“I BELIEVE I MUST NOMINATE YOU”

A review of Jean Edward Smith’s John Marshall: Definer of a Nation (1996)

(Rating 5 of 5)

When President John Adams utter the words “I believe I must nominate you” he committed—as Smith points out—the most important nomination since he had recommended that General Washington be made Commander-In-Chief of the American Army during the Revolutionary War.  John Marshall is known as the ‘Great Chief Justice’.  He was not the first but the fourth man to serve as Chief Justice of the United States; nevertheless it was he who would turn the Court into the institution it is today.  John Marshall’s accomplishment makes him probably the greatest public servant never to serve as president. 

Chief Justice John Marshall

            I have read and reviewed Professor Smith’s biographies of Presidents Grant and Franklin Roosevelt.  One of the things that Professor Smith does extremely well is his ability to cut through the myth of any particular individual and get straight to the substance of who they really were.  Here, in his first attempt, Smith succeeds in getting to the man behind the myth.

            Smith’s Marshall is a Revolutionary solider whose nationalism is strengthened at Valley Forge along with men like George Washington and Alexander Hamilton.  He becomes a successful lawyer who finds himself thrust into public service.  Often he is pressured to enter the arena by the man who he admired the most: George Washington.  Marshall greatly admired Washington and after the death of the first President of the United States, Marshall became his biographer.               

“In Marshall’s opinion, the power of government derived from the express authority granted by the people.  Unlike the British parliament, the American government was not sovereign, and when it acted in the economic sphere, it was bound by the same laws of contract as a private citizen.  This view became law of the land in such leading decisions of the Marshall Court as Fletcher v. Peck and the Dartmouth College case.  The holding in those cases reaffirmed the vested rights of property against governmental intrusion and helped set the stage for the growth of American capitalism.” (p.108)

George Washington, Marshall's idol

            As the Chief Justice of the United States, Marshall laid down what was to be the foundation of American constitutional law.  Smith shows that Marshall was helping to do that even before he was on the bench, his action concerning the Robbins case during his stay in Congress is a good preview of what he would do on the court.  This book was written in 1996, I wish some Supreme Court justices had read this prior to the disaster that was Bush v. Gore.

“Marshall was drawing a distinction between legal issues and political questions.  Not everything that arises under the Constitution involves a legal issue.  Some matters are political.  And the courts are empowered to render decisions on legal issues only.  They have no authority to decide political questions.  These are the province of the executive and the legislature.  Three years later in the great case of Marbury v. Madison, Marshall employed that distinction to establish the authority of the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution in matters of law.  While explicitly recognizing that political questions might raise constitutional issues, Marshall stated that these questions were ultimately the responsibility of the president and Congress.  The distinction that Marshall drew has become one of the cornerstones of American constitutional law.  In the case of the Vietnam war for example, important constitutional questions were raised about war powers, but these were political questions not legal ones.  Federal courts consistently declined to entertain suits testing the war’s constitutionality, citing the distinction first articulated by Marshall in his speech on the Robbins case.”(p.261)

One of the myths that Smith shoots down is with the rivalry and hatred between him and President Jefferson.  Smith does not say the rivalry did not exist but he shows that this developed as time went on; each side built up reasons not to like the other.  A major part of myth that Smith breaks down is Jefferson’s reasons for not liking the famous Marbury v. Madison decision, not because of the decision’s ultimate result but rather minor technicalities with it.      

“It was judicial tour de force.  Marshall had converted a no-win situation into a massive victory.  The authority of the Supreme Court to declare an act of Congress unconstitutional was now the law of the land.  Typically, Marshall’s decision paid heed to the claims raised on both sides of the case.  The High Federalists were awarded the nominal prize of hearing that Marbury was entitled to his commission, and the Republicans gained a victory with the dismissal of the rule to show cause.  But the real winner was the Supreme Court an, some might say, the Constitution itself.

The legal precedent for judicial review, that unique American doctrine that permits the Supreme Court to declare acts of Congress and the executive unconstitutional, traces the holding in Marbury v. Madison.  Marshall did not say that the Supreme Court was the ultimate arbiter of the Constitution.  He did not say that the authority to interpret the Constitution rested exclusively with the Court, and he certainly did not endorse grandiose schemes that envisaged the Supreme Court as a board of review sitting in judgment of each act of Congress to determine its constitutionality.  He simply stated that the Constitution was law, and that as a judicial matter, it could be interpreted by the Court in cases that came before it.” (p.323-4)

Thomas Jefferon, he and Marshall were cousins but not friends

           Marshall would also lay down what would be the bane of the South’s argument of the nature of the Union with important decisions that reinforced the position of the Federal Government over the states.  

