HUDSON STRODE. Jefferson Davis: American Patriot, 1808-1861. Pp. xx, 460. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Company, 1955. $6.75

• Date: 01 March 1956
• Author: Henry H. Simms
• Published date: 01 March 1956
• DOI: 10.1177/000271625630400127
• Subject Matter: Articles

153

many’s

use

of

the

submarine

and

of

our

possible

steps

to

prevent

or

curtail

it,

Pro-

fessor

Buehrig

concludes

that

it

is

doubt-

ful

if

submarine

warfare

could

have

been

averted.

Germany

felt

that

her

survival

was

at

stake,

and

she

used

everything

she

possessed

to

prolong

her

national

existence.

The

initial

identification

of

the

league

idea,

declares

this

writer,

with

the

United

States

policy

was

due

to

the

diplomatic

process

itself.

In

adjusting

to

the

sudden

shift

in

the

foundations

of

international

politics

Wilson,

in

May

1916,

championed

a

league

of

nations.

Gradually,

the

Presi-

dent

and

his

personal

advisor,

Colonel

House,

shifted

their

contention

from

the

maintenance

of

freedom

of

the

seas

to

guarantees

against

aggression.

Repeatedly

England’s

foreign

minister,

Grey,

informed

House

that

only

by

our

entrance

into

the

war

could

Wilson

exert

all

possible

influence

on

the

peace.

House

was

convinced,

but

Wilson

had

a

mental

reservation

which,

by

April

1917,

was

erased.

The

conviction

came

not

from

Grey

but

the

German

use

of

the

sub-

marine.

Our

traditional

nineteenth-century

policy

-the

Monroe

Doctrine-was

issued

to

meet

a

current

menace.

Wilson

began

the

shift

to

a

new

twentieth-century

policy

of

collective

security

which

transition

was

completed

by

1945.

These

developments

are

traced

in

Woodrow

Wilson

and

the

Balance

of

Power.

There

are

ample

notes

at

the

back

of

the

book

and

the

index

is

accurate.

The

trea-

tise

could

have

been

enlivened

by

graphic

pen

portraits

of

some

of

the

leaders.

The

book

is

scholarly,

but

is

burdened

with

a

dull

style.

GEORGE

C.

OSBORN

University

of

Florida

HUDSON

STRODE.

Jefferson

Davis:

Ameri-

can

Patriot,

1808-1861.

Pp.

xx,

460.

New

York:

Harcourt,

Brace,

and

Com-

pany,

1955.

$6.75.

Although

the

author

does

not

follow

the

practice,

desirable

in

so

many

ways,

of

using

page

footnotes

except

on

very

con-

troversial

points,

he

does

use

considerable

documentation

within

the

narrative,

and

has

a

revealing

section

on

Sources

and

Notes

on

Sources.

He

has,

in

fact,

made

use

of

source

materials

heretofore

not

used

and

has

thus

been

able

to

throw

new

light

on

especially

Davis’

relations

with

his

law-

yer-planter

brother,

Joseph

Davis,

and

on

the

sentimental

phases

of

his

life

resulting

in

his

two

marriages.

The

author’s

style

is

fascinating,

and

his

revelation

of

the

character

and

personality

of

his

subject

is

superb.

Davis

is

not

the

cold,

austere

individual

so

frequently

por-

trayed

by

the

pens

of other

writers.

Though

tragedies

in

his

family

and

bodily

ailments

at

times

made

him

remorseful

or

irritable,

he

was

usually

warmhearted

and

intensely

human.

His

integrity,

intellectual

vigor.

and

qualities

of

leadership

endeared

many

to

him

and

evoked

admiration

even

on

the

part

of

his

opponents.

The

author

is

at

his

best

in

describing

Davis’

personal

relationships,

the

early

en-

vironmental

circumstances

that

gave

direc-

tion

to

his

life,

his

training

at

West

Point,

and

the

period

of

military

service that

fol-

lowed.

The

early

forces that

shaped

his

career

were

national

in

character,

and

in

a

military

capacity

and

as

Secretary

of

War,

he

performed

distinguished

service for

the

nation.

Dr.

Strode

presents

his

subject

as

one

who

had

the

good

of

the

nation

at

heart

also

during

the

stormy

years

preceding

war,

and

who

sincerely

felt

that

forces

at

work

in

the

north

were

threatening

the

constitu-

tional

basis

upon

which

the

Union

rested.

He

demonstrates,

in

convincing

fashion,

the

emotional

strain

under

which

Davis

labored

as

secession

became

an

actuality.

While

the

author

has

the

happy

faculty

of

presenting

much

of

the

history

of

the

times

without

losing

his

biographical

subject,

the

reviewer

feels

that

he

might

have

gone

even

more

into

the

controversial

phases

of

the

1850’s

without

losing

the

subject.

In

fact,

further

light

on

the

Davis-Douglas

controversy,

the

Cuban

question,

and

sec-

tional

differences

over

economic

policies

might

have

enabled

the

reader

better

to

understand

opposing

forces,

and

hence

to

see

Davis’

political

principles

in

clearer

perspective.

This

work

is,

at

all

odds,

the

most

en-

tertaining

and

illuminating

the

reviewer

has

read

on

this

famous

Southerner,

and