Book Reviews : The Truman Presidency: The History of a Triumphant Succession. By CABELL PHILLIPS. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1966. Pp. xiii, 463. $7.95.)

• Author: Ned V. Joy
• Published date: 01 December 1966
• Date: 01 December 1966
• DOI: 10.1177/106591296601900437
• Subject Matter: Articles

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interest groups have things pretty much their own way, but Padgett cites in detail
three examples of groups of rank-and-file Mexicans who, through persistence and
use of proper channels and tactics, successfully challenged situations or decisions
harmful to their interests. In one example, he presents a useful sketch of caci-
quismo. The reviewer, however, is inclined to regard these examples as isolated
exceptions, but is hopeful that with further development they point toward more
popular control of government and associated groups. Padgett states that &dquo;the
personalistic interpretation of the existing system of rule must be ’just,’ &dquo; and that
Mexican politicians remind one another that Mexicans &dquo;are a rebellious people.&dquo;
The reviewer, on the contrary, is impressed by the seeming monumental patience
of the ordinary Mexican in the face of the slow pace of change and the corruption
and indifference he often meets in public office and in functional groups. A gradu-
ate student of the reviewer recently asked a Mexican peon attending a CNC rally
in which government promises and failures were being criticized why he and his
fellows failed to do something about the situation. The response was: &dquo;We are
very patient people.&dquo;
PAUL KELSO
University of Arizona
The Truman Presidency: The History of a Triumphant Succession. By CABELL
PHILLIPS. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1966. Pp. xiii, 463. $7.95.)
Anyone interested in American government will want to read The Truman
Presidency by Cabell Phillips. Phillips is a correspondent for The New York Times,
a Washington Bureau man for more than twenty years. His book is the product
not of a scholar, but of a working newsman. &dquo;This is not a definitive history of the
Truman administration. Rather, it is the story of the Truman Presidency done in
journalistic perspective.&dquo;
Although Phillips cites his fascination with the question of how Harry S
Truman, &dquo;a quite ordinary man,&dquo;...