Democrats, Demagogues, and Dictators, in Fiction

By Erwin Hargrove

Six smart and imaginative people form a book club to discuss a list of politically significant fiction from the 20th century. They examine the qualities of democrats in portraits of Lincoln by Gore Vidal and William Safire and Stuff Happens, a satirical play about George W. Bush's war on Iraq in 1982. They analyze books about demagogues, inc

• Language: English
• Publisher: Erwin Hargrove
• Release date: Oct 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9780997156140

Erwin Hargrove

Erwin Hargrove is a retired professor of political science at Vanderbilt University. The author of several books on the American presidency and a novel entitled American Journeys, A Story of Three Lives, he drew inspiration from a true tale from his own mother’s Parisian life for Danger in Paris.

Book preview

Part One:

Democrats

Chapter 1:

The Idea

I just can’t get it right, Ben lamented. I write, but it does not read well. No one will want to read it.

What’s the matter? John asked.

I am trying to write a book about political novels. I have been writing about politicians all my grown-up life, and I decided to write a book about political novels. I have a list of books and a terrific title – ‘Democrats, Demagogues, Dictators, and Despots.’ But all I have done so far is write long descriptions of each book with a few observations by me. No one wants to read that kind of stuff.

Why don’t you develop some themes such as political skill, or leadership of the public, and then compare leaders across novels?

I have thought of that. It rips the narratives out of context. The reader won’t understand the stories, and if I tell the stories I’m back to the other problem. What am I going to do? I can’t sit here and play bridge and watch television. If I’m not writing I’m not alive.

John tried a new tack. Why don’t you invent a fictional book club and write a novel about their conversations as they read the books?

A light went on in Ben’s head. I could do that. It would then be up to me to invent interesting conversations among them, even arguments.

"That’s right. You could slip in your own ideas and no one would know.

This conversation took place at Oak Manor in Virginia, not far from Charlottesville. The two men were sitting on a back terrace looking across a broad green lawn to a rich stand of large oak trees. They were in their early eighties and had been at the Manor a few months each. Both were widowers, lonely and in need of friends; they had discovered and enjoyed each other. Ben Adams had been a foreign correspondent for The New York Times, and John O’Hara had been a professor of modern American history at Mr. Jefferson’s university a few miles away. The Manor was comfortable, with good food and a pleasant atmosphere, but both were restless. Ben had no children, and John’s daughters were in New York and California.

Who would we invite to join us? asked Ben. "We have to be sure, because they would be with us for keeps. We don’t want a large group. That would inhibit good talk. So we have to have just the right people.

They went into dinner, each of them scanning the room of one hundred people, about eighty women and twenty men, ranging from getting old to really old. They saw themselves as on the way to being old. Ben had an arthritic back but two relatively new knees. John had a pacemaker but could still play tennis. Their minds were clear, for which they were grateful.

They enjoyed playing bridge with Josh Abraham, a retired Washington lawyer. His wife, Sarah, was a live wire with dark eyes that sparkled intelligence. Josh and Sarah signed on, and the search continued. The candidates had to be smart and imaginative, and Ben and John did not want people just like themselves.

John suggested Ken Maw, a philosopher and ethicist, also retired from UVA. Ken had been born in China but had been educated at Yale. His wife, Daisy – she had been given the name at a missionary school – was very good looking, which Ben and John liked, but she was also smart. So the Book Club now existed.

Chapter 2:

Who Goes Home,

by Kenneth Edelman

The first book they read was Who Goes Home, a novel about British parliamentary politicians by Kenneth Edelman, a Labor MP in the nineteen fifties. Edelman’s primary subjects were Conservative politicians, because they were in power during the three novels he wrote.

Michael Erskine, the Minister of Economic Affairs, returns to London, having negotiated an agreement for the participation of American firms for investment in Britain. The Prime Minister, who is never given a name, informs him that one of the American firms involved is being investigated by Congress for corruption. He asks Erskine to promise that no one in the British delegation is involved in corruption, and Erskine gives his word of honor.

That night an American, Hendryk Curtis, calls on Erskine and asks him to repay the loan Curtis made to him when they went to a gambling place outside of New York. Erskine remembers that he borrowed chips from Curtis, but he has not thought of it as a loan. Curtis offers to forget the loan if Erskine will approve a license for a particular firm to ship machinery to Britain. Erskine sends him away and promises to see him the next day.

In the meantime a journalist, Anthony Spenser, runs into Curtis, whom he has known by another name. They have a drink together, and Curtis tells Spenser his story. Spenser writes the story, but his editor rejects it. Spenser tells other reporters, and the story gets out.

An Opposition MP raises a formal Question for debate in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister meets with a few key ministers, and they suggest that he appoint a Select Committee to examine Erskine’s conduct. In the meantime Erskine rebuffs Curtis and orders him to leave his office.

Erskine appears before the committee and admits the gambling episode but denies that he understood the loan to be a debt. He tells them of Curtis’s attempt to bribe him. He admits that he was foolish to put himself in a compromising ambiguous position.

Erskine’s lawyer tells the committee that Curtis was recently indicted by a Grand Jury in Washington for perjury before a Senate committee.

The committee finds that Erskine engaged in dishonorable conduct for a Minister. Erskine defends himself before the House and then leaves the chamber. The Prime Minister asks the House to endorse the report despite his great respect for Erskine, who has violated a code that requires Ministers working abroad to have the highest standards. Private and public life should both be open to scrutiny.

A prominent Opposition leader then stands and, to much surprise, asks the House to reject the report. He challenges the Prime Minister’s premise that private life requires the same rectitude as public life, as they would all be vulnerable if that were the case. He asks the House