“Marshall returned to Washington in early February for the 1810 term of the Court, a term that, with possible exception to 1803, would prove to be the most important during his tenure as chief justice.  In 1803, in Marbury v. Madison the Court had established its authority to declare an act of Congress unconstitutional.  In 1810, in another landmark case, Fletcher v. Peck, it would assert its authority to strike down state laws repugnant to the Constitution.” (p.388)

            Probably the decision that most affected the nation as a whole, was the restatement of national supremacy that would become the bedrock of Constitutional law, John C. Calhoun be damned. 

“The Court’s decision in McCulloch v. Maryland is a ringing restatement of national supremacy.  Marshall’s eloquent phrases have been invoked repeatedly by later generations of jurists and legislators to justify the expansion of national authority at the expense of the states.  At the time, however, Marshall could not have envisioned the modern federal government with its greatly augmented powers to regulate the economy and promote social welfare.  His decision was a defensive one.  In 1819 the Court was concerned with preserving the Union against the powerful centrifugal forces that constantly threatened its dissolution.  McCulloch did not so much expand federal sovereignty as restrict state sovereignty.  As one scholar has written, the Court’s intention was to enable the federal government to exercise its powers effectively and to prevent state encroachments upon its legitimate operations.” (p.445)

          
 
The final chapter deals with the Chief Justice’s last years.  He dies waiting for President Andrew Jackson to get done being president so that he can retire as the Chief Justice.  Marshall does not make it; Jackson is elected to a second term defeating Marshall’s favorite Henry Clay.  Although President Jackson did not make any Supreme Court appointments that Marshall did not like, he clashed directly with Jackson on the rights of Native Americans. However popular support was not on the aboriginal people’s side.  The Court stood powerless to stop what would become the trail of tears.     

“The Supreme Court was on record.  The Indian laws passed by the state of Georgia were unconstitutional.  ‘The Court has done its duty,’ Story wrote, ‘let the nation now do theirs.’  But the nation was unwilling.  Georgia again ignored the Court; Worcester and Butler remained in prison; and President Jackson is reported to have said, ‘Well, John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.’  Jackson probably did not say that, and at that point the president had no responsibility for enforcing the judgment.  The degree issued by the Supreme Court merely instructed Georgia to reverse its decision and release the missionaries.  The Court adjourned shortly thereafter, which meant that the decree could not be enforced until the 1833 term and that the state would not be in defiance until then.” (p.518)

Andrew Jackson, a president Marshall did not like

Like the other two books I read by Smith, John Marshall: Definer of a Nation is a great read.  It is the book you want to read if you want to know about one of our most important figures in American jurisprudence, John Marshall.

{Video is a little movie about McCulloch v. Maryland.}

USHERING IN THE MODERN WORLD

A review of Jean Edward Smith’s FDR (2007)

(Rating 5 of 5)

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the most important person of the twentieth century, he helped the United States shake off bonds of the nineteenth century and prepared the nation to accept it's new role as a global superpower. When he came to power of March 4, 1933 after the stunning November 1932 election, the nation was at its weakest point since the dark days of the Civil War. The nation had been crippled by the devastation of the 1929 crash, and a man, who was himself disabled, was going to show the nation how to stand. Smith tells an incredible story of a remarkable human being.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was born to extreme privilege. Smith explains that both his families, the Roosevelts and the Delanoes, were extremely rich. He was the only child of his mother (Sara Delano Roosevelt) but he was his father’s (James Roosevelt) second son. However, his older half brother, James R. Roosevelt, was the same age as Franklin’s mother so, Franklin grew up as an only child of a rich household. Smith illustrates that Roosevelt’s parents disagreed on what to name him. Each parent wanted to name him after his or her respective father. Since Sara could not stand Isaac—the name of James’s father--, they settled on naming him after her father, Warren Delano. However, when Sara’s nephew who was also named Warren died, they decided instead to name him after Sara’s favorite uncle, the childless Franklin Delano. Uncle Franklin was also very wealthy and without an heir, which caused some suspicion of Sara’s motives.





(A young FDR and his parents)

His distant cousin, Theodore Roosevelt, the Rough Rider president who most historians call the ‘first modern president’, inspired a young Roosevelt to take up a public career of his own. He would even court and wed the President’s niece Anne Eleanor Roosevelt*. Known as ‘Eleanor’ at this stage of her life she very simple minded with very little hint that she would one day evolve into one of the most important women in human history. Both in the beginning lack that passion that would one day make them great. FDR was building a career for a career’s sake and any good he did during this period was simply to further his ambition**. He would serve in the New York State Senate, and later, for President Wilson, he served as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy and earned the Democratic Party’s Vice Presidential nomination in 1920.

