Benjamin Harrison by Charles Calhoun - Book Report/Review Example

Review of biography book Benjamin Harrison by Charles W. Calhoun Benjamin Harrison is the self d biography of the twenty-third president of the United States of America. It is written by Charles Calhoun, a history professor at the East Carolina University. The book focuses on the military and political life of Benjamin Harrison, right from his childhood as the grandson of the ninth president, William Henry Harrison, to his study and practice of the law. A S Benjamin studied law, he increasingly became interested in politics. In addition, the book explores his stint at the military during the American Civil War where he rose to become a colonel, to his running for the presidency in 1888, where he won and served for one term, becoming the one and only president in the history of the United States of America to be preceded and succeeded by the same person, Grover Cleveland (Calhoun 17). Part 1: Summary of the book In a sharp contrast to other biographies and standard histories that portray the presidency of Benjamin Harrison as having been inactive and full of corruption, the author of Benjamin Harrison dismisses away the stereotypes of the late 19th century and early 20th century to reveal and highlight the accomplishments of the twenty- third president of the United States. The author of the book compellingly and convincingly discusses the legacy of Benjamin Harrison, including the social set-up of the era. Author Calhoun is of the opinion that politics was in the blood of Benjamin Harrison, as his great grandfather served as the Virginia governor and participated in the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Additionally, William Henry Harrison, who happened to be his grandfather, was a famous war general who later became the ninth president of the United States. Unfortunately, William tragically died just one month after stepping into power. The farm belonging to William Henry located near Cincinnati was passed to his son who was less ambitious politically. The son brought up and educated a big family that included Benjamin. Since he was a deeply religious person, Benjamin at one time seriously considered joining the clergy, bur eventually decided to become a lawyer (Calhoun 38). In 1854, after passing the bar, Harrison moved to Indianapolis where he became a member of the local church and then joined the newly formed Republican Party. By the time the Civil war began in 1861, his practice in law was prospering therefore giving him no reason to be in a hurry to answer the call the call by then president Abraham Lincoln for volunteers. The following year he joined the military service where he assisted in the recruitment of the 70th Indiana regiment, rapidly becoming promoted to become its colonel. After the civil war ended, Harrison briefly returned to his law practice before entering the political arena. He unsuccessfully ran for governor in 1872, but he eventually becomes the Indiana senator in 1881. Following an impressive scandal free term in the senate that was an amazing feat given it was the Gilden age, the Republican Party chose him as their candidate in the 1888 presidential election whereby despite not winning the popular vote, he defeated Grover Cleveland who was the incumbent in the Electoral College (Calhoun 158). Benjamin Harrison proceeded to annoy the republican bosses one he took over power, through his refusal to pay sufficient attention to their whimsical and patronage requests. The author portrays Harrison by contemporary standards as an activist president who had a clear policy. Some of his achievements that still draw approval even today include the passage of the Sherman antitrust Act that was the earliest reciprocal trade policy, the issuance of reasonable pensions to civil war veterans who were either disabled or injured, as well as initiating the naval expansion. Part 2: Examples in the book of the five presidential roles in action The biography Benjamin Harrison contains several incidences and examples of events in the political life of the president, particularly during his presidential term that show how he played the five roles of the president. The five presidential roles include tackling matters related to foreign affairs, administration both domestic and military, making appointments, legislation, and performing judicial functions. While he may not have performed the roles to the satisfaction of voters that resulted in him failing to secure a second term, according to the author he tried his best, given the circumstances and the political landscape of the time. One example in the book that highlights Benjamin Harrison’s legislation roles is the passing of the free silver coinage policy. During his term, the congress devoted a great deal of time and energy debating a policy known as the free coinage of silver, a policy that might have been beneficial to farmers and one that would definitely have been beneficial to the western mine owners. President Harrison together with the easterners was almost certain that it would be disastrous to withdraw from the strict gold standard that was being applied at the time. Putting a lot of effort and hard work, Harrison guided a compromise bill until it was successfully passed. However, just like other silver purchase legislations that had been passed previously, it failed to produce any noticeable benefits. A similarly strained effort led to the legislation of the McKinley tariff that led to the lowering of a few duties while at the same time raising several of them. The author of the book does not argue with claims by Harrison that high tariffs assist the working person through preventing wages from falling. Immediately after Harrison was elected to office, he made a controversial decision that showed his role in making appointments. The Republican Party bosses thought they could manipulate him into paying attention to their whims and patronage requests, hence they demanded that he appoint James G. Blaine, the most popular Republican at the time, as the new secretary of state. While Harrison complied, he refused to accept Blaine’s request to appoint his son Wayne Blaine as the first assistant secretary. Blaine was okay with this, but apparently his wife was not pleased with this as she really wanted her son to be in the government. This incident showed Harrison was a firm and strong leader, but it led to a coarse relationship with Blaine’s wife (Calhoun 167). Benjamin Harrison applied his influence in foreign affairs matters to diffuse tensions concerning the Samoan rivalry. Foreign shops regularly visited the Samoan Islands over the years, leading to trade as well as conflicts. In 1878, the U.S. negotiated an agreement with the native Samoan rulers, with the intention of becoming a major naval power, allowing the construction of a repair harbor within the islands. Germany