Foreword

Summary

Members of the United States House of Representatives come in many varieties. Few biographies have been written about them, however. And fewer still have been especially penetrating or praiseworthy. When a first-rate congressional biography comes along, therefore, it is a special gift to people who think about the practice of politics in America. This is all the more true when the book illuminates a distinctive kind of representative. In this case, the distinction lies in the analytical sophistication and the explanatory skills of one who was also a “master teacher.” Barber B. Conable Jr. of New York was as highly and widely respected as any member of Congress in the last half of the twentieth century. James S. Fleming's rich legislative biography explains why—why Conable's constituents trusted him, why his colleagues relied on him, why journalists admired him, and why educators (like myself) made him the very model of what a good congressman should be. This book is, therefore, a special gift.

It traces Barber Conable's life from his small-town upbringing in western New York through his twenty years (1965–85) in Congress. (In a final chapter on Conable's “retirement” it also touches on his presidency of the World Bank.) It covers his election contests, his leadership within a powerful committee, his role as a party leader, his relationship with presidents, his window on Watergate, his legislative work on taxes and Social Security—and all of it as a member of the Republican minority in the House. Whether, how, and to what degree Conable's stellar reputation was related to his minority party status is, perhaps, something for readers to ponder. And there is a wealth of material, much of it newly unearthed, to use in answering that question—and many others concerning this individual and this time in American political history.

Four elements of Fleming's biography are especially noteworthy. First, there are Conable's regular newsletters to constituents, in which he analyzes the events of the day, and through which he lays out his philosophy of representative government. Second, there are Conable's career-long private journals in which he confided his thoughts, opinions, and emotions concerning political events, problems, and people. Here, we find the worries and frustrations of a dedicated policy activist denied the opportunities he would have enjoyed had his party controlled the chamber.