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Advise and Consent #3
Capable of Honor
The author poses one of the most fundamental questions facing America today: how justifiably - or irresponsibly - do American press, television and radio attempt to interfere with, and control, the political process and the foreign policy of the nation?
531 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1966
25 people are currently reading
204 people want to read
About the author
Allen Drury
59 books47 followersIn 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)
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)
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 8, 2023
The 1966 bestseller list from which I have been reading lately carries several big chunksters. Capable of Honor is one of those. The hardcover edition is 531 pages of fairly small type. After two false starts, I spent a full week of what felt like a forced march until I finished.
It is the third of his four volume Advise and Consent series. All three were top 10 bestsellers in their day. Advise and Consent came first and also won the Pulitzer Prize as well as the National Book Award. A Shade of Difference came second and brought the United Nations and the Civil Rights movement into the story. All three books focus on conflicts in 1960s society and within the federal government.
I am not sorry for having taken the time to read these hefty tomes because I learned so much about the inner workings of democracy in the Executive and Legislative branches.
However, in Capable of Honor, I was for the first time uncomfortable with Drury's fictionalized account of events so close to the time in which they took place. I have been pondering that for days now. I understand that fiction cannot use the actual names of Presidents, Vice Presidents, Congressmen, etc. Yet I can't help relating the story to the history.
Capable of Honor is the story of a sitting President and his decision to run for another term. He took office mid the previous President's term after that one died. Sound familiar for the 1960s? LBJ became President after JFK was assassinated. The President in the novel however, is not much like the Johnson I have gotten to know through having lived through his tenure and through reading biography and history.
I truly cannot figure out why that worried me so much when I did not have that problem with the earlier two books. Allen Drury spent years as a news correspondent covering mainly the Senate. In this book he takes on the subject of how much the press can influence public opinion and thus the decisions making processes in government.
The major issue in the 1960s was the threat of postwar communism in the "free world." Drury comes across as a proponent of the use of military force to counteract that threat as opposed to the stand taken in the liberal press to use the United Nations and diplomacy to bring about harmony and prevent war. Of course, this is still a divisive issue today, fanned by the media.
In the book, during the National Convention to nominate the next Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates these differing approaches come to a head, exacerbated by the views of the liberal press. That was the most exciting part of the story yet Drury never makes clear whether it is the Democratic or Republican Convention. I wonder why not?
If you have read this far, I thank you for your time. If you have read this book, do let me know in the comments what thoughts you have about it.
It is the third of his four volume Advise and Consent series. All three were top 10 bestsellers in their day. Advise and Consent came first and also won the Pulitzer Prize as well as the National Book Award. A Shade of Difference came second and brought the United Nations and the Civil Rights movement into the story. All three books focus on conflicts in 1960s society and within the federal government.
I am not sorry for having taken the time to read these hefty tomes because I learned so much about the inner workings of democracy in the Executive and Legislative branches.
However, in Capable of Honor, I was for the first time uncomfortable with Drury's fictionalized account of events so close to the time in which they took place. I have been pondering that for days now. I understand that fiction cannot use the actual names of Presidents, Vice Presidents, Congressmen, etc. Yet I can't help relating the story to the history.
Capable of Honor is the story of a sitting President and his decision to run for another term. He took office mid the previous President's term after that one died. Sound familiar for the 1960s? LBJ became President after JFK was assassinated. The President in the novel however, is not much like the Johnson I have gotten to know through having lived through his tenure and through reading biography and history.
I truly cannot figure out why that worried me so much when I did not have that problem with the earlier two books. Allen Drury spent years as a news correspondent covering mainly the Senate. In this book he takes on the subject of how much the press can influence public opinion and thus the decisions making processes in government.
The major issue in the 1960s was the threat of postwar communism in the "free world." Drury comes across as a proponent of the use of military force to counteract that threat as opposed to the stand taken in the liberal press to use the United Nations and diplomacy to bring about harmony and prevent war. Of course, this is still a divisive issue today, fanned by the media.
In the book, during the National Convention to nominate the next Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates these differing approaches come to a head, exacerbated by the views of the liberal press. That was the most exciting part of the story yet Drury never makes clear whether it is the Democratic or Republican Convention. I wonder why not?
If you have read this far, I thank you for your time. If you have read this book, do let me know in the comments what thoughts you have about it.
March 10, 2018
If I had one word only to define this book I would choose “excessive”; which was a surprise because the previous book I read by Drury (Advise and Consent) was all about measure and balance. It was all about a subtle intellectual game of logics and points of views, a charming skirmish of dialogues and debates.
Here it is as though the deep contempt the author had for certain press pushes him to the above mentioned excesses; it pushes him to personify the press with the character of Walter Dobius, a nation-wide celebrated columnist, which goes well beyond the limits of believability. It pushes him to portray political situation too extreme to look realistic.
The elegant subtlety of Advise and Consent is here totally lost, and with it the ability of the story to look rooted in reality.
Here it is as though the deep contempt the author had for certain press pushes him to the above mentioned excesses; it pushes him to personify the press with the character of Walter Dobius, a nation-wide celebrated columnist, which goes well beyond the limits of believability. It pushes him to portray political situation too extreme to look realistic.
The elegant subtlety of Advise and Consent is here totally lost, and with it the ability of the story to look rooted in reality.
August 29, 2018
WOW!!! I had watched the movie "Advise and Consent" based on book with the same title by Allen Drury. The movie fascinated me so I googled the author and found other books written by him. This book especially caught my interest. It was written in 1966 but is just as applicable in our day. I highly recommend it.
August 30, 2023
This is the third book in this series, and just as dramatic and compelling as the first one, Advise and Consent, which won a Pulitzer prize. These political novels were written in the 60s, so are, of course, creatures of their time, but it is fascinating to read them if you keep the historical context in mind. The political set up in this one took some time, and dragged a bit at the beginning, but as the pieces began to fall into place, and events rolled forward to the convention, I could not put it down. The descriptions of the political convention, and the emotions of the cast of characters involved in it, were so vivid that I could almost hear the roar of the crowds and the passion of the speeches. I recommend this one (but read the first two first, as it involves the same characters), and will now dig in to number 4.
September 25, 2022
In this third book of the "Advise and Consent" series, President Hudson seeks a term of his own. At the end of the first book, he was Vice President, and became President upon his former boss's fatal heart attack. With troops deployed all over to stop Soviet aggression, half the nation seeks a "peace candidate." This one is as good as the first two in the series, but Drury does get a little long winded here. However, this does come in at fewer pages than either of the first two, so perhaps that is just my perception. Overall, a solid addition to a very good series.
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September 8, 2024This was no thriller. However, the book did show clearly how easily any one group can control politics of elections, nominations and voting. In the novel, the media (columnists, reporters, tv talking heads etc.) were the evil influencers. However, it could be any group.
It was slow reading because of so much detail about the various characters and info about the party conventions. I'm glad I stuck with it because it gave me a lot to think about in today's political mess.
It was slow reading because of so much detail about the various characters and info about the party conventions. I'm glad I stuck with it because it gave me a lot to think about in today's political mess.
June 12, 2018
7 out of 10
August 21, 2025
Another great entry in the serious. Couldn't put this one down either. Knox for VP
April 11, 2009
Part of the "Advise and Consent" series.
April 17, 2009
Part of Advise & Consent series
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews