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TAKING ON THE WORLD: JOSEPH AND STEWART ALSOP - GUARDIANS OF THE AMERICAN CENTURY
Joseph and Stewart Alsop, brothers born into the American gentry in the second decade of the Twentieth Century, rose to the pinnacle of American journalism to chronicle the big events of the nation and the world from 1935 until 1975. Close relatives of the Roosevelts, close friends of the Kennedys, close confidants of the country's governing class, they cut a wide swath through American history during the run-up to World War II, during that global conflagration and in the heady postwar period when America emerged as the preeminent power upon the globe. As members of the old Anglo-Saxon elite that led America into the Cold War, they served as cheerleaders of those powerful figures who directed the country in those perilous but heady times. These figures included presidents Richard Nixon, John Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower; secretaries of state Dean Acheson, John Foster Dulles and Henry Kissinger; defense secretaries James Forrestal and Robert McNamara; senators Robert Kennedy, Henry Jackson, Edmund Muskie and Hubert Humphrey; and many more, including Supreme Court justices, governors, presidential candidates and leading intellectuals around the world. In telling their story, Robert W. Merry also tells the story of America during this time and of Washington, the new center of global power after World War II. The story abounds with lively personalities, of Georgetown dinner parties when the wine and political talk flowed copiously, of political alliances and personality clashes. Stewart was a political analyst of rare acumen, while Joe, his older brother, was a curmudgeon with an aristocratic hearing and a biting wit. He once likened a dinner at Lyndon Johnson's to "going to an opera in which one man sings all the parts." On another occasion he described the august New York Times, whose reporting he didn't like, to "a lunatic cathedral." When Joe called people in the highest echelons of officaldom, they responded. In Taking On the World, Merry, a Washington insider himself, has fashioned an intricate and fascinating combination of biography and narrative history. As Merry puts it, "Within the lifetime of the Alsop brothers the country was remade. And its remaking illuminates their careers, just as their careers illuminate the American Century." Robert Merry casts brilliant light on these two remarkable men, and on one of the most tumultuous periods of the country's history.
- GenresHistory
672 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 1, 1996
19 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
Robert W. Merry
22 books51 followersRobert W. Merry is an American journalist, publishing executive, commentator, and author. He is the editor of The American Conservative.
Robert W. Merry was born in 1946 in Tacoma, WA. He served three years in the U.S. Army, including two years as a counterintelligence special agent in West Germany. He graduated from the University of Washington with a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1968 and earned a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1972.
Merry started his career as a reporter for The Denver Post and became a Washington-based political reporter in 1974 when he joined the staff of the National Observer, a Dow Jones weekly newspaper. When the Observer folded in 1977, he became a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, and spent twelve years there covering Congress, national politics, and the White House, among other beats. In 1987 Merry became managing editor of Congressional Quarterly. He was promoted to Executive Editor in 1990 and became President and Editor-in-Chief in 1997. He held that position for 12 years and led CQ into the digital age.
Robert W. Merry was born in 1946 in Tacoma, WA. He served three years in the U.S. Army, including two years as a counterintelligence special agent in West Germany. He graduated from the University of Washington with a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1968 and earned a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1972.
Merry started his career as a reporter for The Denver Post and became a Washington-based political reporter in 1974 when he joined the staff of the National Observer, a Dow Jones weekly newspaper. When the Observer folded in 1977, he became a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, and spent twelve years there covering Congress, national politics, and the White House, among other beats. In 1987 Merry became managing editor of Congressional Quarterly. He was promoted to Executive Editor in 1990 and became President and Editor-in-Chief in 1997. He held that position for 12 years and led CQ into the digital age.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 6, 2015
The names Woodward and Bernstein are probably still the first to come to mind when considering the high point of investigative journalism in the US.
But for four decades before the Watergate scandal two brothers were pre-eminent in breaking the biggest stories of the time and delivering the most influential commentaries on them, the Alsops.
Author Bob Merry brings the characters of Joseph and Stewart alive with a political insider’s eye on their methods and a firm grasp of historical background to put their reporting into perspective.
The brothers were prolific writers and they were golden. Four columns a week, every week, syndicated to 175 newspapers across the country, plus opinion pieces, extended investigative articles, political profiles, deep features and even books.
With family ties to the Roosevelts and a privileged upbringing they started out with a stellar contacts book and they worked hard to cultivate even more by hosting high-level dinner parties for makers and shakers of all persuasions.
There’s a wonderful anecdote from one of the parties in the 1950s in which a phone call for Dean Rusk, then the assistant secretary of state for Far Eastern affairs, disrupts the evening.
He takes the call, returns to the gathering looking ashen-faced and declares that he has to go. Within minutes Army Secretary Frank Pace and Air Force assistant secretary John McCone offer apologies and also depart abruptly. There had been, said Rusk, “some kind of border incident” in Korea.
It was, in fact, a full-scale invasion of the south by the north and illustrates one of the themes that runs through the book, the Alsops proximity to the biggest breaking stories and their close ties to those in power.
