Advising Ike: The Memoirs of Attorney General Herbert Brownell
A modest, upright man and an anti-ideological Republican, Brownell, as he emerges in this book written with University of Vermont political scientist Burke, portrays the more casual and genteel politics of the past. Readers will agree with John Chancellor's observation that "the trouble with people like Herbert Brownell is . . . there are not enough of them." Born in Nebraska in 1904, Brownell went from Yale Law School to a legal and political career in New York City. After a stint as a state legislator, he managed Thomas Dewey's successful New York gubernatorial campaign in 1942 and proceeded to work on the presidential campaigns of Dewey and Eisenhower. As Attorney General, Brownell moved to de-politicize and professionalize his department. He claims that Eisenhower made no deal with Earl Warren regarding the Supreme Court appointment, describes how he convinced Eisenhower to participate in the Brown desegregation case and maintains that the president's caution on civil rights "may have been ultimately more productive" because the problem "was not amenable to quick remedy." Beneath Eisenhower's "benevolent demeanor," Brownell argues, "was a knowledgeable and astute political mind." Photos not seen by PW .Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.