Volume 39, Number 14 · August 13, 1992
A Self-Made Man
By Ronald Steel
Driven Patriot: The Life and Times of James Forrestal
by Townsend Hoopes, by Douglas Brinkley
Knopf, 587 pp., $30.00
Eberstadt and Forrestal: A National Security Partnership, 1909–1949
by Jeffrey M. Dorwart
Texas A & M University Press, 237 pp., $35.00
A Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration, and the Cold War
by Melvyn P. Leffler
Stanford University Press, 689 pp., $29.95
If James Forrestal had not existed, he could not have been invented except by himself, and this is precisely what he did. Take a poor Irish boy from a small town, propel him by sheer determination into a prestigious university and a Wall Street firm, give him the drive to become a millionaire, teach him to appear confident in his power and privilege, drive him mercilessly to perfection of mind and body, put him in command of the nation's armed forces in the dangerous early years of the cold war, and tout him as a strong candidate for the White House. Until that point in his life, Forrestal could have been following his own plan. But he suffered a nervous breakdown, tormented himself with a host of imagined enemies, and then committed suicide.
Review, 3936 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |