John Marshall by Richard Brookhiser

John Marshall is one of the most consequential figures in the history of the United States, yet too little is known about him. In John Marshall : The Man Who Made The Supreme Court, journalist and author Richard Brookhiser seeks to help us know more about this man. In life Marshall was an unimposing character. Early in the book Brookhiser relates a story about Marshall at home in Richmond. He was dressed like any other rustic. A newcomer to town asked him to carry a turkey home from the market, not realizing until afterwards that he had used the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as a delivery man. Marshall was a man of humor.  Brookhiser shares another anecdote in the book. The Justices would board in the same house when the Court was in session and they ate together. They established a custom that they could only have wine if it was raining. “Marshall would ask ‘Brother Story’ [Justice Joseph Story] to look out the window and say what the weather was. If Story reported that the sun was shining, Marshall would answer, ‘our jurisdiction extends over so large a territory…that it must be raining somewhere.’” 

These anecdotes help to remind us that Marshall was an approachable and affable man. That did not make him weak. In his Introduction Brookhiser points out that “When Marshall died in 1835, he and the Court he led had rebuked two presidents, Congress, and a dozen states and laid down principles of law and politics that still apply.” That, of course, is why we know Marshall. He was the man who turned the Supreme Court into a powerful part of the United States government. Before Marshall the Supreme Court had little influence on the nation. After Marshall the influence was powerful.

The book is well written and easily approachable by the general reader. Brookhiser is a journalist by training and profession so he does not get into the weeds of trying to explain all of the minutiae behind the laws. Instead he focuses on the political implications of Marshall’s rulings. This is important because when Marshall established the idea of judicial oversight he inserted the Court into the politics of the new nation. Marshall was well aware that he was helping to guide the nation forward. He was a Revolutionary War veteran who had served on Washington’s staff.  As a young member of the Virginia Ratifying Convention he fought hard alongside James Madison for the ratification of the Constitution.  He was a successful attorney in private practice before moving into the government. He served under John Adams as Secretary of State before he became the third Chief Justice. Brookhiser takes us through his early years without succumbing that siren call of the historian: the rabbit trail. So many writers feel a need to set up a history by giving huge back stories or going off into minute detail about some side issue. Brookhiser deftly gives us what we need to understand the subject and keeps moving.

This is an excellent book and does justice to the subject. It also delivers the reader a well written, informative, and enjoyable experience.

Mortal Republic by Edward Watts

Popular histories of the fall of the Roman Republic are not in short supply. There are excellent entries in this crowded field. One can look to Tom Holland’s Rubicon or the recent New York Times bestseller The Storm Before the Storm by popular podcaster Mike Duncan. Into this crowded field we have Mortal Republicby Edward J. Watts.  Dr. Watts is Professor of History at the University of California, San Diego. His previous works have focused on the period of late antiquity and the clashes between pagan and Christian culture. In his newest work Dr. Watts examines the forces that brought about the end of the Roman Republic. 

This book does not start, as is common, with the rise of the Gracchi brothers. Those radical reformers whose lives and deaths plunged the Republic into short periods of chaos. Instead he begins in 280 BC, with the wars between Rome and the Greek King Pyrrhus. Why this period? He wants to show the nature of the Roman leaders in this period. Roman leadership was a duty that was held by men who held honor above wealth.

This is an important point that will be seen throughout this book. In the early days of the Republic the nobles of Rome “agreed that virtue lay in service to Rome and that dishonor fell upon those who put their private interests above those of the Republic.” This noble ideal would become stressed as the Roman Republic grow in size, power and wealth. The change can be seen as the Romans fight the Carthaginians for control of Sicily. The Punic Wars spread Roman power abroad and soon the Republic had foreign territories to manage. With those territories came officials needed to run them. Those officials tended to become wealthy in those jobs. That wealth became the new motive for public service. Now honor gave way to avarice. As the quest for wealth and glory became the prime motivator factions began to arrive. Those factions would eventually wear away at the fabric of the Republic until it frayed and crumbled.

This did not happen in one lifetime. It took almost two centuries for the ethics and values of the Romans to devolve to the place where strong men like Sulla, Marius, Pompey, and Caesar could tear it apart. The great weakness in the Roman system was the reliance on personal honor to maintain itself. Tradition and honor were no defense against personal ambition and tremendous wealth.

The book is written for the general reader. One does not need a specialized background in Roman history to understand. The topic is indeed timely. In the Preface to the book Dr. Watts hopes “that this book allows its readers to better appreciate the serious problems that result both from politicians who breach a republic’s political norms and from citizens who choose not to punish them for doing so.” That is as far as he goes in trying to connect the past and the present. It is up to the readers to notice the signs and to take warning. 

