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Summary:
The more things change, the more they stay the same: "The last few days would have brought down any parliamentary government. As it is, the Grant Administration is a shambles, and there is even talk that the President may resign."
Charles Schuyler, the narrator of Burr, returns to the United States after an absence of nearly 40 years, with his widowed daughter, Emma, in tow. While they try to find a suitably rich husband for Emma among the New York social set, Charles concentrates on the scandals in Washington--including accusations of corruption and obstruction of justice against Ulysses S. Grant--and the presidential race between Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tilden (Tilden apparently, in fact, won the election, only to have it taken away because of electoral fraud). Cameo appearances by Chester A. Arthur, Mark Twain, Charles Nordhoff, and others enliven the proceedings. --Ron Hogan
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Hail To The Thief, Part I
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Listen up! As a general proposition I like my history straight up- facts, footnotes and all. There is enough work just keeping up with that so that historical novels don't generally get a lot of my attention. In this space I have reviewed some works of the old American Stalinist Howard Fast around the American Revolution and the ex-Communist International official and Trotsky biographer Victor Serge about Stalinist times in Russia of the 1930's, but not much else. However, one of the purposes of this space is to acquaint the new generation with a sense of history and an ability to draw some lessons from that history, if possible.
That is particularly true for American history- the main arena that we have to glean some progressive ideas from. Thus, an occasional foray, using the historical novel in order to get a sense of the times, is warranted. Frankly, there are few better at this craft that the old bourgeois historical novelist and social commentator Gore Vidal. Although his politics are somewhere back in the Camelot/FDR period (I don't think he ever got over being related to Jacqueline Kennedy) he has a very good ear for the foibles of the American experience- read him with that caveat in mind.
In 2008, a presidential election year, it may not be inappropriate to look back to an earlier time when a presidential election was seriously in dispute. No, not the hanging chads of Florida in 2000 but the granddaddy of bourgeois electoral boondoggles with the Electoral College victory (but not popular vote) of Ohio Governor Rutherfraud B. Hayes over Governor Samuel Tilden of New York in 1876. Vidal, as is his style, combines fictional characters with the makings and doings of real characters who brought the American experience to the brink of another 'civil war' just shortly after the end of the truly bloody one that preserved the union and abolished slavery in 1865. He does this by using a literary man, a long time American expatriate ( in France) journalist (who else, right?) the fictional Charles Schuyler to narrate (and who also narrated Vida''s novel Burr back in the early part of the century) the scenes. To add motive to his literary efforts and carry the story line along, dear Charles, is desperate for Governor Tilden to win the presidency so that he can return to Europe in some style as an American ambassador to France under a Tilden administration.
Along the way brother Schuyler (and his noble, but penniless, widowed daughter Emma) brings into focus the beginnings of the dominance of the "robber barons", up close and personal, that we have heard about from our high school history tests, during the last part of the 19th century. Interestingly, this novel is populated with plenty of characters who came of political age during the immediate Civil War period and who populated the Lincoln administration or the various Union military commands of the Civil War period. Gone are those political figures like Seward, Chase and obviously Lincoln who actually led that political fight. This is the age of the upstart General Grant, for better or worst.
This is, moreover, a period that had more than its fair share of political graft and boondoggles. Seemingly half the book is spend explaining why some politician be he a Grant Administration official, Roscoe Conkling, James Blaine or some other `angel of mercy' should not be behind bars. Today's politicians seem tame compared to these giants of out-front, in-your-face corruption. In the end, one is not really surprised when the America presidency goes on sale to the highest bidder- it's just another day of politics. All of this with the American Centennial celebration as a backdrop. Fortunately Vidal tells this tale with some wit and some kind of hope that all will work out for the best- in short this American Republic the "last, best hope of mankind" will muddle through. Remember the 2000 presidential election though as a sobering thought about how far we have not come. That undemocratic but decisive Electoral College is still there, for starters. More on Vidal's works later.
Not his best
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Vidal has written some of the most engaging and impressive works of historical fiction ever put to paper, but this one is not one of them. The characters are flat, and the Europeanized American protagonist makes it difficult to finish the book. Indeed, Vidal's leftist commentary on American history gets tiresome here. For better Vidal, try "Julian".
