Word: forrestall
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JAMES FORRESTAL, by Arnold A. Rogow. Except for some weirdly psychoanalytical conclusions, this is a careful biography of the U.S.'s first Secretary of Defense, a brilliant, mercurial man whose drive and ambition were limitless but whose Irish soul floundered in despond.
As the 1948 elections approached, there was talk of putting Forrestal on the Democratic ticket. Forrestal had both political ambitions and political glamour. "He has the bearing given to goodhearted gangsters in the movies," Jonathan Daniels wrote. "There is the suggestion of the possibility of violence and the surface of...
Better to Die. In those months, Forrestal began to show signs of his illness. He had trouble making decisions, and his subordinates often bypassed him. Contributing to Forrestal's depression was a barrage of vilification from the left-wing press. Forrestal, it was said, had ordered that I. G...
After writing his solid, careful biography, Rogow attempts some amateur psychoanalysis that does not seem warranted by his own facts. "The reality of Forrestal's personality," he writes, "was not essential toughness but essential weakness." Rogow lists some of the troubles that he thinks eventually crippled Forrestal: his "early...
The fact is that toughness was exactly what was needed in dealing with the Soviets after World War II. If Forrestal's personality helped shape that toughness and the successful policies of the time, the U.S. can be grateful.