Rich Gotshall
For the Daily Journal
The inauguration of Donald Trump has brought renewed interest in the presidency and the transfer of power from one leader to the next.
Two recently published biographies offer new insights into presidents often dismissed as average or worse. In both cases, a re-examination results in improved assessment and restores both to their properly earned historical position.
“American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant” by Ronald C. White is an almost exhaustive — and times exhausting — biography. The author doesn’t gloss over events. He describes them in detail. This can make many passages hard for casual readers to slog through.
However, readers’ perseverance will be rewarded. White offers a solid rethinking of Grant as general and especially as president. He draws heavily on Grant’s autobiography, a work that White says is often underappreciated for its literary as well as historical quality. The author also utilizes numerous primary sources, some of them never before thoroughly examined by scholars with respect to Grant.
In his appraisal of Grant’s presidency, for example, White details several of Grant’s accomplishments, such as his championing of freed slaves. He utilized the power of the federal government to battle the Ku Klux Klan. He also was the first president to describe U.S. policy toward Native Americans as immoral.
White praises Grant’s ability to lead and allow subordinates the freedom to act independently. However, while this proved valuable during wartime, it proved part of his undoing in the White House. He trusted friends to do the right thing, but several exploited that friendship for personal gain, leading to the scandals that tainted his administration and ultimately his legacy.
It is here the author lets his love for his subject color his assessment slightly. He doesn’t come down hard enough on Grant’s failure to monitor closely the actions of his administration subordinates.
“Three Days in January: Dwight Eisenhower’s Final Mission” by Bret Baier takes a more focused view in reassessing Ike’s presidential legacy. He examines in detail Ike’s efforts to make the transition from his administration to that of John Kennedy as smooth as possible and to inform, if not instruct, the new president on the issues that the new president would be confronting.
Baier also looks at Ike’s farewell message. Most people remember it for only his warning about the military-industrial complex, and even then they often take it out of context.
Baier looks at the entire message and assesses it in terms of contemporary geopolitics. But he also shows how prescient Eisenhower was concerning the need for civility in politics and the need for an orderly transition of power.
The author includes a biography of Eisenhower, but it’s not especially detailed. Rather, it is meant to give the reader a clearer idea of where Ike came from and how his life and career shaped his presidency.
Both books offer new insights into the lives of two neglected presidents. He restores them to their proper places in White House history. The works are readable and worth the effort for anyone interested in presidential administration.
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ABOUT THE BOOKS
Title: “American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant”
Author: Ronald C. White
Publisher: Random House
Length: 826 pages
Price: $35
Title: “Three Days in January: Dwight Eisenhower’s Final Mission”
Author: Bret Baier
Publisher: William Morrow
Length: 368 pages
Price: $28.99
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