The First Tycoon: The Epic Life Of Cornelius Vanderbilt By T.J. Stiles

Amazon.com Review
Book Description
A gripping, groundbreaking biography of the combative man whose genius and force of will created modern capitalism.

Founder of a dynasty, builder of the original Grand Central, creator of an impossibly vast fortune, Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt is an American icon. Humbly born on Staten Island during George Washington’s presidency, he rose from boatman to builder of the nation’s largest fleet of steamships to lord of a railroad empire. Lincoln consulted him on steamship strategy during the Civil War; Jay Gould was first his uneasy ally and then sworn enemy; and Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for president of the United States, was his spiritual counselor. We see Vanderbilt help to launch the transportation revolution, propel the Gold Rush, reshape Manhattan, and invent the modern corporation—in fact, as T. J. Stiles elegantly argues, Vanderbilt did more than perhaps any other individual to create the economic world we live in today.

In The First Tycoon, Stiles offers the first complete, authoritative biography of this titan, and the first comprehensive account of the Commodore’s personal life. It is a sweeping, fast-moving epic, and a complex portrait of the great man. Vanderbilt, Stiles shows, embraced the philosophy of the Jacksonian Democrats and withstood attacks by his conservative enemies for being too competitive. He was a visionary who pioneered business models. He was an unschooled fistfighter who came to command the respect of New York’s social elite. And he was a father who struggled with a gambling-addicted son, a husband who was loving yet abusive, and, finally, an old man who was obsessed with contacting the dead.

The First Tycoon is the exhilarating story of a man and a nation maturing together: the powerful account of a man whose life was as epic and complex as American history itself.

Excerpts from an Interview with T.J. Stiles

Question: Your last book was a

T.J. Stiles: I was drawn by who he was as a person, the lack of writing about him, and the historical themes that defined his life.

Like Jesse James, Vanderbilt was man of action–decisive, dramatic, and always interesting. He courted physical danger, fought high-stakes financial battles, and always set the terms of his existence. Like Jesse James, Vanderbilt has not been the subject of much serious research. And like Jesse James, Vanderbilt opened a window on the making of modern America. Vanderbilt was central to the rise of the corporation, the emergence of Wall Street, and the birth of big business. His was a dramatic life played out on an enormous stage.

Q:How long have you been working on this book and what kind of research went into it?

TJS: I worked on it for more than six years. My research was challenging because Vanderbilt kept no diary, preserved no letters, and left behind no collection of papers. Second, the last serious biography about him was written in 1942. The increasing digitization of newspapers and Congressional documents helped, but I did most of my work the old-fashioned way, digging through archives and sitting in front of microfilm readers. My biggest discovery came when I stumbled upon the Old Records Division of the New York County Clerk’s Office; I spent months there going through original lawsuit papers from as early as 1816. I uncovered entire episodes of Vanderbilt’s life that no one ever suspected–fistfights, steamboats ramming each other, inside trading and noncompetition agreements, details about his physical office and epic tales of betrayal. I also focused on Vanderbilt’s associates and rivals, and found priceless letters about him in their papers. Of course, I spent months more going through the papers of his various railroad corporations at the New York Public Library. I found so much new material that I decided to include a lengthy bibliographical essay.

Q:Throughout the book, you highlight Vanderbilts role in the making of the modern idea of economic regulation. You also write, The Commodore’s life left its mark on Americans’ most basic beliefs about equality and opportunity. Where in our modern institutions do you think his legacy is most apparent?

TJS: Vanderbilt early on voiced a political philosophy rooted in radical Jacksonianism. He believed in individual equality, in the right to compete freely. He denounced monopolies and corporations. This strain of thought remains a key part of American values. Yet he ended his life at the pinnacle of an incredibly unequal society, the master of a giant corporation that overshadowed almost every other business in America. That late-life transformation strongly influenced the new acceptance of government regulation that arose after the Civil War. I don’t think so much that Vanderbilt’s legacy can be seen in our institutions as much as our economic culture–the rise of the modern idea that government should intervene to regulate large businesses, and redress the balance of wealth and power in society.

Q: What do you think Vanderbilt would have to say about our current economic climate; its root causes as well as the ever increasing bail-outs of giant corporations?

