Preserve & Protect

Advise and Consent #4

by Allen Drury

Using the political characters of previous novels the author presents a tale of national intrigue and violence resulting from the death of an incumbent president

Genres: Fiction, Politics, Political Thriller, Historical Fiction, Literature, Thriller

394 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

In late 1943, Allen Stuart Drury, a 25-year old Army veteran, sought work. A position as the Senate correspondent for United Press International provided him with employment and insider knowledge of the Senate. In addition to fulfilling his duties as a reporter, he kept a journal of his views of the Senate and individual senators. In addition to the Senate personalities, his journal captured the events of the 78th & 79th Congresses.
Although written in the mid-1940s, his diary was not published until 1963. "A Senate Journal" found an audience in part because of the great success of "Advise and Consent," his novel in 1959 about the consideration in the Senate of a controversial nominee for secretary of state. His greatest success was "Advise and Consent," was made into a film in 1962. The book was partly inspired by the suicide of Lester C. Hunt, senator from Wyoming. It spent 102 weeks on the New York Times' best-seller list. 'Advise & Consent' led to several sequels. 'A Shade of Difference' is set a year later. Drury then turned his attention to the next presidential election after those events with 'Capable of Honor' & 'Preserve & Protect'. He then wrote two alternative sequels based on a different outcome of an assassination attack in an earlier work: 'Come Nineveh, Come Tyre' & 'The Promise of Joy'. In 1971, he published 'The Throne of Saturn', a sf novel about the 1st attempt at sending a manned mission to Mars. He dedicated the work "To the US Astronauts & those who help them fly." Political characters in the book are archetypal rather than comfortably human. The book carries a strong anti-communist flavor. The book has a lot to say about interference in the space program by leftist Americans. Having wrapped up his political series by '75, Drury began a new one with the '77 novel 'Anna Hastings', more about journalism than politics. He returned to the timeline in '79, with the political novel 'Mark Coffin USS' (tho the main relationship between the two books was that Hastings was a minor character in 'Mark Coffin USS's sequels). It was succeeded, by the two-part 'The Hill of Summer' & 'The Roads of Earth', which are true sequels to 'Mark Coffin USS' He also wrote stand-alone novels, 'Decision' & 'Pentagon', as well as several other fiction & non-fiction works. His political novels have been described as page-turners, set against the Cold War, with an aggressive USSR seeking to undermine the USA. Drury lived in Tiburon, CA from '64 until his '98 cardiac arrest. He'd completed his 20th novel, 'Public Men' set at Stanford, just two weeks before his death. He died on 9/2/98 at St Mary's Medical Center in San Francisco, on his 80th birthday. He never married.--Wikipedia (edited)

Reviews

[Paul Gaya Ochieng Simeon Juma · Rating 4 out of 5]

What informs us on the choice of book that we read? Personally, it depends with what is going on around me. For instance, my decision to read 'Preserve and Protect' was greatly influenced by Donald Trumps decision to bomb one of Syria's millitary base after a chemical attack on its own citizens. I wanted to understand the psychology of America. Of course, they justified their actions by citing some of the ingredients required before assuming a responsibility to protect. Mr. Trump belived he had a just cause, right intention, proprtionate intervention etc. But Russia strongly objected to the US actions citing a violation of International Law. Also, the US acted unilaterally without the sanction of the UN Security Council.

In Drury's book, among other things, the same issues arises between the US and the USSR. The territory in question is Panama and Grotoland. Internally, the President was under pressure to withdraw troops from those areas. The only difference in our novel is that the US was the one on the receiving end of the stick with the Soviets, French, India, Britain, and Nigeria on the other hand. They are also concerned with America's decision which put in place a blockade on the pacific ocean and other waters with which they all have a right to use.

Drury also describes the sharp divisions that exists in the US which we also saw during the Trump Campaign. In our book, their is a campaign to choose the next president after the sudden death of President Hudson Hurley. The two main canditates are the Secretary of State Mr. Orrin Knox and the Governor for Carlifornia, Mr. Ted Jason. The Soviets favor the latter as he intends to change America's foreign policy towards Panama and Grotoland.

The parallel of Allen Drury's novel with what is happening on the ground today is very intriguing. It puts the book back on the limelight. One is able to deduce America's foreign policy at the time which is not very different from what it is now. The Soviet's attitude towards America still remains the same with both countries viewing each other with great suspicion.

