From Library Journal
Comparative studies of presidents inevitably introduce "the rating game." In this case, the Reconstruction presidential quartet is evaluated by the prolific historian and young author of Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and Reconstruction (LJ 10/15/91) and found to be dissonant. Lincoln epitomizes the ultimate democratic political leader?flexible as he struggled to preserve the last best hope of humankind while working toward a racial justice and active when necessary. His successor, however, proved to be the most dangerous kind of politician in a republic: an active, inflexible one. Although Johnson moved far beyond his past, unlike his predecessor he couldn't overcome it?especially his racism and hatred. The author allows for the best historical context to justify Grant and Hayes, well-intentioned passives whose excessive dependence on others spawned an environment that ultimately ruined reputations. A fine comparative study; recommended for all presidential collections.?William D. Pederson, Louisiana State Univ., Shreveport
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
The historian Eric Foner has presented the Reconstruction as a failed opportunity to achieve emancipation and equality for black Americans. Here, Simpson (History/Arizona State Univ., Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and Reconstruction, not reviewed) persuasively argues that, given their circumstances, the four Reconstruction presidents generally did as well as they could. The Reconstruction has always been controversial. For decades, scholars believed that the postwar policies of the Republicans were unduly vindictive and punitive. Yet some in recent years have charged that Congress was pusillanimous, half-hearted, and ineffectual in ensuring the equality of the South's ex-slaves. Such judgments, Simpson observes, fallaciously attribute the perspectives of the present to the past, ``as if critics are seeking some sort of validation for their own views on race.'' He shows that, despite attitudes afloat that would be considered racist today, the Reconstruction presidents (with the exception of Johnson) were generally sincere in assisting African-Americans in overcoming the legacy of slavery, but were constrained by the 19th-century understanding of the presidency as an office of limited powers. Lincoln's priorities were winning the Civil War and preserving the Union; though he truly hated slavery, his emancipation policy was intended as a means to another end. Johnson, who shared white Southern antagonism toward African-Americans, sought a return to Jacksonian democracy of the past, but became bogged down in internecine disputes with Congress. Ulysses Grant, the author contends, was a pragmatist who balanced competing goals of restoring harmony to the former Confederate states and realizing black citizenship, yet was driven by circumstances beyond his control. Though sharing the goals of Reconstruction, Rutherford Hayes, in a final bow to political necessity, withdrew federal troops from the South, unwittingly ensuring decades of second-class citizenship for African-Americans. A powerful analysis of a darkly formative period in American history. (History Book Club selection) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Review
"An excellent study that will be consulted not only by specialists but by anyone interested in the history of the Civil War, American race relations, and American government."--American Historical Review"A superb book that places the Reconstruction presidents--Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, and Rutherford B. Hayes--in the context of their times and illuminates the difficult and complex task they faced."--Florida Historical Quarterly
"A thoughtful and well-written book that deserves widespread attention."--Journal of American History
"A thoughtful reminder both of the limits of the possible in Reconstruction and of the need to expand the agenda of inquiry beyond the concept of race in the minds of the nation's presidents. Simpson has a fine sense of the politics of the age, an age where the demands of politics propelled policy making profoundly."--Phillip Shaw Paludan, author of The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln
"A valuable and lively account of Reconstruction as a national policy problem. A very accessible perspective on a complicated, even intractable, episode in American history that highlights the differences in each man's policies and styles of leadership."--Michael Perman, author of The Road to Redemption: Southern Politics, 1869-1879
From the Back Cover
"A thoughtful reminder both of the limits of the possible in Reconstruction and of the need to expand the agenda of inquiry beyond the concept of race in the minds of the nation's presidents. Simpson has a fine sense of the politics of the age, an age where the demands of politics propelled policy making profoundly."--Phillip Shaw Paludan, author of The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln"A valuable and lively account of Reconstruction as a national policy problem. A very accessible perspective on a complicated, even intractable, episode in American history that highlights the differences in each man's policies and styles of leadership."--Michael Perman, author of The Road to Redemption: Southern Politics, 1869-1879
About the Author
Brooks D. Simpson is professor of history and humanities at Arizona State University and author of Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and Reconstruction.