TJS: When the Panic of 1873 hit, Vanderbilt gave an immediate analysis to a newspaper reporter that virtually describes the current situation. The problem was asset inflation: a speculative bubble (in his case, railroads, in our case, real estate) that tamped down skepticism about the value of securities issued by overvalued companies (or, in our case, mortgage-backed securities based on shaky home loans). Eager to ride the rising wave, banks in New York marketed the securities abroad, giving a stamp of approval, much as they have done with mortgage-backed securities today. In other words, Vanderbilt would have understood the root causes of our crisis, despite the great differences in the economy between then and now. And, though he usually looked askance at government intervention, the seriousness of the situation might have led him to approve of strong action. It’s hard to say, because he denounced subsidies, yet after the Panic of 1873 he also urged the federal government to pump new money into the economy. In any case, he would have had a sophisticated grasp of our conundrum.

Q:Your own family history recently made national news when it was discovered, at The Smithsonian in Washington, DC, that one of President Lincolns watches contained a secret inscription from your great-great grandfather. That must have been pretty exciting for you, not only as a family member but as a historian who has written extensively about the Civil War. How do you feel about this news and what do you make of all the attention it received?

TJS:The news accounts floored me. I never expected this favorite family story, one I never quite believed, to enter national mythology. My great-great-grandfather, Jonathan Dillon, was an Irish immigrant who was working in a Washington, D.C., watch repair shop when Fort Sumter was fired on. He happened to be holding Lincolns watch in his hand. He made an inscription on the back of the dial, closed it up, and said nothing to Lincoln about it. My second cousin, Douglas Stiles, tracked the watch to the Smithsonians Museum of American History, and convinced the director to open the watch up and check. The message was there–a little different from my great-great-grandfathers memory, but it was there.

I think it struck a chord with the nation at the moment of Lincolns bicentennial. Here was a plucky, immigrant watchmaker who left a silent message of encouragement in Lincolns pocket. No fanfare, nothing attention grabbing, just a patriotic, very human little

Why Buy A The First Tycoon: The Epic Life Of Cornelius Vanderbilt By T.J. Stiles?
Book Description A gripping, groundbreaking biography of the combative man whose genius and force of will created modern capitalism.

Founder of a dynasty, builder of the original Grand Central, creator of an impossibly vast fortune, Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt is an American icon. Humbly born on Staten Island during George Washington’s presidency, he rose from boatman to builder of the nation’s largest fleet of steamships to lord of a railroad empire. Lincoln consulted him on steamship strategy during the Civil War; Jay Gould was first his uneasy ally and then sworn enemy; and Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for president of the United States, was his spiritual counselor. We see Vanderbilt help to launch the transportation revolution, propel the Gold Rush, reshape Manhattan, and invent the modern corporation—in fact, as T. J. Stiles elegantly argues, Vanderbilt did more than perhaps any other individual to create the economic world we live in today.

In The First Tycoon, Stiles offers the first complete, authoritative biography of this titan, and the first comprehensive account of the Commodore’s personal life. It is a sweeping, fast-moving epic, and a complex portrait of the great man. Vanderbilt, Stiles shows, embraced the philosophy of the Jacksonian Democrats and withstood attacks by his conservative enemies for being too competitive. He was a visionary who pioneered business models. He was an unschooled fistfighter who came to command the respect of New York’s social elite. And he was a father who struggled with a gambling-addicted son, a husband who was loving yet abusive, and, finally, an old man who was obsessed with contacting the dead.

The First Tycoon is the exhilarating story of a man and a nation maturing together: the powerful account of a man whose life was as epic and complex as American history itself.

Excerpts from an Interview with T.J. Stiles Question: Your last book was a biography of Jesse James. What drew you to Cornelius Vanderbilt as your next subject?

T.J. Stiles: I was drawn by who he was as a person, the lack of writing about him, and the historical themes that defined his life.

Like Jesse James, Vanderbilt was man of action–decisive, dramatic, and always interesting. He courted physical danger, fought high-stakes financial battles, and always set the terms of his existence. Like Jesse James, Vanderbilt has not been the subject of much serious research. And like Jesse James, Vanderbilt opened a window on the making of modern America. Vanderbilt was central to the rise of the corporation, the emergence of Wall Street, and the birth of big business. His was a dramatic life played out on an enormous stage.

Q:How long have you been working on this book and what kind of research went into it?

