The Presidency of Franklin Pierce (American Presidency Series)
Gara does not rehabilitate Pierce's lackluster reputation. A man of "limited ability . . . overwhelmed" by the job, Pierce overcame neither personal nor politically systemic shortcomings. Devoted to the Union, but deeply insecure, he abetted proslavery forces by suborning passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill. The law "changed everything," in domestic politics, focusing sectional divisiveness into armed conflict in Kansas, diverting Congress, and giving rise to the Republican party. Pierce's administration did witness crucial evolution of U.S. foreign policy: the opening of Japan, expansion of trade and influence abroad and, less positively, the flowering of our fixation on Central America. An impressive interpretive synthesis, Gara's work gives scholars and general readers the best survey of Pierce's presidency available.- Thomas E. Schott, Office of History, 17th Air Force, Sembach, GermanyCopyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.