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Review
| Presidents from Hayes through McKinley, 1877–1901: Debating the Issues in Pro and Con Primary Documents, by Amy H. Sturgis. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. 256 pp. $62.95, cloth.
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| The years 1877 through 1901 were very critical for the United States. It was the era of Reconstruction that required literally the rebuilding of a nation torn asunder by the Civil War. This same period in American history was also marked by numerous political and social challenges, many of which would create problems which would go unresolved. Included in this category are the restructuring of America's foreign relations, the transformation of American from an agricultural economy to and an industrialized nation, and deciding on a monetary standard for the nation. The American presidency would be at the epicenter of these issues and more. Amy Sturgis has recognized the need for a single volume work to address the changing role of the American presidency during this transformation in American history. The work is part of the series titled "The President's Position: Debating the Issues Series" published by the Greenwood Publishing Group. As the author states, "the transformation from a Reconstruction nation to a world power cost many lives—not the least of which were those of two presidents—and left unresolved issues that later presidents would revisit with only varied success." (p. 8) Sturgis's work uses primary source documents of the period to discuss the leadership challenges and responses to presidential decision making from Rutherford B. Hayes through William McKinley. |
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Readers will begin their examination of presidential leadership with the election of Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, a national election that basically challenged the legitimacy of the election process in America due to alleged voting irregularities. Congress would eventually resort to "the creation of a special Electoral Commission composed of appointed congressmen and Supreme Court justices to determine the election's outcome, making Hayes the first and only president to have gained the White House by the decision of such an extraordinary body" (p. 10). The Hayes administration also wrestled with other contentious issues that included America's clashes with Native Americans in the settlement of western lands. His struggled with New York's Republican Senator Roscoe Conkling help to illustrate the challenges faced by him in his struggle to "reclaim the public's faith in government" (p. 11). |
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James A. Garfield was one of four U.S. presidents to die in office at the hands of an assassin. The similarities to Lincoln are amazing, including the fact that he was the last of the American presidents to have been born in a log cabin. Garfield did not actively seek the presidency. According to professor Sturgis, "even as he tried to remove himself from consideration by the electors during the Republican convention, he was eventually nominated on the 36th ballot, in effect being drafted to run for the presidency" (p. 54). Garfield's assassination at the hands of Charles J. Guiteau in July 1881 elevated the concerns of the nation regarding the exercise of presidential powers during some day s of disability, as Sturgis points out, because "the U.S. Constitution was vague as to whether the Vice President (Chester A. Arthur) should assume the power of the wounded president or displace Garfield altogether as the nation's leader" (p. 55). Issues prevalent during the Garfield administration included civil service reform as well as determining an appropriate monetary standard for the nation. Readers will have mixed evaluations of the presidency of Chester A. Arthur. He literally had to remake the presidency in his own image, an indirect result of being so tied to the system of patronage. |
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Democrat Grover Cleveland is the first and only U.S. president to be elected to two nonconsecutive terms of office. Professor Sturgis informs us that "Grover Cleveland is consistently ranked the highest of all U.S. presidents of the Reconstruction Era and the Gilded Age not so much because of his achievements but because of his character" (p. 103). He was blunt and did not court the press and "his rhetoric carried little affectation" (p. 103). |
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Known as an eccentric chief executive, Benjamin Harrison was the last Union officer to serve as president. Professor Sturgis describes Harrison as a president with "a cold personal style, probably exacerbated by the fact that he wore gloves to protect himself from others' germs" (p. 131). The administration of Benjamin Harrison witnessed achievements in both foreign and domestic policy. Harrison saw U.S. diplomatic influence expand abroad, particularly through the work of his Secretary of State, James G. Blaine, "who presided over the First International Conference of American States." Key laws passed during his administration included " the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, and the McKinley Tariff Act" (p. 132). In his First Inaugural Address on March 4, 1889, President Harrison informed the American people that, "the duty to obey and to execute embraces the Constitution in its entirety and the whole code of laws enacted under it" (p. 135). |
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Amy Sturgis has produced a highly readable and valuable contribution to presidential historiography. Her work can be a valuable supplement in courses on the American presidency from community college through undergraduate university levels. In addition to its wise choice of primary source documents, the book contains a list of suggested readings at the conclusion of each chapter and a comprehensive bibliography. |
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| Pasco-Hernando Community College, Florida |
Michael E. Long |
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