TJS: I worked on it for more than six years. My research was challenging because Vanderbilt kept no diary, preserved no letters, and left behind no collection of papers. Second, the last serious biography about him was written in 1942. The increasing digitization of newspapers and Congressional documents helped, but I did most of my work the old-fashioned way, digging through archives and sitting in front of microfilm readers. My biggest discovery came when I stumbled upon the Old Records Division of the New York County Clerk’s Office; I spent months there going through original lawsuit papers from as early as 1816. I uncovered entire episodes of Vanderbilt’s life that no one ever suspected–fistfights, steamboats ramming each other, inside trading and noncompetition agreements, details about his physical office and epic tales of betrayal. I also focused on Vanderbilt’s associates and rivals, and found priceless letters about him in their papers. Of course, I spent months more going through the papers of his various railroad corporations at the New York Public Library. I found so much new material that I decided to include a lengthy bibliographical essay.

Q:Throughout the book, you highlight Vanderbilts role in the making of the modern idea of economic regulation. You also write, The Commodore’s life left its mark on Americans’ most basic beliefs about equality and opportunity. Where in our modern institutions do you think his legacy is most apparent?

TJS: Vanderbilt early on voiced a political philosophy rooted in radical Jacksonianism. He believed in individual equality, in the right to compete freely. He denounced monopolies and corporations. This strain of thought remains a key part of American values. Yet he ended his life at the pinnacle of an incredibly unequal society, the master of a giant corporation that overshadowed almost every other business in America. That late-life transformation strongly influenced the new acceptance of government regulation that arose after the Civil War. I don’t think so much that Vanderbilt’s legacy can be seen in our institutions as much as our economic culture–the rise of the modern idea that government should intervene to regulate large businesses, and redress the balance of wealth and power in society.

Q: What do you think Vanderbilt would have to say about our current economic climate; its root causes as well as the ever increasing bail-outs of giant corporations?

TJS: When the Panic of 1873 hit, Vanderbilt gave an immediate analysis to a newspaper reporter that virtually describes the current situation. The problem was asset inflation: a speculative bubble (in his case, railroads, in our case, real estate) that tamped down skepticism about the value of securities issued by overvalued companies (or, in our case, mortgage-backed securities based on shaky home loans). Eager to ride the rising wave, banks in New York marketed the securities abroad, giving a stamp of approval, much as they have done with mortgage-backed securities today. In other words, Vanderbilt would have understood the root causes of our crisis, despite the great differences in the economy between then and now. And, though he usually looked askance at government intervention, the seriousness of the situation might have led him to approve of strong action. It’s hard to say, because he denounced subsidies, yet after the Panic of 1873 he also urged the federal government to pump new money into the economy. In any case, he would have had a sophisticated grasp of our conundrum.

Q:Your own family history recently made national news when it was discovered, at The Smithsonian in Washington, DC, that one of President Lincolns watches contained a secret inscription from your great-great grandfather. That must have been pretty exciting for you, not only as a family member but as a historian who has written extensively about the Civil War. How do you feel about this news and what do you make of all the attention it received?

TJS:The news accounts floored me. I never expected this favorite family story, one I never quite believed, to enter national mythology. My great-great-grandfather, Jonathan Dillon, was an Irish immigrant who was working in a Washington, D.C., watch repair shop when Fort Sumter was fired on. He happened to be holding Lincolns watch in his hand. He made an inscription on the back of the dial, closed it up, and said nothing to Lincoln about it. My second cousin, Douglas Stiles, tracked the watch to the Smithsonians Museum of American History, and convinced the director to open the watch up and check. The message was there–a little different from my great-great-grandfathers memory, but it was there.

I think it struck a chord with the nation at the momen

Customer Reviews & Opinions

The First Tycoon
This Vanderbilt biography is extremely well researched and exceptionally well written….once started, difficult to put down.

Exceptionally Multi-Dimensional View of the Man and His Times
“For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safely?” — 1 Samuel 24:19

Cornelius Vanderbilt was driven by a desire to best his commercial rivals while realizing that he might in the future need to ally with them. As a result, he was a tough competitor while being careful to develop a reputation as someone who was trustworthy. You’ll learn the consequences of this compulsion in The First Tycoon. And I’m sure many will pick up this book wanting to pick up tips on how to accumulate a great fortune.