The novel is a sequel to the pulitzer prize winning novel 'Advise and Consent' which I have also had the privilege of reading. It is that novel that led me to buy the current book. Allen Drury was once a senator in the US. I belive it is that experience that makes his books quite relevant and very informative. The campaign that he depicts in his novel can be compared with the Trump-Clinton campaign which was marred with a lot of police brutality especially towards the black race and a lot of threats to violence if the former did not win. Also, there were calls from various group protesting against the election of Donald Trump.

I apologise for focusing more on the current affairs, I believe it is what inspired me to read the novel otherwise, I would not have read it as soon as I have done.

[Michael Stutzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a sequel to Allen Drury's great Congressional novel of 1959, Advise and Consent (see my review of Advise and Consent here on Goodreads). Readers will find the same cast of politicians and overwhelmingly liberal, communist-appeasing journalists here. But this sequel was written just before the violence-ridden, derisive Democratic National Convention of 1968, reflecting years of growing protest over the Vietnam War. A Humphrey-esque figure is locked in a nomination fight with a (Eugene!) McCarthy-esque political hero of the anti-war forces. Even more than in Advise and Consent, the media is lambasted on nearly every page for its unfair and unbalanced coverage of the fight. This should comfort those who think that an overwhelmingly liberal media is only a recent phenomenon, although media communist-appeasement seems to have been set aside during the Biden Administration's military policies to check Russian and Chinese empire building. Perhaps the most prophetic plot element is the tacit collusion of the peacenik candidate with violent race-bating elements of the anti-war movement, eventually leading to their attempt to violently disrupt the nomination process in Washington. There was no January 6-like riot that invaded the US Capitol, but Drury's riot still resulted in a few dozen deaths during a pitched battle between them and the US Army. The subsequent lukewarm and delayed "Yes, but..." repudiation of violence by the peacenik candidate bears more than a casual resemblance to what is now known about Donald Trump's actions preceding and during the Jan. 6 riot. This novel behooves us all to consider that rightist politicians and supporters may not be the only ones capable of this. I gave this book three stars only because it lacks the subtler plot development and insider-view of legislative workings that were hallmarks of Advise and Consent.

[Heath Daniels · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author says he is not predicting what will happen in the future but what could happen if certain things come to pass. He writes in the early 1960s. This is a sequel to his cult classic, Advise and Consent published in 1959, for which he won a Pulitzer prize.

It’s the U.S. Presidential election of 1960, fictional of course, not Nixon versus Kennedy. A political party, not identified by name, has challenges in selecting a nominee for President and Vice-President.

Violent crowds kill and attack persons who do not support their preferred candidate for president, the one who they believe will support world peace and remove U.S. military from foreign entanglements.

Russians (Soviet Union in those days) exploit the situation to create chaos in the U.S. with the goal to collapse U.S. democracy and society. This is in addition to Russians’ attempting to influence the election of their preferred candidate who will withdraw from foreign entanglements so the Russians can take over.

The President calls in the national guard to control the violent protesters.

The news media, both television and newspaper are biased in their coverage of the events.

Like the old cliché, the more things change the more they stay the same. About the only significant difference from today is that they did not have cell phones and social media to communicate.

[Julio The Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When will Allan Drury cease and desist?" TIME magazine. Just when you thought American political fiction couldn't get any weirder Allan Drury, author of the classic ADVISE AND CONSENT, pulled off one of the great literary stunts of all time---in search of more cash and readers, of course. THIS IS NOT A SPOILER: at the end of this novel of the tumultuous Sixties the president-elect, a conservative, and vice-president-elect, a liberal, are both targets of an assassination attempt. Depending on which survives the reader is either taken into the sequel featuring the liberal appeaser, COME NINEVEH, COME TYRE, or the conservative hawk, THE PROMISE OF JOY. The book is timely in outlining what a second Trump presidency might look like, particularly in a time of potential war with Russia and/or China.

[Hayden Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

starting to drag in some spots, but still love this series and entry. Becoming over the top, but as a dystopian novel it works. Still it's saying and commenting on some things that ring true even today

[Steven Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

7 out of 10

[Leslie Balkany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Food for thought, especially in our current circumstances.