Joe saw eight presidents come and go during his time and he was a frequent guest at the White House where he was forthright with his opinions and free with his advice.
He and his brother were among the original WASPs, white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, who wanted to preserve the mores and values of their caste and keep its place in shaping the destiny of the nation.
They endured through the most turbulent times of the 20th Century: WW2 - from which Stewart emerged with a Croix de Guerre with Palm from Charles de Gaulle - the last gasps of the Pax Britannica, the “loss” of China to the communist party, wars in Korea and Vietnam, McCarthyism, the Oppenheimer affair, the Suez debacle, the Cuban missile crisis, the election and assassination of JFK, the Watts riots, and Nixon’s Watergate disgrace.
As the world turned, Joe’s view of America’s place in the world became increasingly out of step with the opinions and aspirations of a younger generation. His writing became increasingly polemical and his influence less and less so.
His last book, I’ve Seen the Best of It, underscores his belief that America’s best days were those when the old elite flourished and it comes with a sense of sad incomprehension that not everyone else could see it that way.
But for four decades before the Watergate scandal two brothers were pre-eminent in breaking the biggest stories of the time and delivering the most influential commentaries on them, the Alsops.
Author Bob Merry brings the characters of Joseph and Stewart alive with a political insider’s eye on their methods and a firm grasp of historical background to put their reporting into perspective.
The brothers were prolific writers and they were golden. Four columns a week, every week, syndicated to 175 newspapers across the country, plus opinion pieces, extended investigative articles, political profiles, deep features and even books.
With family ties to the Roosevelts and a privileged upbringing they started out with a stellar contacts book and they worked hard to cultivate even more by hosting high-level dinner parties for makers and shakers of all persuasions.
There’s a wonderful anecdote from one of the parties in the 1950s in which a phone call for Dean Rusk, then the assistant secretary of state for Far Eastern affairs, disrupts the evening.
He takes the call, returns to the gathering looking ashen-faced and declares that he has to go. Within minutes Army Secretary Frank Pace and Air Force assistant secretary John McCone offer apologies and also depart abruptly. There had been, said Rusk, “some kind of border incident” in Korea.
It was, in fact, a full-scale invasion of the south by the north and illustrates one of the themes that runs through the book, the Alsops proximity to the biggest breaking stories and their close ties to those in power.
Joe saw eight presidents come and go during his time and he was a frequent guest at the White House where he was forthright with his opinions and free with his advice.
He and his brother were among the original WASPs, white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, who wanted to preserve the mores and values of their caste and keep its place in shaping the destiny of the nation.
They endured through the most turbulent times of the 20th Century: WW2 - from which Stewart emerged with a Croix de Guerre with Palm from Charles de Gaulle - the last gasps of the Pax Britannica, the “loss” of China to the communist party, wars in Korea and Vietnam, McCarthyism, the Oppenheimer affair, the Suez debacle, the Cuban missile crisis, the election and assassination of JFK, the Watts riots, and Nixon’s Watergate disgrace.
As the world turned, Joe’s view of America’s place in the world became increasingly out of step with the opinions and aspirations of a younger generation. His writing became increasingly polemical and his influence less and less so.
His last book, I’ve Seen the Best of It, underscores his belief that America’s best days were those when the old elite flourished and it comes with a sense of sad incomprehension that not everyone else could see it that way.
May 25, 2019
This is a terrific book about a world that no longer exists. Stewart and Joe Alsop, patrician brothers from Connecticut, took on the world of political reporting from the 1930s (in Joe's case; post-WWII in Stewart's case) to the 1970s. Well-regarded by politicians, power brokers, and readers, the brothers were prominent fixtures on the mid-century news scene, when people just like them were the ruling class, America was already great, and the American Century (1945 - 1975) was at its peak. As a reader, you follow them from their childhoods in Avon, CT, to their deaths in Washington, DC, and what a journey it is!
Joe is the somewhat snobby, somewhat pretentious, but very sincere and kind (to his friends and family!) older brother who harbors a well-known secret . Stewart is the cool, detached younger brother whose family life consists of 6 kids, a young wife, and lots of sports and social activities. Meeting Joe, Stewart, their families, and their Washington friends and enemies is a fun journey, though one that's a bit too interspersed with squabbles between minor political and military characters, press gossip, and news items of the day. Learning about Stewart's habit of or Joe's is a much needed distraction and more interesting than reading about a petty newsroom meeting they took part in.
Robert Merry does an excellent job of mixing the professional and the social in this book, providing commentary on why the social class and social mores the Alsop brothers lived and breathed got cut short. He seemed to make Joe a more fleshed out character compared to Stewart, though this could be a factor of Joe's larger-than-life personality and Stewart's more subdued one.
Joe is the somewhat snobby, somewhat pretentious, but very sincere and kind (to his friends and family!) older brother who harbors a well-known secret . Stewart is the cool, detached younger brother whose family life consists of 6 kids, a young wife, and lots of sports and social activities. Meeting Joe, Stewart, their families, and their Washington friends and enemies is a fun journey, though one that's a bit too interspersed with squabbles between minor political and military characters, press gossip, and news items of the day. Learning about Stewart's habit of or Joe's is a much needed distraction and more interesting than reading about a petty newsroom meeting they took part in.