If you are like me, you’ll find many pleasant surprises in this book as many unexpected perspectives and dimensions emerge. This book could just easily serve as a primer on continuing business model innovation, an expertise that Vanderbilt seems to have had to an extraordinary degree. In addition, the book is a marvelous look into the dynamics of unregulated markets with relatively few competitors and how quickly monopolies and cozy oligopolies emerge that fleece the public. Further, the work does great justice to explaining how to gain cost and competitive advantages in transportation businesses (reduce the price, the hassle, and the costs). Beyond that, The First Tycoon is a definite primer on how to outmaneuver competitors in business and on the stock market. You’ll also learn how to rig an unregulated stock market or to corner the market. Those who are interested in leadership will see many good models of how to go from doing to leading.

If that’s not enough, you’ll also learn about how a great success in business wasn’t such a good father . . . and how he coped with the failings of his youngsters.

Those who like social history will find that the book is filled with much good information about the times and what it was like to live then. You’ll never look at certain parts of New York and New England in the same way after reading about their origins.

Some may complain that they wanted more of a particular aspect of the story. Those who wanted just a biography, an ever deeper look into the man, may be somewhat disappointed. Much of the book doesn’t get below the surface of Vanderbilt’s psyche. But perhaps there wasn’t very much to reveal about someone whom others had reason to avoid annoying.

I thought this book was so revealing that I spent a lot of time studying it, the first time I can say that about any book in recent years. I learned a lot and you will, too!

“The First Tycoon” takes you through the history of the entire 19th century
As an avid biography fan, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Cornelius Vanderbilt and his effect on the 19th century. The author has an incredible number of sources from which he wrote the book (all are listed at the back of the book), which is why it is as complete a biography of “The Commodore” as you’re likely to find. You really feel like you understand what living in the 19th century was like, since Vanderbilt was born at the beginning of the century, and died in 1876. It is my preference to learn about the personal lives of the people who’s biographies I read. However, Vanderbilt didn’t have much of a personal life — steamships and the railroad WERE his life, so that is the obvious focus of this book. Even with little discussion about his personal life, I found this an excellent book that I would highly recommend.

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The Politically Incorrect Guide To The Founding Fathers (The Politically Incorrect Guides) By Brion Mcclanahan

Why Buy A The Politically Incorrect Guide To The Founding Fathers (The Politically Incorrect Guides) By Brion Mcclanahan?
They were the greatest generation in American history.

Yet how much do you really know about the Founding Fathers? And how much of what you know is actually myth perpetuated by leftist history professors who dismiss the Founders as wealthy, racist, sexist, dead-white-males whose principles deserve to be as dead as they are? In The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers, Dr. Brion McClanahan sets the record straight. He provides a neat summary history of Americas founding documents, profiles all the leading Founders (and some unjustly neglected ones), and shows how they have better answers to todays problems than our politicians do.

Customer Reviews & Opinions

Clear, Accessible, Accurate
Brion McClanahan has written a gem of a book with The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers. Here we get a sense of what the founding generation was really like and what they really believed and did, not the sensational, trivial and silly portrayals that we so often get from non-academic sources such as the History Channel and PBS. As for the academics who write on the Founders, far too many come to their subject with veiled (and some not so thinly veiled) agendas that it is difficult to know who exactly these men were. The great virtue of McClanahan’s guide is that it is rooted in that which all good and true history is grounded, the primary sources. As McClanahan himself asserts, if you want to know what the Founders really thought, then simply read what they wrote. When you do, as McClanahan has done, you truly do find a generation of brilliant men who believed in liberty and were willing to fight to secure it.

The book is divided into two parts with the first touching on several contemporary myths about the Founders. Here you will find excellent dismissals of the myths surrounding the Founding generation’s supposed egalitarianism and support for democracy. McClanahan demonstrates what any honest and knowledgeable historian of the period knows; the Founders did not believe in equality as it is presently conceived and they certainly were not unreserved advocates for democratic government. In doing this McClanahan reminds us that the Founders created a Federal Republic, not a mass, egalitarian democracy, and an appreciation of the differences between these forms of government is an essential starting point to understanding the history of the early American Republic.

