Book Review: Unmailable: Congress and the Post Office

• Author: Chester W. Handleman
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591297903200221
• Published date: 01 June 1979
• Date: 01 June 1979
• Subject Matter: Book Review

232

Western

Political

Quarterly

from long-term developments. In the aggregate analysis, of course, the perceptions

and motivations of the actors could not be taken into account. An attempt to com-

pensatc for this lacuna

is

effected in the second part

of

the volume through

a

series

of nine

case

studies written by other authors. The Conclusion then compares the

aggregate findings with those of the case studies.

While

a

few of the reported findings seem trivial, such

as

the annual number

of incidents because they are not related to an explanatory theory, these are the

esception. hlfost are interesting and of potential policy relevance

if

carefully in-

terpreted. Among the latter are strong correlations between presidential popularity/

national sense of confidence and the propensity to

use

force as an instrument of

diplomacy. The service branch most frequently employed is the

Navy,

involved in

more than

80

percent of the incidents, reflecting its flexibility in demonstrating

a

presence without necessarily making

a

commitment. Land-based air and ground

forces, by contrast, were used less frequently but associated with higher levels of

force and hence greater commitment. Moreover, the use

of

land-based

air

and

ground forces was more frequently associated with positive outcomes than com-

parable amphibious activities. This suggests that the Navy is

a

less

successful

in-

strument of persuasion than has been assumed by

U.S.

policy-makers for discrete

military operations and that modem tactical land-based aircraft could be

used

more

frequently for such purposes.

Other important findings include the fact that positive outcomes (from the

U.S.

perspcctive) were most often

a

short-term phenomenon. An examination of the

targets thrce years after the incidents frequently showed

a

drop in the number of

objectives still realized. This category is further refined to show that

U.S.

objectives

are most successful when they are concerned with supporting

a

regime in power,

less

successful when concerned about another actor‘s use of force, and least success-

fuI when trying to dissuade one actor from supporting the actions of

a

third

as,

for csample, when the

US.

tried to pressure China and the Soviet Union to stop

their support for the Vietnamese communists in the Iate

1950s

and early

1960s.

Put another way, positive outcomes were most often associated with the rein-

forcement of behavior already occurring but not with attempts to change behavior.

Psychological theory suggests that it is easier

to

maintain patterns than to alter

them. Similarly, deterrence appeared more successful than efforts to reverse

a

situation once it had begun.

The authors conclude judiciously that despite the erosion of favorable short-

term outcomes over time, the discrete employment of force may still

be

justified

insofar

as

it “buys time” for the introduction of more fundamental policies and

actions designed to achieve outcomes on

a

more lasting basis.

This is

a

monumental study based on careful data acquisition and analysis.

Its policy implications are rightly controversial and should generate considerable

debate within both the policy and academic communities.

SHELDON

W.

SIMON

Arizona Sfate University

Unmailable: Congress and

the

Post Ofice.

By

DOROTHY

GANFIELD

FOWLER.

(Athens: The University of Georgia

Press,

1977.

Pp.

x,

202.

$14.50.)

This is

a

scholarly study of the history of the United States Post Office, includ-

ing the concept

of

what is considered unmailable and how both relate to the Con-

gress. In

1797

Congress enacted the first law placing

a

limitation on what could

be sent through the mail;

but

according to Dorothy Ganfield Fowler this

was

a

mild regulation

-

simply to prevent damage to the rest of the mail. Still, this was

thc first of many such acts in which material was defined

as

unmailable.

In

1829

the postmaster general became

a

member of the President’s cabinet.

The first real attempt at postal censorship came in

1835

when Amos Kendall was

postmaster general. The newly organized American Anti-Slavery Society “sent out

over

a

million pieces of abolition literature, chiefly by mail.” IYhen

a

southern

postmaster compIained bitterly because thousands of abolition pamphlets

Came

to