A History of the American People by Paul Johnson. Weidenfeld &
Nicolson, London. 1997. pp 814 of text; 111 of references, maps and
index.
This review was written on February 23rd 2005
The American War of Independence finished with the
Paris Treaty of 1783 and America’s link with the British Crown. Like the
freedom we achieved in Ireland in 1922, there were many citizens of the colony
who were loyal to Britain and its king, and who were bitterly disappointed by
the success of the war. Between patriots, loyalists, Indians and slaves, the
revolutionary war was to some extent a civil war as much as a war of
liberation. Many of those loyal to Britain crossed the border to Canada, thus
changing the balance there where previously the French dominated the local
scene. Through this demographic change Britain gained Canada as compensation
for the loss of the American States. A few others returned to England but most remained
in the States where they were subjected to some discrimination during the early
years of independence. Whatever resistance to independence from Britain existed
in the colony, it was inevitable that, in such a distant and potentially
powerful and wealthy colony, its population would not remain subservient to any
other nation.
This book is a very comprehensive account of the United
States since the first immigrants arrived at the end of the 16th
century and survived to be the harbingers of the powerful nation we have
to-day. I found the book of
particular relevance because of the huge impact the United States has had on
the world during the last two hundred years, leading to the gradual
Americanisation of the planet. The
Americans have created a secular and materialistic society committed to consumerism,
waste and self-gratification and yet, paradoxically, with a strong contrasting
tradition of church going. Church going and moral rectitude there seems
consistent with personal ambition and wealth, and with business success. Government was designed to allow
ordinary people equality and the opportunity to leave them free from
interference and oppression. Revivalism and fundamentalism were the passions
that stirred the American frontiersman but did not diminish their ardour in
seeking wealth and power and in decimating the indigenous population. Kellog,
who set up the great food industry, was an ardent Seventh Day Adventist,
illustrating the close compatibility between business, money, wealth and church
going. It was an important principle that private interest had priority over
public welfare. This may explain why the wealthiest country has such a
relatively poor welfare and social security system.
It was axiomatic that American culture was egalitarian
and democratic and that the people were anti-elitist. There was a strong
prejudice against legislation and meddling with the people’s natural initiative
and opportunities to advance and enrich themselves. ‘Open the door to
opportunity, talent and virtue, and they will do themselves justice.’
In no country is the American influence more evident
than in Ireland. It has contributed to many of our social habits, to our
culture in entertainment and in the commercial world, and it has introduced
into our country many aspects of organised crime, violence and commercial
racketeering. It has also made us more and more dependent on America as we
become a component of the American commercial empire and as we witness the
increasing imbalance between the commercial and military power in the United
States and the rest of the world.
In 2005, with Bush in command for his second term and
following the American invasion of Iraq, we can only speculate what America is
likely to do next in the world. As Lord Acton said ‘Power corrupts and absolute
power corrupts absolutely’, and there is no reason to believe that the
extraordinary power in the hands of the
American will not lead to corrupt and disastrous consequences which may
end in catastrophe for the human race. Traditionally the Americans have lead
the world in establishing personal freedom within the democratic system but may
they not respond to Bush’s neo-conservatism in the same way as the great
majority of the German people responded to Nazism and continued to support and
adulate Hitler up to the very end of the World War?
The book is comprehensive and covers many aspects of
the social, economic and political history of America. Much emphasis is laid on
the personal freedom of individuals which was the fundamental tradition of the
States from the early years. For those immigrants who escaped from the feudal,
aristocratic and monarchic systems of Europe, it is not surprising that the
American dream of personal freedom acted as such a strong magnet from the
earliest times; freedom from religious prejudice and oppression, from poverty
and the devastation of recurring famines and deadly pandemics.
Much as personal freedom and the democratic system
were preferable to the subjugation of the masses of Europe, they were not
achieved without serious problems. Personal responsibility was not assured in
equal measure in the United States and particularly so in the early years. There
was a gradual and increasing migration across the continent with the passage of
time but the rule of law seldom accompanies a pioneering people. The tardy development
of legal restraints led to early violence, lawlessness and corruption, little
known among the plain people of Europe, and this tradition of violence,
corruption and racketeering at all levels of society remains with us to this
day. Like many other American attributes, violence against the person, property
and society is becoming part of the Irish scene and that of other European
countries. In what was known as the Wild West there were constant conflicts
between vigilantes and horse and cattle thieves, whites against Indians, miners
versus farmers, and farmers and landowners versus railroads, although the
situation did improve in the west as legal structures were set up in the new
states.