Other myths exposed include Benjamin Franklin’s legendary brood of illegitimate children, Alexander Hamilton’s homosexuality and George Washington’s alleged affair with Sally Fairfax, his neighbor’s wife. And, of course, what expose’ of founding myths would be complete without a discussion of Thomas Jefferson’s supposed affair with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings, the evidence for which is circumstantial and inconclusive although it is often asserted as fact these days.

McClanahan also does an excellent job of demonstrating just how conservative the American Revolution actually was in that American Patriots were not asserting radical new doctrines inspired by Enlightenment philosophers but principles grounded in the traditions of English liberty and American colonial experience. This was the key feature of the American Revolution and why it differed so remarkably from that of the French.

Also on offer are brief but thought-provoking discussions of several important contemporary issues like gun control, the role of religion in American life, federalism, and monetary policy, all in relation to what the Founders would have thought about these issues if they were alive today.

As good as the first part of the book is, however, the best is probably the brief biographical sketches of the Founding Fathers themselves. The “Big Six” are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin. McClanahan delves into each man’s life with an eye to expose the modern, presentistic mythology that has encased these men in the popular imagination, and we find that while the names are familiar much of who these men really were has been lost or willfully forgotten. McClanahan uncovers them for everyone to see.

In addition to the “Big Six,” McClanahan rediscovers 14 “forgotten founders” that every American should know about. These include names such as Elbridge Gerry, from whom we get the term “gerrymander,” the great partisan warrior Francis Marion, inspiration of Mel Gibson’s The Patriot and John Taylor of Caroline. We are also treated to very iconoclastic and revealing reappraisal of John Marshall as both a member of the Founding generation and early American jurist.

In all, this is an outstanding introduction to the Founders, one that is an antidote to the indoctrination so many Americans receive in school and the popular media when the topic is the beginnings of the United States. It is highly recommended and makes for the perfect gift for yourself or someone with a yearning to know more about the Founding Fathers.

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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life By Walter Isaacson

Why Buy A Benjamin Franklin: An American Life By Walter Isaacson?
Benjamin Franklin, writes journalist and biographer Walter Isaacson, was that rare Founding Father who would sooner wink at a passer-by than sit still for a formal portrait. Whats more, Isaacson relates in this fluent and entertaining biography, the revolutionary leader represents a political tradition that has been all but forgotten today, one that prizes pragmatism over moralism, religious tolerance over fundamentalist rigidity, and social mobility over class privilege. That broadly democratic sensibility allowed Franklin his contradictions, as Isaacson shows. Though a man of lofty principles, Franklin wasnt shy of using sex to sell the newspapers he edited and published; though far from frivolous, he liked his toys and his mortal pleasures; and though he sometimes gave off a simpleton image, he was a shrewd and even crafty politician. Isaacson doesnt shy from enumerating Franklin’s occasional peccadilloes and shortcomings, in keeping with the iconoclastic nature of our time–none of which, however, stops him from considering Benjamin Franklin the most accomplished American of his age, and one of the most admirable of any era. And here’s one bit of proof: as a young man, Ben Franklin regularly went without food in order to buy books. His example, as always, is a good one–and this is just the book to buy with the proceeds from the grocery budget. –Gregory McNamee

Customer Reviews & Opinions

Readable and interesting
Walter Isaacson writes a readable biography that helps readers better understand Benjamin Franklin’s life and the world he lived in and helped create. Highly recommend this book!

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Benjamin Franklin By Walter Isaacson

Why Buy A Benjamin Franklin By Walter Isaacson?
Benjamin Franklin, writes journalist and biographer Walter Isaacson, was that rare Founding Father who would sooner wink at a passer-by than sit still for a formal portrait. Whats more, Isaacson relates in this fluent and entertaining biography, the revolutionary leader represents a political tradition that has been all but forgotten today, one that prizes pragmatism over moralism, religious tolerance over fundamentalist rigidity, and social mobility over class privilege. That broadly democratic sensibility allowed Franklin his contradictions, as Isaacson shows. Though a man of lofty principles, Franklin wasnt shy of using sex to sell the newspapers he edited and published; though far from frivolous, he liked his toys and his mortal pleasures; and though he sometimes gave off a simpleton image, he was a shrewd and even crafty politician. Isaacson doesnt shy from enumerating Franklin’s occasional peccadilloes and shortcomings, in keeping with the iconoclastic nature of our time–none of which, however, stops him from considering Benjamin Franklin the most accomplished American of his age, and one of the most admirable of any era. And here’s one bit of proof: as a young man, Ben Franklin regularly went without food in order to buy books. His example, as always, is a good one–and this is just the book to buy with the proceeds from the grocery budget. –Gregory McNamee

Customer Reviews & Opinions

Readable and interesting
Walter Isaacson writes a readable biography that helps readers better understand Benjamin Franklin’s life and the world he lived in and helped create. Highly recommend this book!