Great continuation of the series
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Gore Vidal's historical fiction is some of the finest prose of the 20th century. It defies understanding how he can turn events that can be explored in five minutes on Wikipedia into a narrative that sustains one's interest for hours, delving deep into the closets of American history. 1876 does not disappoint in this regard. While his achievement here does not rival Lincoln (perhaps the great American novel of the 20th century), it is nonetheless engrossing, furthering Vidal's narrative of the American experiment out of democracy into something altogether different.
How The GOP Stole The Election of 2000...I Mean 1876
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1876 is yet another installment in author Gore Vidal's blatantly left-slanting, non-reverent, warts and all re-telling of the parts of United States history we're never taught about in school, and far too few of us know. Bringing back the old New Yorker Charles Schlemmerhorn Schuyler, a central character from his earlier novel Burr, Vidal takes us on a journey to an America still teeming with internal turmoil as a result of the Civil War. Reconstruction is winding down but still suffocates the proud southern states, who at last, after nearly a generation, stand to play a significant role in the outcome of a national election. The corruption of the Grant administration is about to end, the depression that has hit the country in the wake of bank failures is somewhat alleviated, and the overall mood is hopeful. And then comes the photo finish 1876 Presidential election between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, and New York's Democratic governor, the southern-supported Samuel Tilden. What transpired in the wake of the vote-casting is not dissimilar to that which occurred in our own era six years back, and after much back room wrangling and governmental interference, Tilden, winner at the very least of the popular vote, was declared loser, and the morally-decent but politically-controlled Mr. Hayes was given the Presidency. Forgotten today, this close election nearly set off what could almost be called a second American Civil War, as rioters throughout the south and in the big cities took to the streets and Americans by the hundred-thousand became cynically disenchanted with the political process. Vidal, it must be admitted, writes his novels---by definition works of fiction--with a definite message behind them. He has been accused of a certain nihilism or at the very least a disrespect for American institutions of government, and in 1876 as nowhere else, that is made very clear. This is a good overview of a troubling, much-concealed moment in American history, and its authenticity as far as recreating the national mood and the goings-on at the time, and in showing how there truly were and are powers behind the scenes in our government mark it as a worthy book for an intelligent readership.
Vidal's "Tale of Two Cities"
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The year is 1876, and social ills plague both New York and Washington, DC. Charles Schuyler returns to the U.S. with his daughter Emma with the duel intentions of marrying her off to an eligible bachelor and finding himself means to regenerate his meager funds. He finds the democratic utopia corrupted by a greedy and detached aristocracy. The corrupt Ulysses Grant presidency marks the transition of America from its puritan roots to an ostentatious imperial empire. Charles finds the gentry of New York City to be fatuous and fastidious, oblivious to current events and thriving off ill-begotten fortunes. In Washington, unheard of Ohio Governor Rutherford Hayes steals the presidential election despite losing the popular vote.
Vidal presents the basic formula that war begets large sums of money changing hands, which in turn incites greed, hence corruption. In the New York City of the post civil war era, a stratification of the classes has begun. The men with the officer titles (Commodore, Colonel, Major, General) divide the spoils of wars, hoarding fortunes, while the common grunts are beggars on the streets, doomed to petty theft for survival.
In Washington DC, Vidal paints a picture of America where democracy has not been a success. The presidential election of 1876 puts America at the verge of another civil war. States are sending conflicting poll returns to the Congress and the Electoral College. Votes are for sale. The Republican Party and troops under the republican President U.S. Grant have openly been trying to reverse the popular vote won by Democrat Tilden. Tilden, portrayed by Vidal as honest with the ill-conceived notion of winning an election by scholarly arbitration and argument of political ideals, is given the dilemma. He ran for president on the platform of reform, but to win the election, he must outspend the incumbent Republican Party.
Vidal's strength is his immense vivid characterizations and poignant observations. Only with fictional characters can he provide a first hand perspective of so many historical events and persons. Although the setting of the book is 1876, and the main narrator is Charles Schuyler, Vidal is clearly providing his critique of modern America. Vidal is obviously opinionated and is not writing as an objective historian. The federal government is portrayed the most corrupt in the western world while the press is preoccupied with idiotic irrelevancies such as the wardrobes of the aristocratic rich. Vidal is at his best when describing the ceremonies of court and the accouchements of power battles. Whether writing about roman emperors or centennial presidents, his views of the current social and political milieu are clearly reflected.
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