Robert Merry does an excellent job of mixing the professional and the social in this book, providing commentary on why the social class and social mores the Alsop brothers lived and breathed got cut short. He seemed to make Joe a more fleshed out character compared to Stewart, though this could be a factor of Joe's larger-than-life personality and Stewart's more subdued one.
January 24, 2024
The story of Joseph and Stewart Alsop, journalists extraordinaire, is also the tale of the brief American Century, the disintegration of the establishment and the ongoing change that characterizes America. It is also a delight to read. One gets a wonderful sense of each of these men and their strengths and weaknesses. The epilogue, in which Merry speaks to the power vacuum that opened up after 1975 and 1991 and . . . well, it seems to me that U.S. leaders still haven't (nearly 30 years after this work was written) figured out what comes next. When Merry has Stewart Alsop muse about what the future of the United States after 1975 might look like without an elite society it seems oddly prescient in regards to what appears to be happening in 2024. "A society without authority is one short step away from becoming an authoritarian society."
September 27, 2015
"Taking on the World: Joseph and Stewart Alsop, Guardians of the American Century" by Robert W. Merry was a really good read, but not a keeper. It took me through the 40s - 60s, (the Alsops were syndicated in 175 newspapers) shows what access reporters use to have, that Joseph Alsop, an aggressive, opinionated guy who always had to have the last word, could actually help to steer US Foreign Policy by talking and challenging office holders - having full length conversations with them in their office and parties at his brother's home with those office holder supporters thus always having a direct line to power, it is intriguing to read about.
The author deals well with Joseph having been gay and the constant exposure and risk Joseph had to deal with. I enjoyed the book as well for the struggles his brother Stewart dealt with - his wife was an alcoholic which he blamed himself for b/c the family (four children) was never that important to him while he always played second-fiddle to his brother and tried to over-come it. They had a power-struggle even though both brothers were successful in their own right.
The author deals well with Joseph having been gay and the constant exposure and risk Joseph had to deal with. I enjoyed the book as well for the struggles his brother Stewart dealt with - his wife was an alcoholic which he blamed himself for b/c the family (four children) was never that important to him while he always played second-fiddle to his brother and tried to over-come it. They had a power-struggle even though both brothers were successful in their own right.
April 21, 2011
'"Joe, I have the best joke to tell you," said the president. It seemed that a Soviet defector, then in the hands of the CIA at a New York safe house, had revealed that French military intelligence services were riddled with Soviet spies.
"Our people believe him," said the president with a laugh, "and so I had the pleasure of sending our friend de Gaulle a handwritten letter by courier telling him that he had a problem."
Kennedy added that de Gaulle's office had called immediately to request an opportunity to debrief the defector.
"They're sending a top general over next week," he said.
"Who is it?" asked Joe [i.e., Joseph Alsop].
You've probably never heard of him--fellow named Jean Louis de Rougemont."
"Oh," exclaimed Susan Mary [Alsop], "he and his wife Louise are two of my closest friends."
They all laughed at the small world they inhabited.'
"Our people believe him," said the president with a laugh, "and so I had the pleasure of sending our friend de Gaulle a handwritten letter by courier telling him that he had a problem."
Kennedy added that de Gaulle's office had called immediately to request an opportunity to debrief the defector.
"They're sending a top general over next week," he said.
"Who is it?" asked Joe [i.e., Joseph Alsop].
You've probably never heard of him--fellow named Jean Louis de Rougemont."
"Oh," exclaimed Susan Mary [Alsop], "he and his wife Louise are two of my closest friends."
They all laughed at the small world they inhabited.'
December 3, 2013
If your reading interests include the Cold War, mid-20th century politics, or the Vietnam War, you will frequently come across the Alsop brothers' names. This book is their shot at center stage, and after reading it I realize they're better as background characters. At least now I know which one is which: Joe the snob, Stewart the little brother with a bunch of kids.
The brothers as subject of a bio might be more interesting if it were Gay Talese or David Halberstam writing about them. Merry tells too many pat anecdotes with an uncritical eye, and the mincing, stage dialogue from Joe will make you cringe.
The brothers as subject of a bio might be more interesting if it were Gay Talese or David Halberstam writing about them. Merry tells too many pat anecdotes with an uncritical eye, and the mincing, stage dialogue from Joe will make you cringe.
March 3, 2014
I was totally surprised by this book. Thank you Robert W. Merry for opening my eyes to such an interesting family. This book is filled with wonderful stories. It is truly an insight to a part of America that not many people get to walk around enjoying such interesting and important people. Again, thanks.
November 14, 2015
A long, but well written account of the now mostly forgotten Alsop brothers,with all their triumps and misteps. It's also a story of how the symbiotic relation between journalism and politics affected the course of history at the height of the American Century.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews