Customer Reviews

In the Arena: A Memoir of the 20th Century

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I copyedited this book and found it really fascinating and amazingly time-relevant [I was working on it 9/11/01] as "Cap" discussed the demise of the country's defense during the Clinton years. I enjoyed Cap's personal insights into the workings of politics and the anecdotes about Reagan and Rumsfeld and other people who are now back in government. It's easy to read and I really felt like he was telling me his story, personally.

Caspar Weinberger is the epitome of a dedicated, effective public servant. He's a professional in this work, rather than a political hack who appears when it's convenient for him. We've heard Weinberger's name for decades, as he served in cabinet positions for three United States presidents. Most notable was his seven years as Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Defense. There is no question that he's had a significant impact on history.

This is the sort of autobiography that might be interesting, I thought, as I opened the cover and began reading. My first reaction was "uh oh. We're going 'way back into his childhood. That concern was quickly dissolved as I was absorbed in the feeling that Weinberger and I were settled down into a couple of comfortable easy chairs discussing his experiences as a consummate public servant. I learned about his education (Harvard), his military service (infantry, World War II, including time on MacArthur's intelligence staff), and service as a California legislator. This book easily held my attention, page after page. Most of the twentieth century came alive before my eyes.

As he moves through history, Weinberger tells about his pivotal roles with fascinating detail. The reader gains an inside perspective of what was behind historical events that are very familiar to us, and some that are not so familiar. Using the autobiographer's license, Weinberger shares his opinions about people and events. A number of times, I had a sense that I was right there in the room with him as history was being made. He gives just enough detail to paint illuminating pictures of facts, emotions, decisions, and the flow of history; yet the book never drags with a sense that he's using space unproductively.

I enjoyed reading about his views on the Cold War, Saddam Hussein, Iran-Contra, the day Reagan was shot, Watergate, MacArthur, Colin Powell, Bill Clinton's legacy, and Nixon's resignation. As I finished the book, I had a feeling of satisfaction, respect, and appreciation for Caspar Weinberger and his life. A warm feeling, a good feeling. I like getting that from a good book. You will, too.

I preface my comments about "In The Arena" by stating my belief that most people interested in this memoir are attracted by Weinberger's tenure at the helm of the DOD. That being the case, one could simply skim through the first three-fifths of the book. This comprises a mildly interesting, at times desultory, review of Cap's education at Harvard, service in World War II, early California legislative career, private legal practice, work at Bechtel Corp, and service in both Governor Reagan's and President Nixon's administrations. The accounts of Cap's modestly successful efforts to rein in Federal spending as Nixon's OMB Director and to reform health care while heading HEW don't exactly lend themselves to riveting prose.

However, the action and the interest really pick up when Weinberger turns his attention the Reagan administration and his essential role in resuscitating the U.S. military. Particuarly valuable are Weinberger's explanation of the hows and whys behind his metamorphosis from "Cap The Knife" to "Cap The Builder;" his observations on the reasons for the Soviet Union's demise, and his skepticism about Gorbachev's role in that historic event.

This is definitely not a memoir in the "kiss-and-tell" genre. Weinberger offers only cursory insights into policy formulation and the battles with Congress over funding. He expresses veneration for most of his former colleagues, including Colin Powell, Don Rumsfeld, Rich Armitage, Frank Carlucci, Will Taft and Jim Webb. He evinces no animus toward George Shultz, saying they often disagreed, especially on the deployment of armed forces, and is only mildly critical of the imperious demeanor of Al Haig. Weinberger reserves his opprobrium for three people: Bud MacFarlane for his ill-considered counsel to Reagan in the arms-for-hostages scheme; Lawrence Walsh for his baseless, heavy-handed witch-hunt during the Iran-Contra investigation; and former President Clinton for his pursuit of a feckless, irresolute foreign policy and excessive de-funding of the armed services.

Weinberger's account of his "nightmare" year (1992) makes a cogent argument against the ill-conceived Special Prosecutor statute, an argument that the Congressional Democrats bought into only after the glare of its prosecutorial powers was shone on one of its own.

All in all, a fast, engaging read, but one that breaks little new ground.

IN THE ARENA explores the life of a man who has dedicated his life to making America a better, safer, stronger nation.

Beginning with his wartime service in the U.S. Army in the jungles of New Guinea (he still dislikes palm trees to this day), Mr. Weinberger's public service moves to the California State Assembly where he gains notoriety as a reformer. Soon, he is picked up by California's new governor, Ronald Reagan, who makes him director of finance. His skill at his job attracts notice from President Nixon, who calls him to be the budgeter at OMB, then the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. President Ford's defeat in 1976 brought him a few years of high-paid relief from public service at Bechtel. Then, in 1981, President Reagan called him to service once again as the Secretary of Defense, a post he held longer (seven years) than any other SECDEF serving a single President.

Throughout the book, one is struck by Mr. Weinberger's selfless dedication - something the reader comprehends without the author's directly saying so. One hopes that, post 9-11, such dedication to public service will make a comeback. In the meantime, Mr. Weinberger's autobiography will serve as a primer for those who want to make a difference and change the world.

For me, it was an especially warm read as I had the honor of serving in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 1986 through 1988. During that time I met Mr. Weinberger once and participated in a few meetings in his office. Even though his wife, Jane, was in ill health at that time, I found Mr. Weinberger to be friendly, humorous, and extremely focused and smart - all traits amply shown in his book, IN THE ARENA.

