Book Reviews : The Political Elite and the People. By REMIGO E. AGPALO. (Manila: College of Public Administration, University of the Philippines, 1972. Pp. xxvi, 414. n.p.)

• Date: 01 March 1974
• DOI: 10.1177/106591297402700113
• Author: Odell Waldby
• Published date: 01 March 1974
• Subject Matter: Articles

185

Norman

Markowitz’

book

hardly

considers

Wallace

as

Secretary

of

Agricul-

ture ;

that

phase

is

summarized

in

the

first

chapter,

along

with

Wallace’s

early

years

and

his

family’s

history.

The

legend

of Wallace’s

mysticism

is

treated

definitively

in

an

appendix,

where

sharp

shafts

are

aimed

at

Schlesinger

for

embellishing

the

slander

first

published

by

Westbrook

Pegler.

The

body

of

the

text

is

concerned

with

Wallace’s

thought

and

actions

as

a

leader

of

social

liberalism,

the

champion

of

alternatives

to

cold

war

policies

who

won

only

2.37

percent

of

the

popular

vote

as

the

Progressive

candidate

in

1948.

Eight

years

before,

he

was

forced

upon

a

reluc-

tant

Democratic

party

as

the

running-mate

of

Franklin

D.

Roosevelt.

He

won

an

independent

following

in

the

intervening

years

as

spokesman

for

the

decent

im-

pulses

of

the

New

Deal -

impulses

that

faded

so

far

into

the

background

during

the

reign

of

&dquo;Dr.

Win-the-War.&dquo;

This,

then,

is

a

chronicle

of

the

deepening

freeze

of

the

cold

war.

Its

central

focus

is

upon

the

period

beginning

with

Wallace’s

replacement

by

Truman

in

1944

and

ending

with

Truman’s

election

victory

in

1948.

The

volume

is

thoroughly

documented,

befitting

its

origin

as

a

doctoral

thesis,

and

it

tells

a

story

of

the

polari-

zation

of

the

world

and

the

betrayal

of

Henry

A.

Wallace’s

vision

of

a

Century

of

the

Common

Man

as

the

result

of

a

deformed

world

view

held

by

such

men

as

Harry

Truman,

James

F.

Byrnes,

James

Forrestal,

and

John

Foster

Dulles.

The

actions

and

reactions

of

Joseph

Stalin

are

also

treated

(sometimes

only

in

the

notes) ,

and

it

is

clear

that

the

author

is

pursuing

the

elusive

grail

of

historical

truth,

not

merely

sharpening

an

ideological

axe.

Specific

interpretations

of

&dquo;the

revisionist

historians&dquo;

are

refuted.

The

inquiry

began

as

a

paper

on

Wallace’s

political

thought.

The

unstated

premise

is

that

coherent

political

theory

should

have

influenced

the

course

of

the

New

Deal

far

more

than

it

did.

Roosevelt

is

characterized

as

a

broker,

and

New

Deal

liberals

shown

as

adherents

of

a

personality

cult.

His

transparent

distaste

for

Roosevelt

leads

the

author

into

inconsistencies;

on

page

117,

Wallace

was

cheated

out

of

the

1944

renomination

because

of

FDR’s

propensity

for

following

the

line

of

least

resistance;

on

page

168,

it

resulted

from

Roosevelt’s

&dquo;deviousness.&dquo;

In

any

case,

the

New

Deal

was

a

failure

and

Harry

Truman

a

disaster.

This

is

an

important

contribution,

partly

for

a

reason

the

author

does

not

men-

tion :

it

reminds

us

of

a

time

when

Cabinet

officers,

not

faceless

technicians

on

the

White

House

staff,

ran

the

government,

and

Henry

A.

Wallace,

who

was

for

a

time,

&dquo;a

hero

to

millions,&dquo;

could

share

in

the

business

of

the

executive

branch

with

the

Squire

of

Hyde

Park.

University

of

California,

Santa

Cruz

KARL

A.

LAMB

The

Political

Elite

and

the

People.

By

REMIGO

E.

AGPALO.

(Manila:

College

of

Public

Administration,

University

of

the

Philippines,

1972.

Pp.

xxvi,

414.

n.p.)

Remigo

Agpalo’s

book

is

a

welcome

addition

to

the

growing

number

of

studies

of

modernization

in

developing

countries.

The

author,

a

professor

in

the

College

of

Public

Administration,

University

of

the

Philippines,

has

engaged

in

a

ten-year