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David E. Lilienthal

Name: David E. Lilienthal
Author: Steven M. Neuse
ISBN: 9780870499401

by Steven M. Neuse

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Overview

Over the course of a career that stretched from the early 1920s through the late 1970s, David E. Lilienthal became a larger-than-life symbol of American liberalism. A founding director of the Tennessee Valley Authority who later served as the first chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, he shared in the great triumphs of the New Deal and Fair Deal eras, as well as in the disappointments that came with the West's attempts to spread its values abroad. This book, the first full biography of Lilienthal, explores the public and private dimensions of the man and, in so doing, illuminates the promise and limitations of the American liberal dream in the twentieth century. As a public figure, Lilienthal was controversial: outspoken, articulate, charismatic, and sometimes ruthless in pursuit of his goals. Yet, in his work with the TVA and the AEC, he displayed a strong commitment to administrative responsibility and openness in governmental policy making and was instrumental in promoting a sense of public service and purpose in both agencies. After 1950, Lilienthal became an active internationalist, striving to create models for development in Third World venues as widely separated as Central Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. Through his visionary Development and Resources Corporation, he established extensive ties with leaders of every stripe, including the Shah of Iran, various Latin American presidents, and, in his own country, Lyndon B. Johnson. The Lilienthal story is one of paradoxes and contradictions in human nature, of an enormous ego yoked with good intentions and a humane spirit. As this book demonstrates in compelling detail, the liberal dream that Lilienthal embodied worked at home but not abroad. In contrast to his victories on the domestic front, Lilienthal's efforts in overseas arenas often failed tragically - born as they were of an inability to understand that the political, economic, and social realities of an Iran or a Vietnam were far diff

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Editorials

Library Journal

In its day, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was widely held as the exemplar of effective government enterprise and TVA official David Lilienthal the model for enlightened public service. Son of an Indiana storekeeper, Lilienthal capped off his New Deal years by one term as a Wisconsin public service commissioner under Philip La Follette before his appointment by President Truman to head the new Atomic Energy Commission. Master rhetorician and controversialist, Lilienthal was in the public eye for two decades for his fights with private utilities and advocacy for civilian control of the atom, yet no substantive biography has appeared until now. Largely an admirer, Neuse (history, Univ. of Arkansas) thoroughly weighs Lilienthal's life journey from Progressive liberalism to liberal statism and finds a mixed legacy, especially during his later years in business abroad, where faith in "big technical solutions and good will" delivered failure in Iran and Vietnam. Focused usually on one or another bureaucratic or legal tilt, the book lacks the sweep to attract general readers but is a fine choice for any academic library.Robert F. Nardini, North Chichester, N.H.

Booknews

A biography of a founding director of the Tennessee Valley Authority who later served as the first chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. Looks at his public and private lives, and at his work in Third World development. Includes b&w photos. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.