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A friendly yet not uncritical biography of
the secretary of state in the Lincoln and Andrew Johnson Cabinets.
Taylor--who chronicled his father's life in GENERAL MAXWELL TAYLOR
(1987)- -offers neither much original scholarship nor a fresh
approach, but writes smoothly and with balance. Why did Seward,
front-runner for the 1860 GOP presidential nomination, lose his
party's nod to the relatively unknown Lincoln, and why has he been
so completely eclipsed by him since? Taylor depicts a politico
whose manifold talents were often undermined by his own ambiguity
(even Seward admitted that he "found myself an enigma to myself'').
Intellectual, shrewd, diligent, convivial, and even charitable
toward enemies, Seward was also willing to trim his sails in
pursuit of political objectives. Linking up with Albany political
boss Thurlow Weed, he worked ably for liberal causes as New York's
governor and, later, in the Senate, where he became leader of the
antislavery faction. Losing his bid for the Presidency because of
his alliance with Weed and his statements about a "higher law'' and
"irrepressible conflict'' with the South, Seward later undercut his
political base still further by meddling with other Cabinet
members' business and clashing with Radical Republicans during the
Civil War and Reconstruction. Taylor does not fully explain why
Seward muted his opposition to slavery during the secession crisis
in the hope of reconciling the South, and fails to criticize
Seward's mistakes adequately (e.g., saber-rattling gestures toward
England and France that Lincoln rightly rejected). Yet Taylor
correctly praises him for keeping the South in diplomatic
isolation, bucking up the melancholy Lincoln's spirits, and having
the vision to push through the initially scorned Alaska purchase
("Seward's Icebox''). An orthodox but sensible treatment of a
dedicated politician-statesman who was sometimes too clever and
complex for his own good. |
| Product Code |
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| ISBN-10: 1574881191 ISBN-13: 9781574881196 |
Paperback - October 1996 |
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£13.50
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