Arthur m schlesinger sr biography of michael
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(President John F. Kennedy and Arthur M. Schlesinger)
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary a “gadfly” is “a person who stimulates or annoys other people especially by persistent criticism.” According to Richard Aldous, in his new biography, SCHLESINGER: THE IMPERIAL HISTORIAN, the definition fits Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.’s role as Special Assistant to the President during the Kennedy administration. Aldous’ work is the first full-length biography of Schlesinger and he successfully grapples with a number of questions as his narrative unfolds. First, was Schlesinger a great and important historian, a model of how academics and public service can mix? Second, was he a popularizer and court historian held captive to the establishment that nurtured his career? After reading Aldous’ monograph there is no conclusive answer and elements of each question make up Schlesinger’s academic career at Harvard, as well as a speech writer and advisor to President Kennedy. However, Aldous ably balances his subject’s talent as a writer of historical monographs and speeches with a clear acknowledgement of his shortcomings as a political analyst and aide.
My interest in Schlesinger dates back to a debate between Schlesinger and William F. Buckley, the editor of the Nation
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Tides of Land Politics
Go over the top with the Rolls museum
Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr.To read addon from Say publicly Yale Review's American Government archival hearten, click here.
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In response to:
The Right-Wing Christians from the April 3, 2008 issue
To the Editors:
Reviewing Garry Wills’s Head and Heart: American Christianities in the April 3 issue, Andrew Delbanco refers to Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.’s “well-known view of American politics, put forward in The Cycles of American History (1986),” as swinging over time from left to right and back again. The model, however, was not Schlesinger Jr.’s invention. It had been outlined in print in 1922 by Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr. in an essay, “Radicalism and Conservatism in American History,” published in New Viewpoints in American History. Harvard students of my generation may recall Schlesinger Sr.’s applications of it. Its longer-term influence is evident in Schlesinger Jr.’s extensions, elaborations, and revisions.
Michael McGiffert
Williamsburg, Virginia
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