and Britain quickly followed suit, triggering tensions amongst the super powers. Harrison quickly intervened, instructing his secretary of state to call or an international meeting in Berlin with the aim of bringing a temporary solution to the conflict. His timely intervention led to the independence of the Samoan islands to be formally recognized, with the foreign nation assuming a supervisory power over the islands. While the biography author feels that his role was minimal, it is a good example of a president exercising his foreign affairs roles (Calhoun 183). Presidents have the power to pardon any convicted offenders, or cancel any pardons as they see fit, and this constitutes performing judicial functions. According to the author of Benjamin Harrison, the president always exercised this function, although he refrained from doing it in a controversial manner that would likely to cause conflicts in the judiciary or the public in general. A good example of such an event occurred in September 1889 during his first year in power. Harrison cancelled the pardoning of a criminal known as Thomas Hale, although he later reissued the pardon later that month. Since Hale was a low profile convict, the incident did not raise much dust (Calhoun 177). When examining the domestic and military roles of Harrison, the author feels that the tariff issue turned out to be the most perplexing domestic issue that he faced during his time in office. The high tariff rates being affected at the time created a money surplus within the treasury. Advocate of low tariffs argued that business was being hurt by the surplus. Leaders of the Republican Party in congress met the challenge successfully, with Harrison trying to make the tariff more acceptable through writing reciprocity provisions. He ordered that the tariff from imported raw sugar be removed, as a measure of coping with the treasury surplus (Calhoun 74). Part 3: My review of the book The book is definitely a well written, illuminating and a captivating portrayal of Benjamin Harrison, one of the Gilded age presidents who within their terms of office received some negative and undeserved negative press coverage. Due to the author’s engaging and readable narrative, the literary work is very interesting to read. His political life was modern and full of twists and turns, as seen in the way he was preceded and succeed by Grover Cleveland. It is apparent that during his time, there existed a divided government full of procedural congressional tactics, political posturing and swing states, much as they exist today, and Benjamin Harrison was right in the midst of it. Moreover, his personal life was something that tabloids would have a field day analyzing, as he went on to marry his admiring and devoted nice shortly after the death of his wife. This shows the brilliance of the author, as a novelist would not make that up. Calhoun quite correctly argues that if Harrison was not the first modern president of the United States, he definitive paved the way for his successors. I honestly did not know much about him prior to reading the biography, therefore am pleasantly surprised. It seemed he achieved quite a lot in just four years in office (Calhoun 198). As no biography author feels that his subject is being neglected deservedly, author Charles Calhoun is definitely no exception. He portrays a convincing case that Benjamin Harrison was a competent president lucky enough not to have faced a major controversy while in office, and one who dealt with some minor ones skillfully and successfully. Had he gotten better luck, his dynasty would have rivaled the Kennedys and the Adams, given that his grandfather was the ninth president while his great grandfather was a governor. Between the biography’s obligatory introduction and conclusion that examines the case of Harrison as the America’s first modern president and the one most unappreciated, there exists a surprising contemporary story of economics, national politics, and personal toll. Just like Lincoln, Harrison did not enter the nomination process as the favorite candidate, but he emerged as the most winnable candidate from the Republican Party, and probably the least objectionable. Similarly to Lincoln, he had to struggle when naming his cabinet once he was elected into the white house, eventually appointing his biggest rival as the secretary of state. However, as much as the author presented the biography in a brilliant manner, there stills exists some flaws, especially in the extremely dry treatment of the life of President Harrison. The details about the wrangling within the white house during his presidency did not provide captivating reading, just like the foreign policy disputes over some trivial things such as the hunting of seals. It would have been much appreciable if the author had provided more insight into just who President Harrison was, as opposed to what felt like a lecture in political history that has been delivered in a boring monotone. Additionally, I feel that the author failed to present very well the views opposing the policies of Harrison. More arguments would have been presented concerning the other sides of protectionism (Calhoun 187). Part 4: Personal assessment of the book Unfortunately for the readers, two of the major burning issues of the politics of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were monetarism and tariff reform. No biography author or historian has succeeded in making the two issues entertaining and Calhoun is no exceptional as he fails to explain them in a manner that non-economists can understand. However, there are many lessons to be learnt from the book about Benjamin Harrison and the presidency in general. One of the lessons learnt is that arrogance can led to the downfall even of a president. Despite the fact that confidence is undoubted a determining factor of success, Harrison’s confidence turned to arrogance once he was elected to power. His refusal to acknowledge the cabinet’s opinions and apply their advice alienated him from his staff as well as the Republican Party, eventually damaging his reputation and career. Another related lesson about the presidency is that power comes with responsibly, and one should be aware of the pressures of power. Although he was determined to succeed, he is quoted as having said that he felt as if he had been paroled from prison when he failed to win a second term in office (Calhoun 202). Finally, leaders must always be vigilant, especially those seeking higher offices such as the presidency. One of the biggest problems that Harrison faced was his oblivion to domestic matters. Since he was not aware of changes that would be brought by industrialization and the poverty facing Americans at the time, historians took years to figure out he was a competent leader. Works cited Calhoun, Charles W. Benjamin Harrison. New York: Times Books. 2005. Print. Read More