Benjamin Harrison: The American
Presidents Series: The 23rd President, 1889-1893 by Charles W. Calhoun
I’m really enjoying The American
President Series of books of the U.S. presidents. These come in handy when one
wants to read about one of the ‘minor’ presidents who might have very little
devoted to them in terms of biographies. These books aren’t as detailed as some
of the ‘mainstream’ ones, but quality is subjective, and I’ve never been let
down by the six or seven of these I’ve read.
What does today’s citizen know about
Benjamin Harrison? Probably not too much. Most probably don’t even recognize
the name. Most probably don’t know that he was the only grandchild of a former
U.S. president (that would be William Henry Harrison). Of course most don’t
know who he was either. I came away with
great admiration for Benjamin Harrison after reading this book. A great president? Well, maybe not ‘great’ but when one
considers how the presidents were selected back in the 19th century
(by delegates, the masses had almost no say), one must remember that many men
who held the office didn’t necessarily have a life-long dream of one day being
the most powerful person in the world.
Many men who were elected looked at their accomplishment of achieving
the job of POTUS more of an obligation as opposed to a personal goal. Such was
the case with Benjamin Harrison. So when
one has such an attitude, their more likely to do what they feel is morally
right once in office as opposed to what will get them ‘elected’ the next
go-round.
This book does a good job of hitting
the highlights of the man’s life with the focus being on the four years he was
in office. As a progressive Republican, his main goals seem to be on protectionism
of the economy via higher tariffs, the ever-expanding place of the United States’
role in globalization, and the notion of backing the U.S. currency with silver
as well as gold. As a progressive, he also favored civil rights for black
citizens, and although the events around Harrison’s time weren’t as noteworthy
as during other presidential tenures, I can’t resist one of his quotes that I
found breathtakingly refreshing as well as prophetic on the subject of black
suffrage:
“When is he in fact have those full
civil rights which have so long been his in law?...This generation should
courageously face these grave questions, and not leave them as a heritage of
woe to the next.”
On the personal side, we get some
details as well. Although he seemed to have a very strong marriage, he also had
a very long and close relationship with his niece Mame Dimmick. A lot of personal correspondence between the
two throughout the years. Had I been Benjamin Harrison’s wife, I wouldn’t have
approved of such a close relationship. Not surprisingly, after Harrison’s wife
dies, he and Dimmick marry. Not surprisingly, eyebrows are raised.
I was left with an overall strong
impression of the man. After reading accounts such as this, it makes me wish
that the way we nominated our commanders in chief would revert to the ways of
old. That’s not to sound naïve, nor to infer that politics wasn’t as sleazy as
it now is. It just seems as though some of our past leaders actually did quite
a good job, even if history remembers them as somewhat inconsequential.
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