IRE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Friday, December 22, MB 53

Biting Criticism Underlies New Von Hoffman Presidents' Book

By ALLEN A. WARSEN

"The American Dream
now is of an idealized past.
Our grandparents dreamt of
a bigger, better, farther, a
more perfect nation. We
have moderated our hopes
and dream only of a future
that is as good as the past."
So wrote Nicholas von
Hoffman in "Make-Believe
Presidents," subtitled "Illu-

-ions of Power from McKin-
ley to Carter" (Pantheon
Books).
In
"Make-Believe
Presidents" von Hoffman
set out to prove that Nixon
and Watergate culminated
a tradition that started with
Theodore Roosevelt.
He attempts to show
Americans have been sus-
picious of Washington ever

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since Pierre L'Enfant de-
signed it, and that Ameri-
cans from the earliest times
of the Republic "have loved
their country and hated
their government, revered
the presidency and despised
those who sought to occupy
it."
He claims that Nixon's
and his helpers' so-called
misdeeds were nOt
unique. Liddy-Hunt's
conspiring to ensnare
leaders of the Democratic
Party with call girls, did
not differ from Teddy
Roosevelt's "using the
Secret Service to keep
track of which Con-
gressmen were patrons
of Washington's bordel-
los." The information
thus obtained, Teddy
would use it to coerce
members of Congress to
support his proposed
legislation.
To counteract this tactic,
Congress passed a law re-
stricting the functions of the
Secret Service to protecting
the President and fighting
counterfeiting.

presidency, whose primary
purpose was to protect de-
positors and borrowers in
times of economic uncer-
tainties. But gjuring the de-
pression of the 1930s, von
Hoffman states, the Ameri-
can banks collapsed "taking
people's
savings
with
them."

oners, including Eugene
Debs, who for years lan- ---
guished in American jails.
However, in a note at
the end of the book he
writes, "In fairness Wil-
son was the first
President to appoint a
Jew to the Supreme
Court."
Biting is von Hoffman's
evaluation of the New
Deal's "National Industrial
Recovery Act" characteriz-
ing it as a form of "volun-
tary wage-price guidelines"
that included, among
others, an "inefficient sys-
tem of tax incentives," Luc-
kily, he observes, "a merci-
ful Supreme Court declared
the whole mess unconstitu-
tional."

It is beyond the scope of
this review to comment on
all of von Hoffman's re-
visior..st views, judgments
and opinions of 20th Cen-
tury American history. Suf-
fice it to say they are legion
and controversial.

Von Hoffman debunks
Woodrow Wilson's broad-
mindedness, noting that
Wilson in his "History of the
American People" wrote,
"... now there came mul-
titudes of men of the lowest
class from the south of Italy
and men of the meaner sort
out of Hungary and Poland,
men of the ranks where
there was neither skill nor
energy nor any initiative of
quick intelligence ... Yet
the Chinese were more to be
desired ... than most of the
coarse crew that came
Popcorn
Bar Mitzvas
crowding in every year at
Cotton
Sweet 16s
the eastern ports."
He asserts that Wilson,
Birthdays
Candy
who equated "free-market
IT rr
Caramel
Fund
.101',
freedom with freedom-
Apples
Raising
freedom," after World War I
was over, stubbornly re-
AND MORE
Similarly, Nixon's use of
41.
fused to grant pardon or
profanities and obscenities amnesty to political pris-
CALL 542-8460
von Hoffman compares to
those used by other "foul-
mouthed chief executives."
Nevertheless, in recent
years, the revelations of
conduct unbecoming the
men who had occupied
the White House since
1933, with the exception
of Harry Truman, von
Hoffman states, pro-
foundly shocked the
American people and
provoked feelings of re-
vulsion.
are
von
Typical
Hoffman's laconic descrip-
tions. Some read: "Lyndon
Johnson's ears stuck out as
far as his principles, and the
New, New, New Dick Ni-
xon's nose swooped as low as
his ever did." -
Incisive is his analysis of
Teddy Roosevelt's "New
Nationalism," Woodrow
Wilson's "New Freedom,"
Warren G. Harding's
"Normalcy," Franklin D.
you are invited
Roosevelt's "New Deal,"
to BLOCK'S
John F. Kennedy's "New
Frontier," and Lyndon B.
Johnson's "Great Society."
Von Hoffman, moreover,
disparages the innovations
and reforms of these high-
sounding programs. Accord-
ing to him, the civil service
reform was an ingenious
"device used to lessen the
SELECTED GROUPS
ability of immigrant-based
political machines to con-
Suits,
trol patronage."
He points out that the
new forms of municipal
Turtleneck Sweaters
government, such as the
$20 Imported Italian Full-
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created to eliminate
minority participation.
$ 13 68
"In Dayton, Ohio," he
notes, "before reform, the
Socialists with 25 percent
of the vote elected five
public officials; after re-
form in 1913 with 35 per-
cent of the vote they -
CLOTHES of West Bloomfield
elected zip and in 1917
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vote they elected zilch."
Critical are the author's
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