“Franklin was little liked in Albany. Most of his colleagues found him insufferable. Al Smith wrote him off as a dilettante—‘a damn fool’ who thought more about political appearances than substantive legislation. Robert Wagner saw him as a stage dandy interested only in publicity: ‘Senator Roosevelt has gained his point. What he wants is a headline in the newspapers. Let us proceed to our business.’ The elderly Tom Grady, who had served in the legislature with TR, thought Franklin the more obnoxious of the two. Even the genial Tim Sullivan, a man of exceptional warmth and kindness, believed him to be ‘an awful arrogant fellow.’ p.79

(President Theodore Roosevelt FDR's cousin and idol)


(Young Eleanor)


(Running for V.P.)

Then in 1921, FDR would face the greatest challenge of his life, his body stricken with what most believed to be polio, a man who had been a his peek physically was stricken down and for the rest of his life he would be deprived of practical use of his legs. He would have to go through the greatest test of his character and to answer it he would go to Warm Springs. At Warm Springs he heal enough, more mentally then physically, to challenge the world again, and this time with a real purpose to help those far worse off then him.

“For FDR, Warm Springs offered the opportunity to be in complete change of a significant undertaking—a means a reestablishing his self-esteem. Warm Springs would be his alone, a haven much like Val-Kill was for Eleanor: a place where he could do as he pleased, when he pleased, free from the formality of Hyde Park and East Sixty-fifth Street. More to the point, it provided an opportunity to participate in the fight against polio. Roosevelt had no special training in physiotherapy, but he became an authentic pioneer in its application.” p.216

The start of Roosevelt’s return to political life began in 1924 when he gave the nominating address at the Democratic National Convention; he would do so again in 1928. In addition, in 1928, he received the Democratic Party’s nomination for Governor of New York State. He would win the governorship while Herbert Hoover crushed Roosevelt’s predecessor, Al Smith, in the general election. As Governor, he began by cleaning out some the corruption by creating the New York Public Services Commission. When the depression hit, the Governor took action creating a New York relief system that would be the preview of the Federal Emergency Relief Legislation. With Frances Perkins appointed to the position of Secretary of Labor the administration was able to pass a series of Labor Reform laws protecting workers from abuse.

Hoover tried to have Roosevelt unseated in the 1930 but that effort failed and Roosevelt became the Democrats nominee for President in 1932. Roosevelt broke tradition and accepted the presidential nomination in person, he would go on to defeat Hoover in the election and become our thirty-second president. At his inauguration President Roosevelt, would challenge the nation letting them know that the only they had to fear: was fear itself.



As President, Roosevelt would dive into action. He had his legendary first 100 days passing all sorts of legislation to deal with the crisis. The President had brought Harry Hopkins and Frances Perkins with him from New York State to the national government to head up the commerce and labor departments. The New Deal would be revolutionary government action for good that would help the average person in incredibly horrible times, and put a huge dent in the Great Depression.

“By almost any measure the economic surge since 1932 had been remarkable. National income had risen by more then 50 percent, 6 million new jobs had been created, and unemployment had dropped by more than a third. OF the 8 million still unemployed, more than 70 percent worked at least part of the year for the WPA or were enrolled in the CCC. Industrial production had doubled, stock prices were up 80 percent from their 1933 lows, farmers’ cash income—which had fallen below $4 billion in 1932—rose to almost $7 billion in 1935, and corporate profits, deep in negative territory when Roosevelt took office, had zoomed to nearly $6 billion.” p.360-1

(FDR as President)


(Eleanor, as First Lady, would not only be an important advisor to her husband; but would often be the eyes and ears of the administration, traveling where the President could not.)


(FDR at work)


(Harry Hopkins, Secretary of Commerce, Head of the W.P.A)


(Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor)

The same year Roosevelt became the President of the United States, Adolf Hitler had risen to power in Germany and was repairing and rearming his state at the same time Roosevelt was instituting the New Deal. When World War II started, isolationist feelings were still strong and popular opinion blamed the Great Depression on World War I. President Roosevelt would create an ‘Arsenal of Democracy’ to aid the allies in their fight against Hitler’s Germany. Due to world events, President Roosevelt decided to seek a third term as president, something no incumbent had ever tried. He succeeded and continued to try to help the allies then when the United States was attacked by Japan on December 7, 1941, Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war and they complied.



