Everett Dirksen and His Presidents: How a Senate Giant Shaped American Politics (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Situated halfway between Chicago and St. Louis, and just south of Peoria, Illinois, lies the midwestern and middle American town of Pekin..." (more)
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Formidable legislator and frustrated Shakespearean actor, Everett Dirksen, has received the recognition he is due. . . A splendid new political biography." -- David Broder

Product Description

Everett McKinley Dirksen was one of the most colourful and influential American politicians of the 20th century. This book traces his relationships with four presidents to show how the senator shifted from being a major Republican critic of Truman to an ardent Republican LBJ supporter.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 342 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Kansas (September 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0700610367
• ISBN-13: 978-0700610365
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,155,494 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beyond "a billion here and a billion there . . .", January 6, 2001

By	Steve Iaco (northern new jersey) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was attracted to this book looking to expand my knowledge of a key historical figure, who three decades after he left the stage, is perhaps best recalled for the quote (perhaps apocryphal): "a billion here and a billion there, and pretty soon we're talking about real money."

Byron Hulsey's work is less a biography than a chronicle of Dirksen's long career in public life. Certainly, we are provided some basic details on his upbringing, personal life, and political campaigns. However, the overwhelming focus is on Senator Dirksen as a practitioner of "supra-partisan" politics, a term Hulsey coins to capture the period of political consensus and harmony that extended from the late 1950s through most of the 1960s. Hulsey depicts, time and again, how Dirksen, the Republican leader in the Senate, collaborated with the Democratic Kennedy and Johnson administrations to forge legislation and advance America's interests during the Cold War.

The election of Richard Nixon in 1968, Hulsey observes, ended the supra-partisan consensus, and ushered in a new period of acrimony and heated partisan division that continue to mark public life to this day. The ascension of a younger generation of legislators -- less deferential to the genteel traditions of the Senate -- and the aggressive Investigative Journalism ethic were contributing factors in the demise of supra-partisianship.

Fittingly, Hulsey observes, three major exponents of supra-partisanship passed from the public stage within a year of each other -- LBJ through retirement and Eisenhower and Dirksen through death.

This book opens a window on a bygone era, and will make for enjoyable reading for anyone interested in the workings of Washington, DC in the 1950s and 1960s.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everett Dirksen & His Presidents, November 20, 2000

By A Customer

Hulsey's analysis of the political culture in which Senator Everett Dirksen was both a major influence and eager participant is especially timely. Anyone interested in today's partisan climate (becoming more partisan with each pregnant chad) will enjoy reading about the politics of Dirksen's day. Hulsey argues convincingly that "supra-partisanship" allowed for the passage of major legislation, particularly in the area of civil rights, that would have been impossible without the real cooperation of both Republicans and Democrats. This is a very thoughtful look at American politics in the fifties and sixties and the engaging story of a senator whose main conviction was flexibility.

0 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Plodding writing style and factual errors, May 22, 2001

By A Customer

Hulsey manages to make a fascinating period of our history boring. His writing is plodding, and minor factual errors seem to have slipped through the editing process.