[Nancy McPherson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Capable of Honor and Preserve and Protect fill in between the first 2 and last 2 of the series, and should be read in order to get the full story.

[Jeff Mayo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is turning into a soap opera. For the first time, I thought the series was starting to have plausibility problems.

[Jak60 · Rating 1 out of 5]

With Preserve and Protect, the mortality rate of US presidents in Drury's world goes to the roof: two gone in a little more than a year. In fact, one wonders how come so many are still fighting like hell to become the next one...
Anyway, this was the third novel of the series I read; after Advise and Consent I skipped A Shade of Difference (the synopsis was not too appetising suggesting a series of endless debates at the UN) and went on straight to Capable of Honor; and I plan to stop here, as the last two books of the saga (constructed as two alternative endings corresponding to two different presidents) look like just too baroque for me.
No doubt that Advise and Consent is the jewel of the crown, elegant, measured, subtle despite the author's willingness to make his own point of view on politics plain clear. Like the other books by Allen Drury, it is heavy reading, with lengthy and slow tirades among brilliant dialogues; reading Drury is like riding an elephant as opposed to a race horse. But then again, the overall experience of the first novel was quite positive.
Capable of Honor was just too extreme in all its expressions, and this made it less credible, less realistic than the previous novel. Preserve and Protect continues along the same linesif not more; Drury's very opinionated and he does not shy away from expressing his views very loudly:
1. the contempt for liberal intellectuals and press is violent
2. the UN are a waste of space, a useless bunch, whose reason to exist is simply to condemn any US of A action
3. left-wing politicians are seen as fifth columns of the Soviet and China communists in the US of A
4. for the very same reasons, he thoroughly despises countries (that means mainly their governments) like France, India and even the UK when not complying
Everything in Drury's world is two dimensional: it's either all white or all black, all the good is on one side and all the evil is on the other one, without the shade of a doubt - to paraphrase the second book of the series.
Of course this has all to be put against the context of the tumultuous times in which the books were written, ie the 60's, especially the second half of that troubled decade. Cold war, hot war (Vietnam), Cuban missiles, the bomb, the campus riots, the witch hunts....enough to wear out the most resilient nerves.
Nevertheless, the tone of voice that was passionate yet still controlled and measured in Advise and Consent becomes more and more extreme, sounding at times even reactionary, and that does not serve well the author's purpose, as its authoritativeness, hence credibility, diminishes as it loses the high ground of the illuminated, super-partes wisdom.
In any case, at the end of my third book of the series, I have come to realise that in Drury’s mind the story is just a means to a goal, where the goal is ultimately to lay out plain and clear the author’s political views. So the story exists just to serve that purpose and can be bent - hence sacrificed in terms of enjoyability and credibility - in whatever fashion is needed to deliver the real goal.
That (together with the wordy prose) is what after a while makes the storytelling quite repetitive: since such political point of view is quite single-minded, the story keeps revolving around it....and after 3 books, I can tell you now: “gotcha, mate!”.

[Ron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Drury continues his alternate history of late Twentieth century America begun with Advise and Consent.

The book ends in something of a cheat: an explosion which threatens the husbands and wives of a "unity" Presidential ticket. Only Drury doesn't tell the ready who survives. For the answer you must read not one, but two novels Come Nineveh, Come Tyre: The Presidency of Edward M. Jason and The Promise Of Joy, which extrapolates a potential outcome from either of the men surviving plus the wive of the other candidate.

It was okay.

[Nancy Motto]

I actually read this whole series (starts with Advise & Consent) many years ago but due to recent political events, decided to re-read part of the series. I think the subtitle of this book should be "World Peace, but at what cost?". This is basically the store of two candidates in the same party who both want to be President. One candidate has aligned himself with the forces of violence, which he thinks he can control and which he will not repudiate. This ultimately leads to a crisis which threatens to destroy democracy. This book was written in 1967-68 but is still so relevant that I wonder if the author had a crystal ball. Absolutely fascinating look at politics.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part of the "Advise and Consent" series.

[Catherine Mustread · Rating 4 out of 5]

part of Advise & Consent series

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

great melodrama. a real soap opera. really nailed the corrupt press we see today, thought. w o Roth the read just for the prescient view of what has come to pass.