World War II was a war the entire country followed and was involved. Unlike modern wars, which require little to no sacrifice from the civilian population, World War II required a huge home front involvement. Roosevelt would keep the public up to date with his wartime ‘fire-side chats.’ The United States was fighting a two-front war, the Atlantic and the Pacific. Roosevelt had General MacArthur in command of the Pacific Front, General Eisenhower in Europe, and General George Marshall directing everything militarily stateside. In addition, President Roosevelt had Admirals Nimitz and King providing the military leadership for the Navy.

“In retrospect, the establishment of the command structure to the fight the war was an unprecedented achievement that reflected the extraordinary ability of Churchill and Roosevelt to saw off minor differences and find common ground. Roosevelt, unlike Lincoln, was also well served by this long familiarity with the Army and Navy and his ability to pick effective military subordinates. Leahy, Marshall, King, and Arnold were exactly the right men for the job, and they served in their posts throughout the war. In their own way they were ruthless taskmasters, loyal to the president, and, when pushed by FDR, worked effectively with the British counterparts.” p.546

(FDR communicating with the American Public)


(The three Axis Leaders)

Although from his greatest triumph also comes his greatest failure. He allowed fear and superstition in the country and inside the administration to lead to the horrible internment of the Japanese living in the United States, regardless of citizenship status. Although Smith goes into explaining how the push for this came from the bottom up, and Roosevelt himself did not originally seek it, as Roosevelt’s successor would later state, ‘the buck stops here’ and responsibility ultimately lays with the president.

President Roosevelt also forged relationships with other world leaders the most famous being Winston Churchill. Roosevelt and Churchill started to get along even before America entered the war; Churchill would even state before the House of Commons that the world depended on the American election in 1940. Smith writes about Roosevelt and Churchill’s bond was as being extremely close.

Roosevelt relationship with the other member of the ‘Big Three,’ Joseph Stalin, was probably the more interesting. Although, it somewhat damaged his reputation because of the ‘Yalta Myth***‘ Roosevelt was able to get along better with man he nicknamed ‘Uncle Joe’ much better then Churchill was able to, and often Roosevelt would act as the glue of the alliance****.

“At one point Stalin wryly suggested that 50,000 officers of the German general staff should be summarily executed at the end of the war. Bohlen saw that Stalin was smiling sardonically as he spoke, and so did FDR. ‘Not fifty thousand, but perhaps forty-nine thousand,” the president shot back. Churchill was not amused. He did not perceive that Stalin was goading him and rose to the bait. Britain would never tolerate such an outrage, he passionately responded. ‘I would be rather taken out in the garden here and be shot myself rather then sully my own and my country’s honor by such infamy.’” p.590

(The Big Three)

This book is an incredible work by Jean Edward Smith; it is just as good as his work on President Grant. Smith has a brilliant narrative that holds the reader’s attention and does justice to his subject. For the reader, Roosevelt figuratively comes back to life as the story of his life is laid out before them.

*Although this sounds gross, they were actually just fifth cousins so practically unrelated.

**There is some exception to this; he did fight for baby bottle safety after the death of his son FDR, Jr. (He later had another son named FDR, Jr.)

***The myth is that Stalin swindled sick Roosevelt at the Yalta Conference. Churchill would later point out that if Yalta was so good for Stalin, why did soon break it?

****A good comparison maybe with Roosevelt’s role in the alliance is with Julius Caesar’s role in the First Triumvirate.

{First Video is from the HBO movie Warm Springs, the second and third is from C-span}

Some People Seek Greatness Others Have it Thrust Upon Them

A review of Jean Edward Smith’s Grant (2001)

(Rating 5 of 5)

All he really wanted to be was a mathematics professor. Had the life plan Ulysses S. Grant made while at West Point came true, the world would have never heard of the man who would become our eighteenth president. Moreover, the whole world would have been worse place then it is today. Grant’s life is in itself a remarkable story that sparks an interest form the curious: a compassionate man who becomes one of world’s most feared generals.

Smith brings to life an incredible Grant, one who is so easy going that when his name was published wrong at West Point, instead of ‘Hiram Ulysses Grant’, he was listed as ‘Ulysses S. Grant’; the young cadet just accepts the change. A young solider in the Mexican War, he finds himself in a conflict he cannot stand. Separated from his young family, he takes to drinking and is forced to resign. His life hits rock bottom he tries to peddle wood to and takes up odd jobs to try to support his family. At one point, his wife’s family gives him a slave, which forces Grant to confront an issue that he never really thought about.

