David Brinkley's bestseller, Washington Goes to War

The focus of this book is on the war, but from the point of view of the people, press, and politicians who lived in Washington D.C. at the time. Brinkley usually covers both sides of the story. He does not side with any particular race, as can be ascertained from his reporting of the Marion Anderson quarrel. Howard University wanted Anderson to blab at Central High, which was predominantly Caucasian. The initiate superintendent, Frank Ballou, finally acquiesced to political pressure and decided that "Anderson could whistle at Central so long as the smuggled community understood that such a gracious yielding was never to be offered again" (I 7). Brinkley then spends several pages coating the dispute between the Southern whites who did not want Anderson to sing and the black community and celebrity sponsors who came to see her sing (17-19).

an early(a)(prenominal) example of Brinkley's ability to present both side of an place occurred when Roosevelt was pushing his lend-lease harness curriculum. The president gave a voice communication in which he compared lending arms to lending a hose to your neighbor to put out a eruption. Roosevelt explained that when the fire was over your neighbor should return the hose and thank you for its use, kind of of giving you $15 for it (48). The other side of the coin was express by Senator Taft. Apparently the Senator opposed the lend-lease arms program since he was quoted as saying, "Le

nding arms is like lending chewing gum, you don't want it back" (48).

And to his credit, Brinkley remained neutral, in the background as a detached and impartial journalists passim his book. Brinkley's opinions are for the most part those of an American journalist. But he does attempt to cover nearly of the thoughts of the allies in atomic number 63 as easy. He mentions that the Europeans and Americans did not understand each other too well when the war began, and he illustrated the maxim that governing makes strange bedfellows. At one point Brinkley quotes a anomalous line about the difference between the European and American views.

Brinkley writes, "The Europeans see the Americans as uncouth, and they snicker at our crudities of speech and robe and diet while sending their worthless counts and dukes over hither to marry rich American girls to bail out their consume families" (25). This is in keeping with Brinkley's approach throughout; he recounts some ghastly battles of war. Instead, he keeps the reader going with choice antidotes and adorable historical excerpts.

In the descriptions of the personalities, Brinkley's tone borders on catty. Brinkley dishes criticism for some of the reporters, or "press lords" as he has coined them (in chapter seven), as well as the politicians in the chapter titled "Congressional Blues". For instance, in his portrayal of broadcaster Gabriel Heatter, Brinkley says Heatter sweated so profusely that he flood his clothes and "after each broadcast he forgive himself quickly and left the studio in a unfounded run to change his underwear" (189). Then in chapter eight, Brinkley describe the political career of Sol Bloom, which he concluded with a description of the representative complaining to the House floor that they would film to get better security since a trunk blanket(a) of documents had been stolen from his office (210). The trunk was really full of Prohibition whisky (21 1).

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