Hendrik G. Meijer

5548. Arthur Vandenberg The Man in the Middle of the American Century, by Hendrik Meijer (read 2 Apr 2018) This is a carefully compiled biography, (with footnotes, a good bibliography, and an index,) detailing the life of Senator Vandenberg, who became a United States Senator from Michigan in 1928 and served in the Senate till he died on 18 April 1951. In the years before Pearl Harbor he was an isolationist but began to see the folly of continuing in that role during the War and was instrumental in leading some of his party to realize that in the 20th century America had to play a role in the world. He was a delegate to the San Francisco conference which dratted the United Nations Charter and astutely led his party and the Senate to adopt the Charter by a vote of 89 to 2. I found the book of high interest and much of Vandenberg's work was of great value. The author is mostly sympathetic to Vandenberg's work, though he rightly pokes subtle jabs at some of the Senator's pomposity and his reveling in the admiration he evoked. I lived through the Seantor's time in the Senate and followed events closely in the 1940s. I swas surprised to learn that he apparently carried on an extramarital affair with an Englishwoman in the early 1940s. But this is a good book and tells of the career of the Senator well. I was a little distressed that on page 186 the author calls Senator Gillette of Iowa a Republican although he was a Democrat, and that on page 355 the author says North Korea invaded South Korea in January 1950 when the actual invasion was in June of 1950. These lapses in accuracy affect one's faith in the author's knowledge because they are so obvious.. But I found the book good reading and an able recital of the vital events in which Vandenberg played such an important role..… (mehr)