“The circumstances are not clear, but sometime during his last year at White Haven he acquired possession of the young slave Colonel Dent left behind, a thirty-five-year-old man named William Jones. Grant’s views on slavery were ambivalent and Jones was the only slave he ever owned. When he moved to St. Louis, Grant was initially tempted to rent the man out, but soon decided against it. On March 29, 1859, he went to circuit court and filed the manumission papers to emancipate Jones. Grant never discussed his motives, but the action speaks for itself. Able-bodied slaves sold for a thousand dollars or more, and Grant surely could have used the money. Instead, he set Jones free.” p.94

When the War breaks out, Grant joins the forces of the Union. He receives a position as a colonel of volunteers; he is quickly promoted to brigadier general of volunteers and begins to win battle after battle. General Grant at first is unpopular at home because of casualties, but he has the important support of President Lincoln, soon he becomes popular all over the north as he keeps piling up victories in the western front. He earns himself the rank of major general in the permanent army—the highest rank at the time—and is brought back to Washington to be granted the new rank of Lieutenant General, be given supreme command of the Army, and personal oversight of the Eastern front. Grant would defeat General Lee and win the Civil War.


(Grant as three star general)


(Interesting point about Lee, as a Confederate officer he wore the uniform designed for a colonel, because that was the highest rank he held in the Union Army, and would not wear a general's uniform until the South had won, which they never did.)

“The generals greeted each other cordially. Grant took a chair in the middle of the room and Lee resumed his seat by an unlit fire, while Marshall remained standing beside him. ‘What General Lee’s feelings were I do not know,’ Grant said later. ‘As he was a man of much dignity, with an impassive face, it was impossible to say whether he felt inwardly glad that the end had finally come, or felt sad over the result, and was too manly to show it. What ever his feelings, they were entirely concealed from my observation; but my own feelings, which had been quite jubilant on the receipt of his letter, were sad and depressed. I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe that had felt so long and so valiantly.’ The two men chatted easily for a few minutes, recalling the time the met in Mexico, after which Babcock ushered in Sheridan, Ord, and Rawlins, as well as a number of other Union officers. The newcomers arranged themselves behind Grant as quietly as swords and spurs would permit. Grant made no reference to their coming. Lee showed no resentment at their presence.” p.404

(Famous scene that ends the bloodiest war in American history.)

After the war, Grant played an important part during the accidental and terrible Johnson administration that was created in the wake of President Lincoln’s assassination. Grant often acts as the cool head in the conflict between President Johnson and the Congress. In 1868, the same year he was created the army’s first four-star general, he became the Republican candidate for president.


(One the worst, if not the worst president)


(Grant as president)

Smith makes a compelling case that Grant’s presidency that is generally considered to be one of the worst, should in fact, be considered one of the best. Smith points out that it was Grant’s presidency that gave us the inter-continental railroad, brought a swift end to the first Ku Klux Klan, and created a Civil Service Commission that would be a forerunner to the Civil Service that was created in during the presidency of Chester A. Arthur.

“To the end of his life Grant viewed his veto of the inflation bill, together with passage of the Resumption Act, as the most important accomplishment of his administration. The introduction of a stable currency paved the way for the enormous growth of the American economy in the last quarter of the nineteenth century—just as currency reform in Germany and Japan precipitated their extraordinary economic revival after World War II. Inflation was tamed, speculation reined in, and the credit of the government firmly reestablished. By the century’s end, the American dollar had become the international symbol of financial stability. Grant’s veto of the inflation bill also marked a political benchmark. From 1874 onward, the Republican party became the party of economic conservatism, fiscal restraint, and a sound dollar. The Resumption Act was not only a pivotal event in restoring the American economy, it also marked a fundamental redefinition of the nation’s political parties. Grant imparted to the Grand Old Party a commercial, pro-capitalist stance that replaced emancipation as the party’s raison d’etre.” p.582

Grant’s post-presidency was also an adventure itself. He world go on a trip that led him to meeting people such as Queen Victoria, Otto Von Bismarck, Tsar Alexander II, and Emperor Meiji of Japan. He returned and tried to claim the presidency once more but failed to win the nomination. That loss would be a blessing because in that presidential term Grant developed throat cancer, and would spend the rest of his life writing his memoirs.

(Grant on his post-presidential world tour)


(Queen Victoria)


(Otto Von Bismarck)


(Tsar Alexander II)


(Emperor Meiji)

I highly recommend this excellent book. Jean Edward Smith has a masterpiece here it is very intimate portrayal of our eighteenth president. No one who reads this will be disappointed.

{Video posted by randytandy23 on YouTube}