Reviewer: Chuck DeVore is a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010, a California State Assemblyman, he served as a Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs in the Department of Defense from 1986 to 1988, retired from the Army National Guard as a lieutenant colonel, and is the co-author of "China Attacks."

Upon the recent passing of one of our greatest Presidents, it makes sense to hear from perhaps the best Secretary of Defense (War) in our nation's history. Without boring the reader to death with details, suffice it to say that Caspar W. Weinberger took over our nation's defenses at the weakest they had been since 1939, transformed them into a world-class military power and probably prevented a nuclear war with the former Soviet Union as a consequence.
This autobiography is fascinating and understated, as Secretary Weinberger walks us through his career of public service beginning as an intelligence officer for General Douglas MacArthur to his 8 years of outstanding leadership as the boss over at the Pentagon. Reagan had a gift for picking the right people at the right time and Caspar Weinberger was at the head of his class.
You may be alive today, because of him.

Prof. Roman Jakobson, in attempting to dissuade Harvard from hiring famed Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov, remarked that Nabokov's distinction as a writer did not necessarily fit him for teaching. "Are we next to hire an elephant to be professor of zoology?" Jakobson asked.

The answer, one would have thought, would be yes, if the elephant really knows his subject.

Caspar Weinberger is an elephant who really knows his subject: He was a major political and historical player; a public servant of distinction (serving three Presidents and California's governor), as well as winning office in his own right. Although Weinberger, being a high-end politico, seems an unlikely source for "a memoir of the 20th Century," his memoir, "In the Arena," is a remarkably straightforward, modest, and generally earnest account of his life through the last 80 plus years of the 20th century. Which, quite frankly; is surprising. For, as a general rule, political autobiography is notoriously bad history.

An astute student of history reads autobiography for two things: for the facts and for the lies -- knowing that the lies are often more interesting than the facts. Indeed, a large part of the pleasure of reading autobiography is in catching what the autobiographer glosses over, his self-serving misperceptions, cover-ups, and, of course, his delightfully clever deceptions.

Yet "In the Arena" has little of any of this. There is no Manichean subtext in evidence, no Machiavellian machinations to pour over, no pop-psychology to wade through, no solipsistic and banal moments of personal revelation to laugh at, and very little by way of score-settling. The man seems to have no megalomania at all, nor is Weinberger like the Duc de Saint-Simon, that fastidious chronicler of magnificence and petty social distinctions at the court of the Sun King. The book is devoid of such engrossing trivialities, focusing, instead, on the big picture: the facts, the ideas, the general political context, and, oddly enough, the pomp and pageantry of government.

Born in 1917 in San Francisco, Weinberger had a very pleasant childhood, arrested only by frequent illness and recurring mastoid problems. The child of a Jewish father (though the family had abandoned the faith several generations earlier) and an Episcopalian mother, Weinberger did not really find religion until college and, later, World War II. At Harvard he studied and pursued his two great interests: politics and journalism, in that order. After earning his law degree, Weinberger enlisted in the army. During the war he met and married his wife, Jane - a stoic, noble and loving figure throughout the narrative. After the war he and his wife returned to California, and he pursued a private legal practice.

But his childhood love of government was too strong and too tempting. So Weinberger ran for office, won and rushed head-long into California politics. It is here that the narrative becomes particularly astute, engrossing and rewarding. Weinberger earned a respectable reputation as a member of the Assembly, became a poo-bah in California's Republican party, and later served as director of finance for Governor Ronald Reagan.

Before too long, Weinberger is called to Washington by Richard Nixon to head up the Federal Trade Commission, then become deputy director, and later director, of the Office of Management and Budget, and eventually secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. His narrative of these years, is, by itself, just about worth the price of the book, and his broad descriptions of policy are astoundingly absorbing. That anyone can make the work of the FrC, OMB and HEW interesting is surely a feat of some sort.

Weinberger's narrative of his serving President Reagan as secretary of defense is a bit uneven: rich in details of a pedestrian sort, exceptionally good with policy descriptions and explanations, but oddly scanty on the big picture and momentous events of Reagan's two terms. But his detailed summary of his speech on the six major criteria that warrant committing troops abroad, and his account of the Oxford Union debate he participated in (and won), despite the objections of many in the administration, are exceptional, and should be widely read.

So, to take up Roman Jakobson's trope, knowing zoology does not cause the elephant to lose its trunk and large ears. "In the Arena" is still a robustly political memoir, and one that is personal, and personable. The image of Caspar Weinberger that emerges from these pages is one of an intelligent, warm, modest, even-tempered man with a schoolboy's sense of wonder. Not the most exciting stuff perhaps, but a refreshing and rewarding read nonetheless.

Pity poor Cap Weinberger. Once a Renaissance Man, steeped in art, literature and music, he now spends his twilight years rewriting his legacy. "In The Arena" is a carefully crafted and minutely calculated piece of revisionist history written by a thoroughly corrupt politician beyond redemption. Even if you don't know the facts, Weinberger's prose gives him away, filled as it is with qualifiers, deliberate misstatements and classic Weinberger Distancing Maneuvers. An expert dissembler, Cap has scattered misleading scenarios and outright falsehoods all through the manuscript; it becomes tiresome. Are his memoirs worth reading? If you like being an armchair detective, absolutely. This book challenges discerning and informed readers to unravel a fascinating web of deceit and half-truths. It also contains interesting anecdotes from a simpler time and a glimpse into an honorable world that no longer exists. It's too bad Weinberger hasn't appropriated the values of that world into his own life.