William G. Tliiemann, in Presidential Studies Quarterly (Winter 1994), 208 E. 75th St., New York, N.Y.10021.
Herbert Hoover is usually remembered as the hapless victim of the Great Depression and, in the 1932 election, of the ebullient Franklin D. Roosevelt. History is always more complicated than such simple imagery suggests, and now Thie-maim, a graduate student inhistory at Miami Uiu- versity, Ohio, adds an interesting detail to the Hoover-FDR tableau. It seems that the Republi- can president...
political scientists Edward
G.Carmines and James A. Stimson. After a close look at American National Election Studies for 1980 and 1988, Abramowitz, a political scientist at Emory University, sees other causes.
Abramowitz agrees that the 1964 presiden- tial election was a watershed, as Carmines and Stimson argue. President Lyndon B. Johnson, champion of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, trounced conservative Republican Senator Barry M. Goldwater, who had opposed it. Democratic leaders and activists then...
a powerful common enemy, is a potential threat. It would be the strongest mili- tary power in Asia, and the second-ranking one in tlie world." Tlie fact tliat Japan is democratic is no guarantee of peace. Indeed, some observ- ers doubt tliat Japan really is or will remain a de- mocracy in Western terms.
Betts (who leans toward the realist perspec-
tive) believes tliat Cliina is "tlie state most
likely over time to disturb equilibrium in the
region-and the world." Even conservative
estimates,...
the Bush administration-"is just plain unaffordable." With 10 active army and three marine divisions, 12 aircraft carriers, and 13 active air force wings, the force looks form- dable. But its size will come at the cost of defer- ring replacement of helicopters, tanks, and other equipment; after 10 to 15 years, "a massive junking of obsolescent gear" would be necessary.
As if all tlus were not enough, Cohen discerns "a deeper malady" in American strategy: It fails to...
.
Nezus & World Report (Oct. 26,1992), in a typical media acco~~nt,
declared that the Bus11 administration "co~ltinued to provide billions of dollars ill loans to Saddam Hussein after [Iraq's] war wit11 Iran ended in 1988. Despite evidence that Iraqi agents were stealing some of the American loan nloney and using it to buy and bdd biologcal, cllemical, a11d nuclear weapons, tlle Bull administration il~creasedthe amount of the loans." Then, in August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait.
One...
the market. Foreman thinks the new law has got it about right. Why lose "the synergy of a working business" in a liq- uidation? Abuses, he insists, are rare. Thanks to the code, he notes, the Federated chain of department stores, Continental Airlines, and Macy's are all still in business, with employ- ees still on the job.
How CEOs Got Theirs
"CEO Pay: Why Such a Contentious Issue?" Margaret M. Blair, in Brooki~igsReview (Winter 1994), 1775Mass. Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C....
William Greider, in Tlie Washington Monthly (Dec. 1993), 1611 Conn. Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009.
The Federal Reserve Systen1's "power over the daily lives of ordinary Americans-not to inen- tion the largest enterprises of commerce and fi- nance-is at least as great as the president's or Congress's and, in most instances, more irnrne- diate," writes Greider, national affairs columnist for Rolling Stone and author of a 1987 book, Se-crets of the Temple, about the agency. The Fed's...
Kristin
F. Butcher, in Industrial and Labor Relations Review (Jan.
1994), Cornell Univ., Ithaca, N.Y. 14853-3901.
Do the "cultural traditions" of American-born blacks impede their economic progress? Promi- nent economist Thomas Sowell-pointing to the higher earnings of West Indian immigrants in the United States-has argued that they do. Butcher, an economist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, has a different explanation.
Analyzing 1980 census data, she finds that West Indian immigrant...
Kristin
F. Butcher, in Industrial and Labor Relations Review (Jan.
1994), Cornell Univ., Ithaca, N.Y. 14853-3901.
Do the "cultural traditions" of American-born blacks impede their economic progress? Promi- nent economist Thomas Sowell-pointing to the higher earnings of West Indian immigrants in the United States-has argued that they do. Butcher, an economist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, has a different explanation.
Analyzing 1980 census data, she finds that West Indian immigrant...
the experience of Massacl~usetts today- or even New York in 1975.
Meanwhile, the city government has "stopped trying to do well the kinds of things a city can do." These include "keeping its streets and bridges in repair, building new facilities to accommodate new needs and a shifting popula- tion, picking up the garbage, and policing the public environment." Ultimately, it is individual businesses and people that make a world-class city, and a city that does not tend to such...