Reading About Secretaries of State

Five Good Reads, Part 1

I like to write about books. I love good books, and there is great work in every genre you can think of.

This post is the first in an occasional series I’m calling “Five Good Reads.”

Why in the world would I start a series like this with a topic like “Secretaries of State?” The Secretary of State holds the senior position within the President’s Cabinet. Many Secretaries of State have become President themselves; others played roles as consequential as the Presidents they served. These are among the most important leaders in our country’s history, but many are little-known in an era when history is not widely taught or studied.

And each of their lives, and the way they understood and navigated their roles, comprises a story – often a remarkable, compelling story because these were remarkable people.

I am not trying to list the five greatest Secretaries of State, but rather five books about exceptional secretaries that are well-worth reading.

Here are five good reads on important Secretaries of State:

John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy by Samuel Flagg Bemis. The first volume of Bemis’s classic two-volume biography of Adams, this book focuses on his career as diplomat and as Secretary of State in the Monroe Administration. The most enduring and successful foreign policy principles in American history are embodied in the Monroe Doctrine; JQA wrote it, one of many extraordinary contributions he made in the early years of the Republic. Bemis’s book is a rare combination of extraordinary scholarship and good writing.

Daniel Webster: The Man and His Time by Robert Remini. Daniel Webster was one of the greatest members of the U. S. Senate, and perhaps its greatest orator. Called by his contemporaries “the godlike Daniel” for his dazzling gifts, he was at the same time despised by many for his venality and his willingness to use people cynically in the service of his ambition. John Quincy Adams, who knew Webster well, said he had “a rotten heart.” Webster served two solid terms as Secretary of State, in the early 1840s and again in the 1850s. Though neither term coincided with the momentous events that we associate with great leaders, he ably settled several important, protracted disputes that helped peaceably assure the country’s future. Remini is the preeminent historian of what he called the Age of Jackson, an era that ended with Webster’s death in 1852; he captures Webster’s accomplishments, inner conflicts, and contradictions very ably.

All the Great Prizes: The Life of John Hay by John Taliaferro. John Hay had an extraordinary life. After working on Lincoln’s presidential campaign in 1860, he became one of the new President’s two private secretaries at age 25, serving Lincoln until his assassination. He spent several years in diplomatic posts, then almost two decades as an influential private citizen. Virtually a neighbor of William McKinley, Hay became Secretary of State in McKinley’s administration and stayed on to serve Theodore Roosevelt until he died in 1905. America emerged as a world power during his years as Secretary. Hay was a shrewd problem-solver, and his quiet, measured approach, widely respected and trusted, was an ideal complement to Roosevelt’s superabundant energy and aggressiveness. Hay provided the “speak softly” to Roosevelt’s “carry a big stick.” The Open Door policy Hay crafted, protecting China from imperial depredations, was one of the great accomplishments of American statesmanship. Until Taliaferro’s book, there hadn’t been a biography of Hay for more than 50 years; it will be a while before we need another one.

John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, John Hay, Dean Acheson, and George Schultz

Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department by Dean Acheson. Acheson joined the State Department as an Assistant Secretary of State in 1941 as the US entered World War 2, and he stayed until the end of the Truman administration in 1953, having served as Secretary from 1949 onwards. He was George Marshall’s key lieutenant during Marshall’s years as Secretary, helping craft the Marshall Plan. His incisive intellect was hugely influential in creating the postwar security arrangements, including NATO, that have largely kept the peace for 80 years. Excepting only Winston Churchill’s books, this is the best-written political memoir I know of. Austere, acerbic, always the smartest guy in the room and very aware of it, Acheson wasn’t always the best-liked of colleagues, but he was a truly formidable statesman.

Turmoil and Triumph: My Years as Secretary of State by George Schultz. George Schultz was an underrated Secretary, in my view. He served throughout Ronald Reagan’s two terms and was the most important member of his Cabinet as America emerged as the victor in the Cold War and the sole global superpower in the late 1980s. Reagan came to office with clear ideas on foreign policy but with no experience in nuts-and-bolts diplomacy. Schultz was a master at executing policy. Reagan’s ability to communicate his clarity of purpose carried public opinion; Schultz excelled within the intricate communication maze of diplomacy, quietly projecting strength. The memoir reflects the clear, orderly thinking of the man himself and provides a fascinating window on the Reagan years.

To address two omissions:

Because of the Marshall Plan alone, George Marshall has a place on any list of great Secretaries of State. However, it was a very brief interlude in his long career of public service; the biographies I have read spend relatively little time on it. If you want to read about Marshall, I recommend David Roll’s recent biography, George Marshall: Defender of the Republic.

Henry Kissinger was a consequential Secretary of State, though I suspect his legacy will owe more to his intellectual contribution than to his years in office. He wrote some brilliant books; his memoirs are not among them. Indeed, they may be the most monumental doorstops in the history of political memoirs. I find them unreadable.

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That was fun! For me, anyway. Let me know how it was for you.