Corruption is an inherent form of behaviour among us
all. It becomes more widespread in a society striving for more and more
possessions, whatever their needs, and it can only be controlled in a democracy
by a strong spiritual and cultural commitment to virtue or by the effective
rule of law. In practice the rule of law in a democratic society, obsessed by
the urge to acquire more possessions, seems relatively ineffective in
controlling the opportunities for corruption. Does democracy with its assurance
of personal freedom but lacking the certainty of personal responsibility hold
within itself the seeds of its own destruction?
Every branch of the administration and particularly
the civil service was infiltrated by the spoils system. The presidency was
seriously discredited at times and this is inevitable where money and
commercial power play such a large part in electing the president. Andrew
Jackson was beaten in the 1824 election by the corruption of Clay and Adams. This
was the time when the two-party system was founded. It is also part of the culture
of the Americans that successful businessmen and financiers became the icons of
a materialistic society. Most of the really rich, such as Carnegie, Frick and
Morgan, made their money on railways, oil, steel and mining, in a vast country
with unlimited natural resources and relatively few people to exploit and enjoy
these. Personal freedom and corruption brought huge opportunities for people to
amass great fortunes. Does freedom eventually lead to sin and to chaos unless
society is governed by a culture of caring and virtue?
In 1993 there were 559 members of Congress, that is,
members of the Senate and the House of Representatives combined. Of these, 239
were practising lawyers. One hundred and fifty five were businessmen of whom
about 70 were qualified lawyers. There were 77 in education, 33 in medicine and
97 in the public services. Parliament was heavily dominated by the legal
profession. One reason for the imbalance in congressional personnel was the
huge cost of becoming elected, computed at $5.000 per week for the House and
$12,000 for the Senate. It was virtually impossible to become a member of Congress
without being wealthy. In the 1990s the President and his wife, 42% of the
House and 61% of the Senate had law degrees. It appears that the number of
lawyers in government continues to grow. It surely must be ironic that at the
time of independence difficult questions of legislation were referred to the
lawyers because they were deemed to be independent of personal ambition!
A worrying aspect of American governance is the
increasing power of the courts.
This applies in particular to the Supreme Court. The adoption by the
courts of legislative measures which by right should be a matter for the
President and Congress is a trend which is apparent in Ireland too where
parliament may be reluctant to adopt measures which may be unpopular with the
electorate. The author provides
several examples of such intervention by the Supreme Court in the United States,
including its role in establishing desegregation, a decision which should have
been the responsibility of the President and Congress. Another worry, at least
in Ireland, is the widespread lack of accountability resulting from the easy
access to the law courts.
The author provides important biographical notes about
the outstanding leaders of the revolution and the subsequent architects of the
new republic. These accounts confirm the qualities of courage, energy, idealism
and eccentricity which mark those who inspire us and provide the dynamics of
history. Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Adams are among those whose full biographies could be read with profit.
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| Trinity Episcopal Church, Unfinished Capitol in background |
There is an important chapter about the American Civil
War and its genesis. It appeared to be an inevitable consequence of the
division between the Northern anti-slavery States and the Southern slavery
States. Slavery originated in Barbados and spread rapidly to the Southern
States and Islands when cotton became an important industry. The slavery
division between the Northern and Southern States originated as early as the
end of the 18th century at the time of the Revolution and it
festered for another 80 years up to the Civil War in 1850. The war lasted for
about four years with after-effects which continued for another fifteen years.
While it seemed to be inevitable in view of the bitter division about slavery,
it was in fact a major failure on the part of the Federal government in
Washington to control the extremists on both sides of the divide. Owing to this
central failure to solve differences amicably, the Southern slave States
seceded unilaterally without discussing the proposal with their electorates,
thus precipitating the war. Like all civil wars, it was conducted with great
bitterness and there was little respect for the rule of law. It led to much
destruction where the fighting took place and left scars on the American psyche
which was to endure for a few generations.
Although the end of slavery was inevitable,
nevertheless one could not but have sympathy for the slave states because of
the stable system which had evolved there. On many of the estates the slaves
became loyal and happy subjects and enjoyed the security of a stable community.
There were of course, as always happens in human affairs, many examples of
abuse and cruelty but it was sad to realise that many of the slaves were much
worse off when they were freed. Many left the Southern States and became rudderless,
underprivileged and a hated minority in all parts of the Union, including the
Northern states where the seeds of their freedom were set.
It is only in recent times that the bitter racial
divide which existed in America after the civil war has begun to narrow but
even to-day the blacks remain underprivileged in political, social and economic
terms. A paper in the Lancet published in 2004 shows that infant mortality, adult mortality, school
drop-outs and health care in general showed a substantial disparity between
blacks and whites with a twofold difference between blacks and whites in terms
of lives lost before the age of 75 years.
