Caffeinated Politics

President Truman said, “There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not”.

Walking into a used bookstore late this afternoon, James and I were greeted by an employee before we drifted down separate aisles, being called by the spines. There are many times on such a journey when I am seeking the next part of a favorite series or a book about a specific topic. But today, I was just browsing. I like it best when books on the shelves surprise me. That happened twice today.

The first find was a story I had never heard of before. Just one of countless slices of history that fill up the time span of our country and are filled with colorful (if at times loathsome) personalities. From 2023: Washington State University Press, Man of Treacherous Charm, authored by Candace Wellman.

In 1857, coal mine manager Edmund C. Fitzhugh killed a drunken trespasser in his garden. Though Fitzhugh was under indictment for murder and only marginally qualified for the position, U.S. President James Buchanan made the stunning decision to appoint him to Washington Territory’s District and Supreme Courts.

The blue-blood Virginian lawyer migrated to the California gold rush in 1849. After Fitzhugh’s San Francisco law partner and others invested in a new Bellingham Bay coal mine, he moved north to open it. During the next ten years—including a few as Democratic Party chairman—he built and exploited his political network. In addition to serving on the federal bench and managing the militarily strategic mine, he was a county auditor, became Governor Isaac Stevens’ Treaty War military aide and Indian agent, and helped Stevens run the 1860 Breckinridge for President national campaign. During the Civil War, he returned home and was Confederate General Eppa Hunton’s staff officer. After the war, he practiced law in a small Iowa town. Fitzhugh devastated the lives of four wives and six children, and eventually died alone in the fleabag remnant of a once-prestigious San Francisco hotel.

How could this book not be bought? And I found it on the clearance shelves.

The second book was equally surprising. A great addition to my presidential shelves. Kennedy And The Press features the complete texts of President Kennedy’s 64 official presidential news conferences, highlighting his innovative use of live television to communicate directly with the American public and handle media scrutiny. (Would it be supremely snarky to mention that drifting over the pages and reading snippets proves how an educated and focused president sounds when in front of the press?)

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.” – Cicero