and index. $10.95.) Hugo Black was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1937 after a varied legal and political career. During his two terms in the Senate he attempted to limit the work week to thirty hours and investigated lobbying activities and airmail contract awards. He was not intimately involved in major New Deal legislation, but he was a staunch supporter of President Roosevelt, especially during the Supreme Court reorganization fight. The author concludes this volume with a discussion of the controversy surrounding Black's nomination to the Supreme Court when his past affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan was revealed. She used various collections of the president's papers and the Morgenthau diaries at the Roosevelt Library to document Black's part in the Roosevelt administration and his nomination to the Court. JEANNE SCHAUBLE Franklin D. Roosevelt Library The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany: Diplomatic Revolution in Europe, 1933-36. By Gerhard L. Weinberg. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1970. Maps, bibliography, and index. $12.75.) In this first of a projected two-volume work on German foreign policy, Weinberg describes the diplomatic revolution that transformed Germany from a barely accepted equal to the dominant power in Europe. The driving force in this revolution was Adolf Hitler, motivated by the twin doctrines of Germanic supremacy and the need for lebensraum to be acquired by force of arms if necessary. Hitler's goals included the defeat of France and expansion to the east, not only to rectify territorial losses imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, but also to annex additional space. While these goals remained fairly constant, Hitler exhibited much flexibility. in achieving them. In dealing with Italy, for example, he favored abandoning German privileges in the southern Tirol on the one hand and standing firm on the annexation of Austria on the other. Nazi foreign policy shied away from multilateral commitments during this period, preferring bilateral agreements that could be violated with fewer repercussions. Consequently, Germany left the League of Nations and concluded agreements with many countries including pacts with Poland and Austria and naval agreements with Great Britain. Taking advantage of the unwillingness of Great Britain and France to become involved in another major European war and the inability of the League to prevent the Italian takeover in Ethiopia, Hitler established Germany as the dominant power in Europe by remilitarizing the Rhineland, supporting Franco in the Spanish civil war, and establishing the Axis with Mussolini. Records from the Captured Records Branch were used extensively. Microfilm reproductions of the records of the German foreign ministry, the German army areas, the headquarters of the German armed forces high command, the Nazi party, the Reich economic ministry, Mussolini's personal papers, and records of the Italian foreign ministry yielded a wealth of information. Other records cited include various Nuernberg trial interrogations and documents, proceedings of the Far Eastern war crimes trials, the State Department Special Interrogations Mission, State Department Decimal Files, and collections at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library. JOHN MENDELSOHN Captured Records Branch The Best and the Brightest. By David Halberstram. (New York: Random House, 1972. 688 pp. Bibliography and index. $10.00.) David Halberstram, a New York Times reporter in Vietnam during the early 1960s, has written a detailed account of how the men in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations increased American commitments in Vietnam. To Halberstram, Vietnam was the overriding problem of the sixties, and his concern is to find out why "the best and the brightest" men of the country could not solve it. He provides lengthy biographical sketches, including those of McGeorge Bundy, Robert McNamara, and Lyndon Johnson, and analyzes the operations of the bureaucracy to try to explain the decision-making process by which the nation became so deeply involved in Vietnam. Halberstram is critical of the rational, tough, brilliant political leaders who were too willing to use force, too reliant on statistics, and too little concerned with moral values. Conversely, he gives sympathetic treatment to the Adlai Stevenson-Chester Bowles wing of the Democratic party, which, he argues, was given short shrift in the Kennedy-Johnson years. In the course of his research Halberstram interviewed many individuals and used twenty-three interviews from the John F. Kennedy Library Oral History Collection. Included are those with Dean Acheson, George Kennan, Lucius Clay, Arthur Krock, Thomas Finletter, William Benton, U. Alexis Johnson, James MacGregor Burns, Robert Lovett, and Henry Luce. SYLVIE TURNER John F. Kennedy Library Archives in the Ancient World. By Ernst Posner. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972. 