Asians and Hispanics also enjoy better conditions than the blacks and
are much closer to the whites in terms of prosperity, health and education. The
United States is still a deeply divided nation, most especially on ethnic
grounds.
Many of the immigrants from Ireland, England, Scotland
and other European countries were subjected to religious persecution in their
native lands and this applied to Catholics and the disestablished churches –
the Quakers, Huguenots, and the many low churches which broke from the Anglican
persuasion. Religion was always a feature of the American culture where atheism
and agnosticism was generally frowned upon. From the early days of immigration religion
was the binding force that secured the communities on the East coast. The
popularity of religion, while always strong in the United States compared to
Europe, tended to fluctuate from time to time. There was a surge in church
going among all denominations during Eisenhower’s presidency. In 1910 43% of
citizens were attached to church. This had risen to 49% in 1939 and by 1950 it
was 55%. After Eisenhower’s presidency it had reached 69%, back to 62% by 1970.
The substantial increase during the 20th century might be attributed
to the huge evangelical movement during the 1930s and later, with such well
known evangelists as Monsignor Sheehan and Billy Graham and many other figures
travelling the continent and spreading the Bible and the gospel of Christ at
their revivalist meetings.
It is no surprise that the churches which have the most numerous
adherents to-day are the Catholics, and the low churches which have forsaken
much of the ritual of the Anglicans to dwell mostly on the ‘truths’ of the
Bible. The Episcopalian Church, the direct American extension of the Anglican
Church, is in continued decline as it gives away to the Catholics and a
bewildering variety of traditional and latter-day Bible adherents.
It was not uncommon to find that the religious could
also be among the corrupt. Some amassed great wealth and some became great
benefactors in their later years, perhaps realising that they could not take
their worldly goods with them. As was said, plutocracy often leads to
democracy. Thus the public was often the beneficiary of a crooked man’s
generosity.
As regards violence, in 1992 one of every four American
citizens was the victim of crime. On this date there was a greater proportion
of criminals among children than any other age group. According to Johnson,
reported violent crime had increased by 560% from 1960 to 1990, and there was a
greater preponderance of criminals among blacks. He drew a direct correlation between the
rise of crime and the decline of religion, although the evidence of secular churchgoing
changes seemed inconsistent with this view.
In his chapters on social and economic affairs,
Johnson’s description of the rise and fall of prohibition should be an object
lesson to all legislators and is a classical example of the so-called Karl
Popper’s law of intended effect for, apart from not reducing alcohol
consumption and alcoholism, it lead to widespread organised crime. It was a
do-gooder’s conception and the not unexpected result of their poor
understanding of human nature. The prohibition laws were rescinded in 1933 but
the organised crime continued in many other areas to blot America’s social and
political life and history. Prohibition was an experiment in social engineering
which did permanent damage to American society. We can draw a parallel to our own
current laws criminalizing drugs in Ireland. We are living in an increasing
drug culture, contributed primarily by the pharmaceutical industry and the
medical profession but spilling over into the criminal supply of addictive
drugs to the public. The criminalising of drugs has been an abysmal failure,
both in terms of controlling the scourge and in leading to widespread crime. It
is another classic case of the Karl Popper law and, like the scourge of prohibition;
it can only be controlled by decriminalising the personal use of drugs while at
the same time employing legislative and commercial measures to control the sources
of supply.
There are interesting allusions to the drinking habits
of the Americans. The history of the origin and growth of the Cola soft drink
industry is a parable of the commercial history of the American nation. The past
American craze for dry martini sparks the author’s reminder of Barbara Parker’s
quote
I like to have a dry martini;
Two at the very most;
After three I’m under the
table;
After four the host.
There are also chapters on the evolution of American
music, education, literature and the visual arts. The chapter on demography is
essential reading if one is to understand the dynamics of the American
phenomenon.
The chapter on the history of California is
fascinating. It describes the early immigration from the East about 1850,
mainly as a result of finding the rich deposits of gold; a huge gold rush
followed. It describes the foundation of San Francisco (and its disastrous
earthquake) and its reputation in the early years as America’s premier sin
city, later to be cleaned up by William Randolph Hearst. Johnson describes the
meteoric rise and growth of Los Angeles, a city which owes its size and its
huge contribution to American culture in the areas of music, films, the arts and
architecture to the many Eastern Europeans immigrants, including the Russians
Jews, who found their permanent home on this part of the West Coast of America.
