With dazzling attention to this president's life, the social tapestry of his times, and the political dynasty he was born to which ushered in big government, Calhoun compellingly reconsiders Harrison's legacy.
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With dazzling attention to this president's life, the social tapestry of his times, and the political dynasty he was born to which ushered in big government, Calhoun compellingly reconsiders Harrison's legacy.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
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The 23d United States president, Benjamin Harrison (1824 -- 1901), is best known for serving between the two nonconsecutive terms of Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th president. Harrison, the grandson of president William Henry Harrison, received a minority of the popular vote in 1888, but he defeated Cleveland in the electoral college. Harrison's presidency is obscure, and it tends not to be rated highly by scholars. In his highly sympathetic biography, "Benjamin Harrison" (2005), Charles Calhoun makes a strong case for Harrison, arguing that he "pointed the way" to the modern American presidency. Calhoun, professor of history at East Carolina University, has written several books on the United States in the Gilded Age. This short biography is part of the American Presidents series edited by Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and Sean Willentz.
For a short study, Calhoun's book offers a detailed consideration of Harrison and his presidency. In contrast to the usual portrayal of Gilded Age presidents, Calhoun sees Harrison as an activist who sought to expand Federal power and to reach out directly to the electorate in support of his policies. As Calhoun puts it, Harrison "harbored a philosophy of government that emphasized possibilities more than restraints." Harrison put the matter succinctly himself, during his unsuccessful campaign for reelection. Speaking in Galveston, Texas, Harrison described the Federally financed harbor in the city as an example of the "work which a liberal and united Government could do." Harrison continued, "This ministering care should extend to our whole country. We are great enough and rich enough to reach forward to grander conceptions than have entered the minds of some of our statesmen in the past." In another speech, Harrison spoke of his goal "by every method to enhance the prosperity of all our people; to have this great Government in all that it undertakes touch with beneficience and equal hands the pursuits of the rich and of the poor." With his support for an expansive role for the Federal government, Calhoun argues, Harrison anticipated the modern presidency.
The heart of Calhoun's book considers Harrison's role in proposing and securing a great deal of important legislation during his term in office. Harrison worked closely with Congress and showed a willingness to pursue his programs aggressively and to compromise when necessary. Calhoun devotes considerable space to discussing monetary policy and the support by many people for free coinage of silver. Harrison successfully resisted this pressure while working with Congress to increase the production of silver in what he believed was a fiscally responsible manner. Harrison also supported the traditional Republican agenda of high tariffs to protect American manufacturers, but he also introduced flexibility into the system by provisions for reciprocity agreements with foreign countries that would allow free trade to United States products. Harrison's accomplishments also included the enactment of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and of a Forest Reserve Act, among much else. Harrison approved the first billion-dollar budget of the United States.
Harrison also supported modest but new provisions for Federal aid to education. He worked hard but unsuccessfully to strengthen voting rights for African Americans against the already powerful Jim Crow. In supporting voting rights, Harrison said:
"When and under what conditions is the black man to have a free ballot? When is he in fact to have those full civil rights which have so long been his in law? When is that equality of influence which our form of government was intended to secure to the electors to be restored? This generation should courageously face these grave questions, and not leave them as a heritage of woe to the next."
Calhoun also describes Harrison's important accomplishments in foreign affairs. The president had direct responsibility for many of the achievements of his administration, as Harrison quarreled repeatedly with his Secretary of State, James Blaine.
Calhoun's book is valuable because it takes a fresh look at a president most Americans do not know well and offers a positive assessment of his character and accomplishments. As do most of the books in the American Presidents series, Calhoun focuses upon the valuable traits of his subject and his style of leadership, a course I think is far preferable to tendencies towards deflationary accounts. Calhoun offers a readable, thoughtful presentation of Benjamin Harrison's life and presidency.
