Description
Book SynopsisThis book examines the life of Nicholas Longworth, who held the office of Speaker of the House from 1925 to 1931. The authors analyze Nicholas Longworth’s personal relationships, his bipartisan political style, and his success as a political figure.
Trade ReviewOf all the most significant Speakers of the House, the one that has received the least attention from biographers is Nicholas Longworth. That omission has now been corrected by Donald C. Bacon and Anthony M. Champagne’s splendid new book, Nicholas Longworth: The Aristocrat Speaker. It presents not only Longworth’s life but also a portrait of a period of American Politics quite unlike the present—when partisan battle lines were not so rigid and personal ties moderated polarization. A gap in the Congress literature has been filled in brilliantly.
-- Ross K. Baker, Rutgers University
Ohio aristocrat, product of a party machine, and son-in-law to President Theodore Roosevelt, Nicholas Longworth weathered his own personal flaws and complex family dynamics as well as a Republican party politics fraught with divisions to emerge as a foremost political figure of the early twentieth century. In this masterfully written biography, Bacon and Champagne bring to life the story of one of the most influential and compelling Speakers in the history of the U.S. House.
-- Douglas B. Harris, Loyola University Maryland
Table of ContentsChapter 1: Nick and the Cincinnati Longworths
Chapter 2: Nick and the Cox Machine
Chapter 3: Beginnings in Congress
Chapter 4: Marrying a Roosevelt
Chapter 5: Taft, Roosevelt, and the Politics of 1912
Chapter 6: Into the Leadership
