In Search of John Quincy Adams
11/14/14
Andrew J. Bacevich
The Presidency, History, United States
Charles N. Edel’s new book Nation Builder misreads the historical significance of America’s sixth president.
Charles N. Edel, Nation Builder: John Quincy Adams and the Grand Strategy of the Republic (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014), 432 pp., $29.95.
THINK
OF John Quincy Adams as the Elvis of American statecraft: creative
genius, preeminent practitioner and enduring inspiration. Well, make
that Elvis minus the charisma.
So Charles Edel argues in Nation Builder.
Edel, who teaches at the U.S. Naval War College, believes that Adams
personally devised the “comprehensive grand strategy” that guided the
United States for decades and “set the nation on a course to long-term
security, stability, and prosperity.” The “detailed policy road map”
that Adams developed sought “to harness the country’s geographic,
military, economic, and moral resources,” with the ultimate aim of
bringing “America to a position of preeminence in the world.”
The
problem here starts with misplaced paternity. To credit Adams with
fathering U.S. grand strategy is the equivalent of saying that Elvis
invented rock and roll. Doing so ignores all the other worthies,
predecessors and contemporaries alike who lent a hand. The King was as
much product as he was pioneer. Meanwhile, what may rank as Adams’s most
lasting contribution somehow escapes Edel’s notice altogether.
Raised
by John and Abigail Adams—who never doubted that their oldest son was
meant for greatness—John Quincy Adams lived an exceedingly consequential
life, virtually all of it spent in service to antebellum America. He
knew everyone from Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson to Andrew
Jackson and Abraham Lincoln. As a diplomat, he was the Ryan Crocker of
his day, serving every president from George Washington to James Madison
with quiet distinction. Next came elevation to the post of secretary of
state, followed by a term as president and, finally, seventeen years as
a member of the House of Representatives. Appropriately, he died in
harness, after suffering a stroke while on the House floor.
The
time that Adams spent as the nation’s chief diplomat under James Monroe
marked the pinnacle of his illustrious career. Edel’s account sustains
the common assessment that Adams was not only the right candidate for
that job, but also that he was appointed to fill it at precisely the
right time. Man and moment aligned perfectly.
Read full articlehttp://nationalinterest.org/feature/search-john-quincy-adams-11532
No comments:
Post a Comment