Synopsis:
A biography of the founder of the U.S. national security system traces his life through his childhood in upstate New York, to his success on Wall Street, to his life of privilege, to his military career.
Reviews:
An unsparing profile of James Forrestal (1892-1949), Secretary of the Navy under Truman, by Hoopes (The Devil and John Foster Dulles, 1973, etc.) and Brinkley (History/Hofstra Univ.). This is a bold, strongly psychological investigation of a man who cut the ties that bind, made a spectacular success and a dangerous marriage (to Vogue writer Josephine Ogden), and took his own life after a dramatic breakdown. Born into a small-town lower- middle-class Irish Catholic family, Forrestal put his background quickly behind him upon entering Princeton--where he was voted ``Most Likely to Succeed'' before dropping out for obscure reasons shortly before graduation. Rather than return home, he took demeaning work for over a year before walking into the office of a Princeton Wall Street acquaintance. His classic Roaring Twenties career made him a millionaire: The authors' comparisons with Gatsby are not far-fetched. Controlled, polite, and mysterious, Forrestal was also respected and liked, an eligible and promiscuous bachelor member of the Wall Street elite, working with the legendary Clarence Dillon on epic deals that made financial history, accepted by old money as well as by celebrities like Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, and Gary Cooper. Meanwhile, his wife, ``Jo,'' turned out to be as stubborn and original as himself, and their open marriage (his womanizing never stopped) was stormy yet successful. Forrestal was a logical inductee to the coming WW II war effort; but while his Washington career eclipsed his Wall Street success, his workaholic life was coming apart. By the time he became Secretary of the Navy, the authors say, his denial of his wife's alcoholism and schizophrenia presaged an abrupt and irreversible collapse, triggered by his dismissal by Truman. A powerful biography--critical but sympathetic--of a driven man whose dark side permeates the narrative. (Thirty-six photographs--not seen.) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
The title accurately describes the controversial life of the nation's first secretary of defense. Former Forrestal aide Hoopes and Hofstra University historian Brinkley give a thorough account of Forrestal's Irish upbringing, Ivy League education, and successful business career. They delve into his involvement with government: as a special assistant in 1940 to President Roosevelt; as a crucial force in rebuilding the obsolescent U.S. Navy on the eve of World War II; as the architect of the national security state. Later years brought squabbles with the professional military, disputes with President Truman, and, finally, his tragic suicide in 1949. Using an impressive array of primary sources, including some previously restricted Forrestal papers and numerous oral interviews, along with current monographs, articles, and dissertations, the authors capture the essence of the man and his times. Well written, objective, and thorough, this volume supersedes Arnold Rognow's dated, out-of-print psychobiography Forrestal: A Study of Personality, Politics, and Policy (1963). It should serve as the standard biography for years.
- Charles C. Hay III, Eastern Kentucky Univ. Archives, Richmond
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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