Book Reviews : Herbert Hoover's Latin-American Policy. By ALEXANDER DECONDE. (Stanford: Stanford University Press. 1951. Pp. xii, 154. $3.00.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591295100400431
• Date: 01 December 1951
• Published date: 01 December 1951
• Subject Matter: Articles

674

the

1004

bills

that

went

to

conference

during

the

period

under

review,

the

author

selected

for

his

case

study

56

which

he

regarded

as

most

signif-

icant.

The

author

divided

his

list

into

ten

subject

matter

groups

such

as

agriculture,

revenue,

and

social

security,

and

he

took

up

the

bills

in

each

group

in

chronological

order.

Dr.

Steiner

does

not

claim

that

his

selection

of

cases

for

study

was

other

than

subjective,

or

that

it

was

possible

to

avoid

significant

errors

of

judgment

in

weighing

the

evidence

in

any

particular

case.

Yet

the

number

of

cases

he

considered

and

the

period

of

time

covered

by

his

study

should

give

his

conclusions

a

high

degree

of

validity.

The

author

found

that

in

the

56

cases

under

review,

the

House

influence

was

stronger

than

that

of

the

Senate

in

32;

the

Senate’s

stronger

than

that

of

the

House

in

15;

and

equal

shares

of

Senate

and

House

influence

in

9.

He

regrets

that

conference

committees

occasionally

delete

from

a

bill

matter

included

by

both

Houses

and

insert

new

matter,

but

he

notes

that

this

practice

could

be

eliminated

by

an

amendment

to

the

Rules.

He

is

of

the

opinion

that

the

system

could

be

improved

by

giving

a

formal

place

on

the

con-

ference

committee

to

a

Member

of

Congress

who

sponsors

a

bill

and

who

happens

not

to

have

a

place

on

the

committee

of

the

Senate

or

House

to

which

the

bill

is

referred.

The

author

points

out

that

the

minority

party

is

overrepresented

on

the

conference

committee

and

that

the

influence

of

minority

members

may

be

crucial.

He

suggests

that

the

influence

of

the

minority

in

conference

committees

be

reduced

to

cor-

respond

in

rough

proportion

to

its

weight

in

the

framing

of

legislation

on

the

Floors.

On

the

whole,

Dr.

Steiner

is

a

defender

of

the

conference

committee,

finding

it

&dquo;both

a

practical

and

satisfactory

device&dquo;

(p.

173).

The

State

College

of

Washington.

CLAUDIUS

O.

JOHNSON.

Herbert

Hoover’s

Latin-American

Policy.

By

ALEXANDER

DECONDE.

(Stanford:

Stanford

University

Press.

1951.

Pp.

xii,

154.

$3.00.)

This

book

is

a

well-documented

study

of

the

Latin-American

policy

followed

by

the

Hoover

administration.

Professor

DeConde

wrote

the

book

because,

&dquo;the

four

years

of

Hoover’s

administration

have

been

largely

neglected

or

have

been

given

scant

attention

by

historians

in

treating

the

historical

evolution

of

our

Latin-American

policy.&dquo;

Using

a

great

deal

of

material,

including

Mr.

Hoover’s

private

papers

and

presidential

files

pertaining

to

Latin-American

affairs,

which

are

now

in

the

archives

of

the

Hoover

Library

at

Stanford,

Professor

DeConde

is

able

to

trace

the

developments

during

these

four

years

in

great

detail.

He

demonstrates

that

the

Good

Neighbor

Policy

of

the

United

States

toward

Latin

America