From Publishers Weekly
The long and vigorous political career of Johnson (1876-1945), a reformist governor of California who personified isolationism during his long tenure in the U.S. Senate (1917-45), is closely examined in this detailed study. Lower, professor of history at California State University, is concerned less with psychology or interpretation than with documenting, in accessible prose, his subject's work. A prominent reformist prosecutor in Sacramento and a combative campaigner, Johnson won the governorship in 1910 as a Republican. Leaving the Republican Old Guard behind, he ran as Vice President with Teddy Roosevelt on the Progressive ticket in 1912 (his effort to win the Republican presidential nomination in 1920 and 1924 would fail). Nominated by the Progressive and Republican parties, Johnson easily won election to the Senate in 1917. Opposing U.S. entry into WW I as hindrance to domestic reform, he maintained his "America First" battle cry throughout his career, sometimes, Lower notes, simplifying complex issues. Making clear that Johnson was respected as a man of principle, Lower could have done more to assess his subject's impact on the American political scene. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