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Ronald Reagan: Fate, Freedom, And The Making Of History By John Patrick Diggins

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. A professor of history at the City University of New York Graduate Center, Diggins (The Rise and Fall of the American Left) provides an original reappraisal of Ronald Reagan from the conservative perspective. Throughout, Diggins discovers nuances that have heretofore escaped notice by most other Reagan scholars. For example: in appraising Reagans reaction as California governor to 60s radicals, Diggins is the first writer to acknowledge the extent to which the onetime movie star shared common ground with rebels on campuses nationwide. Reagan, with his reverence for Thomas Paine and passion for limiting the reach of government, was—on at least one level—more than sympathetic when Berkeley protesters chanted, Two, Four, Six, Eight, Organize to Smash the State! Although a fan of Reagans, Diggins doesnt hesitate to be critical—as when he discusses Reagans attitude as president toward environmental issues, which Diggins characterizes as puzzling and disastrous. (Diggins notes that Reagans record as governor of California, where he allied himself with old guard Republican conservationists, was far more environmentally-friendly.) Overall, Diggins does a superb job of tracing Reagans intellectual development from old school New Dealer to thoughtful, Emersonian libertarian, and also firmly establishes Reagans credentials as a major architect of communisms final collapse. 13 photos. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From
Because Reagan has been misinterpreted by both the Right and the Left, his legacy in American political history has been distorted and undervalued, according to Diggins, author of The Rise and Fall of the American Left (1992). Contrary to liberal opinions, Reagan was no philosophical lightweight, nor was he the moral absolutist lauded by conservatives. He was a man of consistent beliefs, forged during the cold war. In his efforts to end the cold war, he was closer to liberals who always thought it possible than to conservatives who didnt believe it could ever be done. Reagan was the only president in American history to have resolved a sustained, deadly international confrontation without going to war, defying liberal expectations of him personally and conservative expectations of the value of diplomacy. Reagan rejected the authority of religion as much as government. By convincing Americans to believe in themselves, Reagan demonstrated the duality of American political culture, that it is both liberal and conservative. This is a thoughtful book for both Reagan admirers and critics. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Why Buy A Ronald Reagan: Fate, Freedom, And The Making Of History By John Patrick Diggins?
Affirming Reagans position as one of Americas greatest presidents, this is a bold and philosophical reevaluation.

Following his departure from office, Ronald Reagan was marginalized thanks to liberal biases that dominate the teaching of American history, says John Patrick Diggins. Yet Reagan, like Lincoln (who was also attacked for decades after his death), deserves to be regarded as one of our three or four greatest presidents. Reagan was far more active a president and far more sophisticated than we ever knew. His negotiations with Mikhail Gorbachev and his opposition to foreign interventions demonstrate that he was not a rigid hawk. And in his pursuit of Emersonian ideals in his distrust of big government, he was the most open-minded libertarian president the country has ever had; combining a reverence for Americas hallowed historical traditions with an implacable faith in the limitless opportunities of the future. This is a revealing portrait of great character, a book that reveals the fortieth president to be an exemplar of the truest conservative values. 13 photographs.

Customer Reviews & Opinions

The Great Communicator’s Political Philosophy
I read this book for a graduate class in American history. In this noteworthy biography, John Patrick Diggins sheds light on Ronald Reagan’s evolving political philosophy and how this philosophy was his rule and guide throughout his life. Expertly written and based on both primary and secondary sources, this book’s view favors Reagan’s political career in general. Diggins did an excellent job of pointing out both historical and contemporary figures who helped form Reagan’s religious beliefs and political philosophy. Some examples are Thomas Paine, Reagan’s mother, Whittaker Chambers who was an anti-Communist, and economist F. A. Hayek. By following a more psychological approach in this biography of the fortieth president of the United States, Diggins drew a clearer picture of Reagan’s political motivations than has been previously available. Diggins’ biography has made Reagan, who was perhaps the most important president of the second half of the twentieth century, more understandable to his readers.

