Profiles in Character: Hubris and Heroism in the U.S. Senate, 1789-1990

by Joseph M. Hernon

Book Overview

A take-off of Kennedy's Profiles in Courage, which argues that the best-known US senators don't deserve their renown as much as some lesser-known ones. Over the course of ten biographical chapters,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1563249375
• ISBN13: 9781563249372
• Release Date: October 1996
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Worthy examination of history through the eyes of the Senate

Historically regarded as a "Gentlemen's Club," Joseph Martin Hernon examines the U.S. Senate, its leaders, scoundrels, demagoues, and unsung heroes in order to provide a broad history of this organization and it's significance to American history and to America's future. Hernon pairs contemporaries from 1789 to 1990 to demonstrate how different personalities can affect the course of history, and, more significantly, to illustrate how history was changed by moral conviction or lack of it. In the course of discussing these pairings, Hernon reveals three overlooked facts about the Senate. The most obvious is that history often changes who we view as heroes and villains, and who we just forget over time. Hernon's choices for his "portraits" prove that we can't believe everything our history teachers taught us. Hernon's excellent ananlysis demands new, fresh biographies of such personalities as Pitt Fessenden, Thomas Walsh and George Frisbie Hoar who were able to rise above the party squabblings for the good of the nation. This counterpoint is also clear: we need to look again at such heroes as James Monroe and John C. Calhoun who truly are overrated and overly admired. The second fact about the Senate this book illustrates is how powerful the Senate has been in history and can be again under the proper circumstances. Every generation since WWII has regarded the Presidency as the true seat of power, with the Senate serves merely as an "appendage of the Executive." Hernon's encapsulated histories show that key senators have been more responsbile for making major changes in our country than most presidents. While the short histories don't allow Hernon to exlpore these issues to a minute degree, he covers enough detail to make his points. Hernon's third point is simply that the pursuit of the Presidency has at times weakened powerful senators and undermined their effectiveness and place in history, while those who were content to stay in the Senate were able to focus on changing the country and the world. Although I think Hernon proves his points in only 200 pages, the book could have benefited from more indepth examination of the times and some of the supporting players in the dramas of the Senate. However, this is the book's only shortcoming and overall it's doesn't detract from the overall effect. Recommended.

Interesting, lesser-known political figures.

Professor Hernon, a distinguished historian, pairs up U.S. Senators from 1789 to 1990, in light of their careers and the salient issues of the day, to portray some admirable demonstrations of character in the lesser-known senators, contrasted with more famous figures of their time. Compared and contrasted are such enlightening pairs as Thomas Hart Benton vs. John C. Calhoun in the gathering storm of the pre-Civil War era, Henry Cabot Lodge vs. Thomas J. Walsh in the pivotal 1900-1920's, and the Humphrey vs. Thurmond dichotomy which persists to this day. With photos, notes, and index, this is a useful exploration of some leaders and issues less widely seen. (The "score" rating is an ineradicable feature of the page. This reviewer does not "score" books.)