Book Reviews and Notices : Personality in Politics. BY SIR ARTHUR SALTER. (London: Faber and Faber. 1947. Pp. 253. $3.50.)

• Published date: 01 September 1948
• Date: 01 September 1948
• Author: John M. Swarthout
• DOI: 10.1177/106591294800100322
• Subject Matter: Articles

326

measured

with

the

standards

of

human

decency

and

morality.

HENRY

W.

EHRMANN.

University

of

Colorado.

Personality

in

Politics

.

BY

SIR

ARTHUR

SALTER.

(London:

Faber

and

Faber.

1947.

Pp. 253.

$3.50.)

Every

great

man

is

followed

by

a

rash

of

character

analysts,

and

every

great

age

by

a

wave

of

interpreters.

It

is

a

pity

that

not

all

men

who

essay

either

role

perform

it

as

well

as

does

Sir

Arthur

Salter.

&dquo;History,&dquo;

says

Sir

Arthur,

&dquo;is

the

net

result

of

the

interaction

of

im-

personal

factors

and

the

personalities

of

those

who

are

in

positions

of

au-

thority.&dquo;

History

is

a

river

furrowing

its

channel

to

the

sea;

although

its

&dquo;ultimate

destination

is

the

ocean,

its

direction,

for

hundreds

of

miles,

may

be

changed

by

a

single

rock

at

a

decisive

point.&dquo;

The

&dquo;great

man&dquo;

is

the

rock.

Thus

to

understand

the

times,

the

historian

must

comprehend

the

character

of

the

vital

personalities

that

participate

therein.

He

must

use

care,

for

the

&dquo;picture

of

a

person

is

hopelessly

confused

by

the

events

with

which

he

is

associated.&dquo;

Personality

is

too

often

inferred

from

recorded

action

that

may

have

arisen

principally

from

environmental

factors.

What

is

needed

to

leaven

the

loaf

is

a

liberal

sprinkling

of

contemporary

impression

and

of

substantiating

anecdotage.

Anecdotes

come

best

from

active

partici-

pants

who

appreciate

their

context.

From

these

premises,

and

with

apporpriate

warnings,

the

book

proceeds.

Sir

Arthur

produces

out

of

a

long

and

distinguished

career

in

the

British

Civil

Service

a

series

of

&dquo;impressions&dquo;

of

some

twenty-two

men

of

historical

significance,

with

all

of

whom

he

has

had

official-and

usually

personal-

contact.

His

varied

subjects

include

five

British

prime

ministers,

from

Bal-

four

to

Churchill;

several

other

Englishmen

who,

like

Sir

John

Maynard

Keynes,

have

&dquo;influenced

political

thought&dquo;;

two

American

presidents,

Wil-

son

and

F.

D.

Roosevelt;

three

French

premiers;

Mussolini,

Chiang

Kai-

chek,

and

a

sprinkling

of

lesser

American,

French

and

Chinese

public

figures.

To

Sir

Arthur

Salter’s

regret,

as

to

the

reader’s,

no

German

or

Russian

characters

appear.

Sir

Arthur’s

sketches

are

unusual

little

gems.

They

are

not

&dquo;minute

biographies&dquo;-though

there

is

a

touch

of

the

biographical-but

rather

es-

says

in

character

study,

with

the

personal

anecdote

liberally

used

in

evi-

dence.

The

characters

are

drawn

in

a

firm

and

steady

hand,

and

the

studies

are

written

with

as

fine

and

free

a

flow

of

the

King’s

proper

English

as

one

is

apt

to

encounter

in

these

hurried

times.

Indeed,

the

Salter

style

has

a

fascination

all

its

own

and

independent

of

the

content;

it

is

as

suave

and

altogether

polished

as

the

Civil

Service

at

its

best.

And

it

is

indisputably

British

upper-class.