William Smith White (1906–1994)

This book is important for a theme explained in one of its chapters. The idea is of the Senate as a club within a club and one which for various was dominated by Southeners. The author who covered Congress for newspaper (and wrote a book on the House as well) is deeply sympathetic to the Senate and to the Southerners in the Senate (the author is Texan). The author writes in an airy and vaguely poetic style. The one point that is quiet critical on, is the misuse of the Senate's investigatory power.
The author dives deeper into self-evident characteristics of the Senate ie slowing-moving, aristocratic, and independent minded in regards to foreign affairs. This book was written in the 60s but most of its observations seem to hold true, particularly regarding the Senate's resistance to change its rules, mostly in regards to the filibuster. The Senate has changed it rules for filibusters only twice in its entire history. I would recommend this to any reader with a casual interest in our Congress.… (mer)

3551. The Taft Story, by William S. White (read 1 Mar 2002) This won the Pulitzer prize for biography in 1955 and reading it brought to 50 the number of Pulitzer-prize-winning biographies I've read (34 unread). While this was written too close to the death of Senator Robert Taft (he died 31 July 1953) to be definitive, it is more political history than biography. The author was an able journalist and the book is not hagiographical, though as one who had
no admiration for Taft in his lifetime I did not always agree with the author's assessments. I was surprised that I enjoyed this as much as I did.… (mer)