Frank Lloyd Wright made a seminal contribution to American architecture and his
career was intimately related to Los Angeles where he built some of his
extraordinary houses which made such an impact on national and international
architecture.
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| Paul Johnson |
In the councils of government, we must
guard against the acquisition of influence, whether sought or unsought, by the
military/industrial complex.
His military leadership during the World War certainly
qualified him to share insightful views about the military. Eisenhower was
critical of militarism, of generals being involved in politics and of the excessive
growth of military power. He disapproved of the arms lobby encouraging
government to expand the military arsenal.
The author was critical enough of FDR but admitted
that he had good qualities as a president. He is informative about all the
presidents from Wilson to Clinton. Wilson he described as having made a
disastrous contribution to foreign policy after the Great War despite a successful
domestic career. He was the president who was seriously ill during the last two
years of his presidency but his wife and doctor managed to conceal this from
his closest colleagues and the public.
Johnson is neo-conservative in his views of the latter
day presidents, approving strongly of the republican incumbents Nixon and Reagan,
and being disparaging and contemptuous of the Kennedy and LBJ regimes. He is dismissive
of Clinton, describing him as a second rater. He refers to his ‘failures and
moral inadequacies’. The author would undoubtedly have been enthusiastic about
Bush’s foreign policy.
He is harshly critical of Jack Kennedy and the
extended Kennedy family. He makes so many improbable accusations about them,
their lying ways, their corruption, their contact with well known criminals and
their extraordinary sexual appetites, that one must have serious doubts about
Johnson as an objective and credible historian. If he is correct in averring that Jack Kennedy’s election to
the White House was based on money and corruption, and his father’s malpractices,
criminality, dishonesty and lies, can much of these factors not have been a
feature of other presidential candidates? He states that most of the
intellectuals and liberals who supported Kennedy were guilty of self-deception
and were involved in one of the biggest frauds in American history. He doubts
whether Kennedy was the real winner, stating that the elections in Texas and Illinois
were rigged in his favour. Cortisone treatment was employed to give Kennedy a
more handsome and elegant appearance. In Kennedy’s TV confrontation he had with
Nixon, the author charges the TV company with using extraordinary means of embarrassing
Nixon during the interview. His account of Kennedy’s sexual activities beggars
description. He had sex every day, he could have it with anybody and he had sex
in the early morning before his inauguration! His seemingly unbalanced opinion of
Kennedy can only damage his own reputation.
Johnson is equally critical and contemptuous of Linden
Johnson who took over from Kennedy. He refers to the many scandals that Johnson
was involved in and to his corruption and unpleasant character. He too had a
voracious sexual appetite, no more discriminating than Kennedy’s, and was an
inveterate bottom pincher in swimming pools! A philanderer and at least one
homosexual episode!
On the financial side, LBJ was the first president to
introduce budget deficits, thanks to his introduction of progressive and
radical social services and his concern about mounting environmental problems.
Under his presidency he had nine million acres of land put aside as a
wilderness and by the time of his retirement this had increased to one hundred
million. With the accession of Bush this land is apparently now under threat as
part of his alleged antagonism to the environmental lobby. Since LBJ’s time the
successive American governments have apparently thrown all discretion to the
winds in matters of budget deficits. LBJ also continued to support the Vietnam
War and considerably increased the American military strength in Vietnam. The
War started in 1961 in Kennedy’s time and did not finish until 1975. However,
American intervention in Vietnam had started as early as 1954 but was initially
a more clandestine operation. The amount of ordnance employed in the War
included three times the explosives employed by US bombers in the World War.
The Vietnam War and other foreign interventions by the Americans are a reminder
of how vulnerable we and the rest of the world are to the American industrial/military
influence under Bush.
In view of the author’s definite bias in favour of the
Republicans and the conservative lobby in America, it comes as no surprise that he is an admirer
of Thatcher and describes her successor John Major as ‘featureless’. Clinton is
lacklustre and the author makes excuses to justify such disastrous American
policy decisions as the Iran arms scandal and the intervention in Nicaragua
during Reagan’s administration. They were excused by him ‘in the American
interest even if they were guilty of technically breaking the law’!
He describes the interesting episode of the McCarthy
intervention into American affairs in the 1950s. It was a dramatic and
emotional response to the Cold War and to the passionate anti-communism of
Senator Joseph McCarthy who managed to highjack the administration into
adopting draconian measures against many citizens, innocent and otherwise, who
were suspected to have contacts with or leanings towards Moscow. McCarthyism
terminated as abruptly as it emerged, to the longstanding embarrassment of the
American government and people. It was a sudden break from sanity and was
likened to the Salem witch hunt of the 18th Century.
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