In his biography, Diggins was adept at pointing out many of the misconceptions that liberals had of Reagan’s religious and political beliefs. As an example, Diggins emphasized the role Reagan’s mother had in formulating his religious beliefs that stayed with him throughout his life. From his mother, Reagan inherited the optimistic outlook on life that the Disciples of Christ Church espoused. It would fit very neatly with his political philosophy that he shared with Thomas Paine. Both men were staunch believers in people attaining liberty and freedom from oppressive government. After all Diggins made the point innumerably throughout his book, that if there was one defining and deeply held belief that Reagan had, it was that “Reagan inevitably saw government as the problem” (xvii). There were so many incongruities in Reagan’s religious attitudes and actions that historians will be debating them for many years to come. Diggins expertly pointed out that for all the support that the Moral Majority crowd, led by the Reverend Jerry Falwell, gave Reagan in both his presidential campaigns, he truly shared little in common with their strict religious beliefs. Reagan did not wear his religion on his sleeve. He did not claim to be a born again Christian. During his years in the White House, he seldom attended church services. Although as Governor of California in 1967 Reagan signed a bill to grant women the right to have an abortion, he soon had misgivings but never tried to push legislation through to abolish abortion. He would speak out against abortion for the rest of his life. Similarly, Reagan spoke of the need for religion in the classroom; however, he made no political moves to bring that goal of the Moral Majority to fruition. In essence, “Reagan looked to religion less as a source of divine guidance than as a bulwark against the power of the state” (32).

Since Reagan believed that removing the stifling yoke of government off the neck of the people was of paramount importance, it is no wonder that Reagan came to believe that Communism was the worst sort of government that could be foisted on humanity. His anathema against Communism and to its liberal sympathizers was sharpened by the Hiss-Chambers congressional hearings of the early 1950’s. It was also influenced by two particular books. One book was Chamber’s book, “Witness as the book that would shape his political outlook” (10). In addition like many conservatives, Reagan read F. A. Hayek’s book Road to Serfdom and “accepted Hayek’s thesis that liberalism paves the way for communism by institutionalizing a centralized state” (110). Diggins recounted the numerous times throughout Regan’s life that he railed against the evils of Communism, which led to his well-publicized “evil empire” speech in 1983. This speech finalized Reagan’s reputation as the anti-Communist jingoistic cowboy. Diggins cogently showed in his book that it was Reagan’s life long vitriol against Communism, was the only cold war president that could reach out to the Soviet Union and substantially reduce the nuclear weapons arsenal.

Diggins did a masterful job of showing how Reagan, while in the hospital recovering from the wounds he received from the attempt on his life in 1981, awakened to the realization that he had to do his utmost in reducing the chances of the world being destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. Diggins found Reagan was completely misunderstood by liberals who characterized him as a warmonger. Reagan came to see the folly of Mutual Assured Destruction, which had been the cornerstone of America’s nuclear deterrence. For the always-optimistic Reagan this new mission was akin to Nixon opening China. Only Reagan who called the Soviet Union the “evil empire,” could befuddle his neo-conservative supporters and liberal critics time after time as he worked to get Mikhail Gorbachev to trust him and ultimately become his partner in arms reduction. In doing so, Reagan was instrumental in paving the way for the end to the cold war, and ultimately the collapse of the Soviet Union. In his book Diggins recounted one of the most poignant speeches Reagan, also known as the great communicator, ever delivered, which took place in 1988 to students at Moscow State University. It was Reagan, the optimist and defender of liberty and not the warmonger and staunch anti-Communist that addressed the audience. Reagan spoke about the new revolution that would sweep across the globe, and a technological revolution that computers would bring, which would ultimately transform humanity with the new information age.

In conclusion Diggins’ book, though written when very little of Reagan’s presidential papers have been accessed by historians, has captured the essence of the ideas and life experiences that motivated Reagan to act the way he did. Since Diggins’ book focused more on the psychological, religious, and philosophical makeup of Ronald Reagan and not on the details of his administration, it will be valuable for years to come by students studying Reagan and the Cold War era. It is doubtful that Diggins’ book will need much revision as more presidential papers are released.

As a graduate student I recommend this book for anyone interested in Reagan, American History, Cold War History.

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