Book Reviews : Franklin D. Roosevelt as Governor of New York. By BERNARD BELLUSH. (New York: Columbia University Press. 1955. Pp. xiii, 338. $5.00.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591295600900148
• Published date: 01 March 1956
• Author: Edward H. Hobbs
• Date: 01 March 1956
• Subject Matter: Articles

217

Western

culture,

but

to

make

plain

also

the

source

of

the

freedom

and

its

institutional

and

intellectual

contexts.

In

Mr.

Kirk’s

terms,

academic

free-

dom

belongs

to

those

men

and

women

whose

lives

are

dedicated

to

extend-

ing

the

realm

of

knowledge.

It

is

not

to

be

regarded

as

an

easy

refuge

for

the

crass-minded,

for

the

trivializer,

for

the

crusader

or

fanatic,

or

for

any

individual

whose

prime

commitment

is

sectarian

or

commercial.

In

the

course

of

his

discussion

of

academic

freedom,

the

author

gives

a

great

deal

of

attention

to

the

historical

character

of

the

university,

to

the

intellectual

and

moral

order

of

which

it

is

a

part,

to

the

vocation

of

teaching

and

scholarship,

and

to

the

liberal

ideals

of

education.

Inevitably,

he

is

com-

pelled

to

give

attention

also

to

some

of

the

educational

and

cultural

tend-

encies

which

have

threatened

to

diminish

the

true

university

and

to

degrade

the

calling

of

the

scholar.

Mr.

Kirk

has

done

this

with

both

courage

and

insight.

He

makes

it

perfectly

plain

that

we

cannot

hope

to

maintain

the

tradition

of

academic

freedom

if

we

insist

upon

using

it

as

a

shield

for

every

vocational

fad,

every

popular

fancy,

or

for

every

personal

crusade.

Because

the

book

addresses

itself

courageously

and

analytically

to

sev-

eral

of

the

most

recent

controversies

of

academic

freedom,

as

well

as

to

the

writings

of

such

valiant

(and

contrary)

educational

philosophers

as

Robert

Hutchins

and

Sidney

Hook,

the

average

reader

will

almost

certainly

find

arguments

or

emphases

in

the

book,

here

or

there,

with

which

he

must

disagree.

But

if

he

does,

it

will

be

with

augmented

respect

for

a

young

scholar

who

has

already

established

himself

as

an

intellectual

leader

of

phi-

losophical

conservatism

in

the

contemporary

world.

University

of

California,

Riverside.

R.

A.

NISBET.

Franklin

D.

Roosevelt

as

Governor

of

New

York.

By

BERNARD

BELLUSH.

(New

York:

Columbia

University

Press.

1955.

Pp.

xiii,

338.

$5.00.)

Bernard

Bellush

has

given

the

public

a

new

window

through

which

to

look

at

Franklin

D.

Roosevelt.

It

is

a

window

which

opens

primarily

to

Albany

but

which

also

permits

a

distant

view

of

Washington.

The

popular

misconception

that

Roosevelt

became

an

American

liberal

only

after

assum-

ing

the

duties

of

the

Presidency

is

ably

refuted

as

Mr.

Bellush

meticulously

examines

the

progressive

policies

backed

by

Governor

Roosevelt

of

New

York

in

the

fields

of

housing,

unemployment

insurance,

education,

public

power,

finance,

social

security,

agriculture,

and

taxation.

This

book

is

neither

a

biography

nor

a

history,

yet

when

the

definitive

work

on

Roosevelt

is

finally

written,

the

beautifully

developed

and

sensitive

insights

garnered

in

Franklin

D.

Roosevelt

as

Governor

of

New

York

will

be

indispensable.

Without

question,

Bellush’s

book

is

the

most

authori-