Bullies and Cowards: The West Point Hazing Scandal, 1898-1901 (Contributions in Military Studies) [Hardcover]

Philip W. Leon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0313312222 | ISBN-13: 978-0313312229

When Oscar Booze entered West Point in 1898, the older cadets decided that he did not conform to their image of what a cadet should be. After four months of constant torment, including a beating in an organized boxing match, ridicule for reading his Bible, and the forced consumption of hot sauce in the cadet mess hall, he resigned. When Oscar died a year and a half later from tuberculosis of the larynx, his family claimed that the West Point cadets had killed their son by scarring his throat and creating a fertile field for the fatal infection. This is the story of the ensuing scandal that brought West Point under fire in the press nationwide. Investigations following Oscar's death would reveal a long-standing pattern of cruelty that had become inextricably identified with the academy, related to notions of social Darwinism and initiation rituals popular at the time. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate considered closing the Academy in light of testimony by cadets in two separate investigations that revealed cruel and sadistic practices. Distilling startling accounts from trial transcripts, contemporary newspaper stories, archival records and correspondence, this book exposes a little-known chapter in the history of West Point.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“[Leon's] work is very valuable...because it presents a difficult historical situation that has great relevance to today's world, both civilian and military. The reader gains real insight into the problems and divisions that arise in a situation of intense mental pressure and demanding physical stress.”–Army History

“Philip Leon has exhaustively researched and superbly written the story of a century-old incident at West Point, flamed into a notorious scandal by the "yellow press" of the day. While the record shows the Academy to have been falsely maligned in the sad incident--which involved the death of a former cadet--the resulting investigation revealed an underlying maliciousness in a student body let run amok by a lack of controls. This book should be read and carefully pondered not only by officers and cadets at West Point, but by responsible persons at every college in America. Hardly dimmed by the passage of ten decades, much potential for such evil lurks on campuses still.”–Dave R. Palmer President, Walden University

“Bullies and Cowards provides us unique insights into cadet life at the Military Academy a century ago and skillfully reminds us that hazing erodes not only the spirit and will of young people, but also the highest ideals of any military institution.”–Colonel Robert A. Doughty Professor of History United States Military Academy

About the Author

PHILIP W. LEON is Professor of American Literature at The Citadel.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Press (December 30, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0313312222
• ISBN-13: 978-0313312229
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,899,001 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hazing at West Point, September 6, 2001

By 

Hank Nuwer (Indianapolis) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bullies and Cowards: The West Point Hazing Scandal, 1898-1901 (Contributions in Military Studies) (Hardcover)

Bullies and Cowards: The West Point Hazing Scandal: 1898-1901?
Author: Philip W. Leon
Reviewer: Hank Nuwer...

I first researched the turn-of-the-century hazing scandal at West Point for my 1990 book Broken Pledges, slogging through deep piles of government documents to gain access to an amazing variety of demeaning hazing practices conducted by cadets. Now, author Philip W. Leon has written a valuable, quite engaging book that puts that information into a context that reads like a work of literature. Disturbing, it is nonetheless compelling.
His title comes from a quotation from Mark Twain that was printed in 1901 at the height of the scandal. --The men who indulge in hazing are bullies and cowards. . . I would make it the duty of a cadet to report to the authorities any case of hazing which came to his notice; make such reports a part of the vaunted West Point ?code of honor? and the beating of young boys by upper class men will be stopped.

Interestingly, in some parts one concludes from Leon?s book that some of the hazers weren?t so much bullies as misguided and immature, as well. Citing a fictional hazing rendered by the novelist Pat Conroy in Lords of Discipline, Leon writes this: ?Overzealous cadets, eager to prove their devotion to the higher purposes of the system, engage in acts of brutality and, in a perverse irony, debase the very system they seek to ennoble.?
Particularly compelling is the way Leon humanizes the hazers and hazed alike?not only Oscar Booz (a victim who leaves West Point and then dies of illness) but the American military icon, Douglas MacArthur. Not quite as deeply probed is the discussion of rites of passage, but it still is worth reading nonetheless, discussing male strength rituals and female submissive rituals. You do not have to be interested in hazing or the military to appreciate this book. This is a fine addition to the shelves of American History, and Philip W. Leon. a professor of English at The Citadel, ought to get another medal pinned to his uniform for this excellent work.

2 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Out Of Character With The Real West Point, November 16, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Bullies and Cowards: The West Point Hazing Scandal, 1898-1901 (Contributions in Military Studies) (Hardcover)

Hazing that endangers life and health is no good and destructive. Also destructive is too much spin to sell a book. Beneficial, non-destructive, "hazing" is not protected by the first amendment. Unfortunately, this book is. So, our only alternative is to exercise our market freedom. Just don't buy the book.