Book Reviews : Poor Richard's Politicks: Benjamin Franklin and His New American Order. By PAUL W. CONNER. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1965. Pp. xii, 285, $6.50.)
| Author | Martin Gruberg |
| Published date | 01 March 1966 |
| Date | 01 March 1966 |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591296601900120 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
160
mittee
clearance.&dquo;
But
Neustadt
finds
a
tightening
of
ranks
among
career
oflicials
who
now
cross
jurisdictional
lines
&dquo;with
an
ease
and
understanding
little
known
some
twenty
years
ago....
If
this
trend
should
continue
and
accelerate .. ,
a
President
and
congressmen
might
confront
competition
too
intense
for
them
to
meet
in
isolation
from
each
other.&dquo;
He
strongly
suggests
that
a
unity
among
elected
politicians
from
each
branch
might
be
the
most
useful
of
reforms.
The
final
paper
in
this
book
is
the
editor’s
appraisal
of
the
prospects
for
change.
Mr.
Truman
asserts
that
the
&dquo;most
significant
changes,
written
and
unwritten,
in
the
Constitution
of
the
United
States
came
in
the
wake
of
desperate
crisis:
the
Civil
War,
the
Great
Depression,
and
World
War
II....
Reforms
contingent
upon
such
upheavals,
therefore
cannot
be
regarded
realistically
as
feasible.&dquo;
He
then
analyzes
some
specific
reforms
from
the
perspective
of
centralized
leadership
in
Congress
and
finds
that
many
proposed
reforms
not
only
do
not
aid
centralization,
but
actually
reinforce
dispersion.
His
own
view
is
that
leverage
from
outside
Congress,
wielded
by
the
President,
has
at
least
the
feasibility
of
strengthening
central
leadership.
These
two
books
represent
a
broad
spectrum
of
political
analysis
and
argument,
and
the
Truman
volume
should
be
recognized
as
a
significant
contribution
to
recent
political
literature.
DENIS
KILLEEN
St.
John’s
University
Poor
Richard’s
Politicks:
Benjamin
Franklin
and
His
New
American
Order.
By
PAUL
W.
CONNER.
(New
York:
Oxford
University
Press,
1965.
Pp.
xii,
285,
$6.50.)
What
manner
of
man
was
Benjamin
Franklin?
The
Franklin
literature
is
re-
markably
extensive
(&dquo;His
myriad
writings
have
long
provided
livings
for
historians
of
science,
government,
and
literature.&dquo;)
but
the
conclusions
about
his
character
and
convictions
are
in
conflict.
Most
see
him
as
an
admirable
gentleman
in
advance
of
his
time,
a
rare
humanitarian
as
well
as
a
scholar.
Others
regard
him
as
a
sancti-
monious
sham,
a
social
climber,
and
a
time-server.
Which
is
the
real
Franklin?
Paul
Conner
attempted
to
resolve
the
riddle
by
reading
the
vast
miscellany
of
letters
and
essays
prepared
by
Franklin
over
his
long
life.
(Franklin
put
a
premium
on
orderliness
but
his
political
thoughts
-
like
his
writings
on
electricity
-
appeared
quite
unsystematically.)
He
also
immersed
himself
in
books
and
tracts
which
Frank-
lin
had
had
occasion
to
read.
The
author’s
thesis
is
that
Franklin
possessed
a
some-
what
integrated
political
theory
and
that
it
was
inseparable
from
his
views
on
eco-
nomics
and
sociology.
We
don’t
think
of
Franklin
as
a
theorist.
He
is
remembered
either
as
Kindly
Old
Ben
or
as
the
Cunning
Opportunist,
a
turner
of
phrases
or
a
man
of
the
world.
Conner
had
a
difficult
time
separating
the
wheat
from
the
chaff.
Franklin
was
a
man
both
of
the
city
and
of
the
frontier,
a
child of
America
and
of
Europe.
He
was
no
armchair
speculator.
As
a
businessman
and
as
a
politician
he
had
an
interest
in
winning
friends
and
influencing
people.
Words
were
weapons
employed
to
advance
his
interests.
Conner
discovered
behind
his
ephemeral
com-
ments,
however,
a
dream
of
a
new
order,
a
high
moral
edifice
to
be
built
on
this
earth.
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