283 pp. Map, photographs, illustrations, bibliography, and index. $10.00.) Posner traces the development of archives and archival practices in the Mediterranean Basin from their inception. through the period of Imperial Rome. For some periods his evidence is limited by the lack of spadework of his predecessors, particularly in his treatment of pre-clay-tablet civilizations. Ivory writing boards were seldom used, and few wooden boards and leather rolls have survived. To overcome this unevenness in evidence, Posner at times extrapolates "what should have existed" from what is known. When dealing with societies that used clay tablets or other more durable record forms, Posner is on firmer ground. The author adopts a broad definition of archival management, not limiting himself to "techniques required and used for the keeping of archives." Instead he views archival developments "against the background of the society of which they were a part," considering also the nature and functions of the bureaucracies that created the records. In addition to the central theme of the essay, the book contains many vignettes of interest. Archivists will find that no progress has been made since Imperial Rome in differentiating between public and private papers of government officials. They might also lament the elimination of certain rules governing researchers. The Metroon in Athens barred anyone who had the smell of garlic about him. Posner admits the prohibition may have been more for the benefit of those praying to the goddess than for the keepers of the records. Readers interested in pursuing the subject of ancient archives will also find the thirty-five-page, multilingual bibliography valuable. Indian Treaties, 1778-1883. Edited by Charles J. Kappler. (1904; reprint ed., New York: Interland Publishing Company, 1972. 1099 pp. Index, maps, and illustrations. $67.50.) This is a reprint of volume 2 of Charles J. Kappler's edition of Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties. A map showing the distribution of North American Indians, prepared by John M. Carroll under the direction of Sol Tax, and illustrations of various Indian subjects have been included. Generous margins facilitate the annotation the book will invite. Although Kappler may be faulted on a number of points, this work is recognized as a standard reference tool. The reprint will make Treaties available to many who are unable to gain access to the rare original edition. The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant. Volume 4. January 8 to March 31, 1862. Edited by John Y. Simon and Roger D. Bridges. (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1972. 520 pp. Photographs, maps, calendar, and index. $15.00.) The volume contains Grant's letters and the related correspondence of others written in early 1862. Correspondence with military officials dominate the collection, but the reader will also find letters to Grant's family and to political figures. The major events of the period were the capture of Fort Donelson, Grant's suspension from command, and his subsequent reinstatement. Poor communication between Grant and his superior, General Henry W. Halleck, left Halleck uninformed of Grant's activities. William J. Kountz also filed charges of drunkenness against Grant during the period. Although he was absolved, the allegations became part of the Grant legend. The correspondence reveals Grant's problems beyond those of fighting the enemy. Military governments had to be established in conquered areas, some solution for refugee slaves had to be devised, and plunderminded troops had to be restrained. Grant emerges as a man still uncertain of his future in the army but "every bit a general." The editors used documents from the files of the U.S. Army Continental Com mands, the Adjutant General's Office, the Quartermaster General, the War Department, and the Naval Library in the National Archives. Protestant Diplomacy and the Near East: Missionary Influence on American Policy, 1810 to 1927. By Joseph L. Grabill. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1971. 395 pp. Maps, illustrations, bibliography, and index. $13.50.) Focusing mainly on the period after 1914, Grabill contends that missionaries were the most influential force in the United States' relations with the Near East." They became involved in international affairs as champions of the Armenians, their major constituents in the region; they responded to Ottoman suppression of Armenian nationalism by turning the emphasis of missionary work from evangelism and education to relief; they also lobbied for the establishment of a protectorate over Armenia. The author considers the educational institutions the missionaries began and the philanthropic aid they rendered a lasting legacy to the region. He consulted the State Department decimal file, records of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace, and records of the Lausanne Conference in the National Archives. Roland L. De Lorme is associate professor of history at Western Washington State College, Bellingham, and a member of the Region 10 Archives Advisory Council. He has published several articles dealing with Western reform politics and with Raymond G. McInnis has written Anti-Democratic Trends in 20th Century America. He is presently completing a book-length study on smuggling in the North Pacific. Philip J. Funigiello is associate professor of history at the College of William and Mary. A native of The Bronx, he received his Ph.D. from New York University in 1966 and was the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship in 1968. His book Toward a National Power Policy: The New Deal and the Electric Utility Industry, 1933-1941 will be published in the fall. His articles have appeared in the Journal of American History and the Social Science Quarterly. He is currently preparing a study of federal-urban relations during World War II. Herbert Hoover Library West Branch, IA 52358 Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Dwight D. Eisenhower Library John F. Kennedy Library Waltham, MA 02154 Telephone 617-223-7250 Lyndon B. Johnson Library Austin, TX 78712 Telephone 512-397-5137 FEDERAL RECORDS CENTERS For each of the following, address inquiries to the Federal Records Center Director. Atlanta: 1557 St. Joseph Ave. East Point, GA 30344 Telephone 404-526-7475 Boston: 380 Trapelo Rd. Waltham, MA 02154 Telephone 617-223-2657 Chicago: 7201 South Leamington Ave. Chicago, IL 60638 Telephone 312-353-5720 Dayton: 2400 W. Dorothy Lane Dayton, OH 45439 Telephone 513-461-4830 Denver: Building 48, Denver Federal Center Telephone 303-234-3187 Fort Worth: Box 6216 Fort Worth, TX 76115 Kansas City: 2306 East Bannister Rd. Telephone 816-EM 1-0860 ext. 7271 |