-aggressive approach to the nation's foreign affairs" (220). Similarly, Republican powerhouse and presidential candidate James G. Blaine, who served Presidents Garfield and Arthur in 1881 and 1889-1892, "suddenly resigned as secretary of state on June 4, 1892.... He never explained why he resigned, but contemporaries described him as feeble, overwhelmed by the constant badgering...and seemingly unable to resist being drawn into the machinations of the [political] bosses" (71). |
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Effectively divided into three sections, each profile presents the early life and career of the secretary in law or politics, the reasons for the appointment, highlights of the person's tenure, and an assessment of his/her performance. Readers learn, therefore, that Robert Lansing ably served President Wilson 1915–1920 but resigned on February 13 of that year due to strained political differences with the President. Alexander Haig, Jr. served only a year and a half under President Reagan, from 1981–1982, but his resignation came as no surprise. "There is no doubt that Haig had difficulty dealing with opposition from members of the White House staff to his lead role concerning key foreign policy decisions." (237). John Foster Dulles learned a lesson from his uncle Robert Lansing and avoided strained relations with congress and President Dwight Eisenhower from 1953–1959. Then there was John Clayton, Whig orator, brilliant Delaware lawyer and prominent agriculturalist, appointed by President Zachary Taylor and serving from 1849-1850, who lacked tact, patience, firmness, organizational ability and stable character. His recklessness and fierce nationalism caused war scares with France and Portugal! In another vein, the book offers an interesting insight into U.S.-Japanese relations. Many persons know now that Japan feared growing American encirclement in the Pacific just when Japan was expanding its sphere of influence into China and the Philippines, a fear that led to their preemptive attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Indeed, Japan had found itself stalemated by U.S. treaties and by American military growth as early as December 1841 and December 1897. |
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American Statesmen: Secretaries of State from John Jay to Colin Powell is heavy reading. It is not for the armchair historian but rather for serious students of U.S. government, diplomacy and foreign affairs at the upper college and graduate level who will find it instructive and useful. |
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| New Bedford, Massachusetts |
H. B. Ussach |
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