The book ends as did the Republic: with the reign of Augustus. For over half a century the Republic had been torn by one faction after another competing for power. What are we supposed to gather from this book? Why read another book on the fall of a government that fell 2,000 years ago? Because the freedoms and laws of a republic must continually be upheld and protected.  Ronald Reagan famously said “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” Perhaps the closing statement of the book sums it up best. “When citizens take the health and durability of their republic for granted, that republic is at risk. This was as true in 133 BC or 82 BC or 44 BC as it is in AD 2018. In ancient Rome and in the modern world, a republic is a thing to be cherished, protected, and respected. If it falls, an uncertain, dangerous, and destructive future lies on the other side.”

No Labels edited by Jon Huntsman

Title: No Labels

Author: ed. Jon Huntsman

Publisher: Diversion Books

Pages: 102

Release: January 14, 2014

Anyone who looks at the state of the US government today has to agree that there are some serious problems. The left thinks that we need more government, the right thinks we need less. Both sides view the issue as a zero sum game and are fighting to win this game. In the meantime the vast majority of Americans want their elected officials to make things work, and make them work well.

The No Labels organization has stepped in to this gap between left and right. Members in the organization come from all sides of the political spectrum. The aim of this organization is to get leaders to sit down, agree on goals, and then work towards those common goals. This is a refreshing change from the rancor that has wracked the political world for over a decade now. The organization was founded by veteran political strategists Mark McKinnon and Nancy Jacobson. At the national level the organization is led by Jon Huntsman and Joe Manchin. 

Edited by Jon Huntsman, former Governor of Utah and Ambassador to China, this short book lays out the mission of this organization in several short goals. Each chapter describes a need or goal and then has short statements from members of the organization. Each section is equally weighted between members on the left and right. The mission is quite simple. The nation needs goals. The purpose of this organization is to encourage leaders is to create goals that can be agreed on. The primary goals set out are the kinds of issues that most, if not all, americans can agree on.

1. Create twenty-five million new jobs over the next ten years
2. Reform Medicare and Social Security so they are secure another seventy-five years
3. Balance the federal budget by 2030
4. Make America energy self-efficient by 2035.

The historical examples they use in the book show us how this worked in the 20th century. Eisenhower had a goal. That goal was a national highway system that would make the nation safer, and help to grow the economy. John F. Kennedy set the goal to place a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill came together to make the tax code simpler. Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich worked together to balance the national budget. In all of these cases the leaders in question, on both sides, had to give something up to accomplish these goals.

Today Americans want leaders who will look past the pettiness of the ideologue. We don’t want more controversy where legislation is dependent on one party dictating to the other. Get this book. Look at these ideas. Then find out more about this organization. I knew nothing about No Labels before I read this book. Now I want to know a lot more.

All the Great Prizes by John Taliaferro

John Hay is one of the most important individual to ever hold the office of Secretary of State. He spent a lifetime serving his nation. In All The Great Prizes John Taliaferro traces the life of this fascinating man. After finishing at Brown Hay went to work for his uncle’s law office in Springfield, Illinois. The office next door was occupied by Abraham Lincoln. Hay was hired as one of Lincoln’s secretary during the campaign. The other secretary, John Nicolay, was a friend from Hay’s teenage years.

After Lincoln’s election Hay and Nicolay accompanied Lincoln to Washington. They lived in the White House and served Lincoln until his death. Taliaferro gives a lot of time to this parr of Hay’s life. The stories about Lincoln are really great. Hay saw him as a person and so the intimate look at Lincoln was very moving. Taliaferro also mentions the troubles that the secretaries had with Mary Lincoln, who hated them both. Hay become friends with Robert Lincoln, the President’s oldest son, and they two of them were together when they were summoned to the dying president’s bedside.

Hay’s story continues after Lincoln’s He served as secretary to the legation in Paris for a year, then he was sent as a temporary head of the legation to Austria. While in Austria he saw the dangers inherent of crumbling empires bolstering themselves up with large armies.“The great calamity and danger of Europe today are those enormous armaments,” he observed. “No honest statesman can say that he sees in the present attitude of politics the necessity of war. No great Power is threatened.  .  .  . Why then is the awful waste of youth and treasure continued? I believe from no other motive than to sustain the waning prestige of Kings.” This would continue until it resulted in the First World War.

Taliaferro gives us a wonderful insight into the man. Hay was a gregarious person with an elitist personality. Among his friends were men such as Henry Adams and Henry James. Hay was an author of some note. He wrote a few novels and poems, not all good, but some were considered classics. Along with John Nicolay he published a ten volume biography of Abraham Lincoln. Hay’s personal life is quite interesting. He seemed to have several affairs of the heart, though they were unlikely consummated, with some intriguing women.

When it comes to the last decade of his life Taliaferro shows how Hay worked ceaselessly to avoid war. Hay’s nature was not aggressive but congenial. He preferred to work out deals that helped to keep the peace. Hay had spent the early days of his political career watching the Civil War and never wanted to see war on that scale again. We see the amazing work that Hay did for William McKinley and Teddy Roosevelt.

All the Great Prizes is a well written book. I was amazed at how much information is contained in these pages, yet the writing is never dry. Hay was truly one of the greatest statesmen ever to serve the United States of America. Taliaferro has given us an excellent book on a fascinating subject. Do yourself a favor and pick up this book.