Oh damn it all anyway. Arthur Schlesinger, Historian of Power, Dies at 89.

[WilliamPitt]

This may be up already, but I didn't see it. Arthur Schlesinger was, to me, on a level with Adlai Stevenson and the other mid-century liberal lights whose morality and strength of character and mind made them human giants.

I was privileged to meet him at that Kerry confab in New York in Al Franken's apartment back in late 2003. He was elderly and frail, but as sharp as a razor, and he emanated a presence of mind and person that left me in awe. I shook his hand and said, "Hello sir," and that small contact glows in my favorite-memory file, along with a handshake I got from Muhammad Ali when I was seven.

Some people have the living fabric of our history wrapped around them like a cloak. Arthur Schlesinger was one such person. Another of Camelot's knights is gone, a crafter of ideals like those Gailbreath described in "The Liberal Hour," ideals that are becoming harder to find in America with each passing day. Alas for us all.

Arthur Schlesinger, Historian of Power, Dies at 89
By DOUGLAS MARTIN

Published: March 1, 2007

Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., the historian whose more than 20 books shaped discussions for two generations about America’s past, and who himself was a provocative, unabashedly liberal partisan, most notably while serving in the Kennedy White House, died Wednesday night in Manhattan. He was 89.

His death, at New York Downtown Hospital, was caused by a heart attack he suffered earlier during a family dinner at Bobby Van’s Steakhouse, his son Stephen said.Twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, Mr. Schlesinger exhaustively examined the administrations of two prominent presidents, Andrew Jackson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, against a vast background of regional and economic rivalries. He argued that strong individuals like Jackson and Roosevelt could bend history.

The notes he took for President John F. Kennedy, for the president’s use in writing his history, became, after Mr. Kennedy’s assassination, grist for Mr. Schlesinger’s own account, “A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House.” It won both the Pulitzer and a National Book Award in 1966.

His 1978 book on the president’s brother, “Robert Kennedy and His Times,” lauded the subject as the most politically creative man of his time. But he acknowledged that Robert had played a larger role in trying to overthrow President Fidel Castro of Cuba than Mr. Schlesinger had acknowledged in “A Thousand Days.”

Mr. Schlesinger worked on both brothers’ presidential campaigns, and some critics suggested he had trouble separating history from sentiment. Gore Vidal called “A Thousand Days” a political novel, and many noted that the book ignored the president’s sexual wanderings. Others were unhappy that he told so much, particularly in asserting that the president had been unhappy with his secretary of state, Dean Rusk.

Mr. Schlesinger saw life as a walk through history. He wrote that he could not stroll down Fifth Avenue without wondering how the street and the people on it would have looked a hundred years ago.

“He is willing to argue that the search for an understanding of the past is not simply an aesthetic exercise but a path to the understanding of our own time,” Alan Brinkley, the historian, wrote.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/01/us/01cnd-schlesinger.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[brentspeak]

1. A good man, and a good American. RIP

[WI_DEM]

2. His "Age of Jackson" is masterful

He was a fine historian, but in the case of the Kennedy's I think he was too close to them personally to be totally impartial.

[WilliamPitt]

4. A valid argument, to be sure

But again, every leader or person of public influence has their own myth-crafter, if they're smart. If Schlesinger idealized Kennedy, one could argue that he did so to remind people of what was possible then, and even now.

[H2O Man]

5. He would admit

in later years that his "Age of Jackson" had some weaknesses. It remains, of course, an outstanding work.

Both Kennedy books are a mix of objective and subjective reporting. For those who admire John and Robert, they remain perhaps the two best books available.

I think "The Imperial Presidency" is an important book that should be as interesting to republicans as to democrats, and to conservatives as to liberals.

I also enjoyed other works, including "The Crisis of Confidence." Schlesinger was a wonderful talent, who lived a fantastic life.

[Demoiselle]

3. He died at a family dinner...at 89. A steakhouse, no less... God Bless!

A good man. A good passing. Of course, I'd like to go on till 125 or thereabouts...but, still, not so bad.

[Zensea]

6. emanated a presence of mind and person that left me in awe

I felt the same way when I met David Dellinger a few years ago, so I know exactly what you are communicating here.
Such a thing in an individual is very rare.

[BuelahWitch]

7. One of Kennedy's "Best and Brightest"

Rest in peace Mr. Schlesinger

[WI_DEM]

10. there is a book titled "The Best and the Brightest" by David Halberstam

which makes interesting reading.

[Arkham House]

8. There aren't many giants left in America...

...in any line of endeavor...is it possible that there's just so much talent available--and that as the population grows, it gets more and more dispersed...? I dunno...but look at us 50 years ago: Truman, Adlai, JFK, even Ike, for goshsake...Arthr Miller, Tennessee Williams...Orson Welles, Elia Kazan...Robert Frost, Allen Ginzburg...Miles, Monk, Mingus, Duke...Hemingway and Faulkner...Hammett and Chandler...Asimov and Heinlein...and Arthur Schlesinger...wonder who'll be remembered in 50 years...?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. Well, shit.

Had a good run though.