James Monroe (American Presidents Series)

The former senator and presidential candidate offers a provocative new assessment of the first “national security president”

James Monroe is remembered today primarily for two things: for being the last of the “Virginia Dynasty”—following George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison—and for issuing the Monroe Doctrine, his statement of principles in 1823 that the western hemisphere was to be considered closed to European intervention. But Gary Hart sees Monroe as a president ahead of his time, whose priorities and accomplishments in establishing America’s “national security” have a great deal in common with chief executives of our own time.

Unlike his predecessors Jefferson and Madison, Monroe was at his core a military man. He joined the Continental Army at the age of seventeen and served with distinction in many pivotal battles. (He is prominently featured at Washington’s side in the iconic painting Washington Crossing the Delaware.) And throughout his career as a senator, governor, ambassador, secretary of state, secretary of war, and president, he never lost sight of the fact that without secure borders and friendly relations with neighbors, the American people could never be truly safe in their independence. As president he embarked on an ambitious series of treaties, annexations, and military confrontations that would secure America’s homeland against foreign attack for nearly two hundred years. Hart details the accomplishments and priorities of this forward-looking president, whose security concerns clearly echo those we face in our time.

Library Journal

Recent biographies have stoked public interest in the Founding Fathers. Now former U.S. senator Hart (The Fourth Power: A New Grand Strategy for the United States in the Twenty-First Century) studies James Monroe, the last of the Virginia dynasty, who, although president at an important time in U.S. history (1817-25), is often overlooked. Hart argues that in the years after the disastrous War of 1812, Monroe was "the first `national security president,' whose consistent underlying motivation was to expand and establish the borders of the U.S. and to make it the dominant power in the Western Hemisphere, free of European interference." Drawing heavily on Harry Ammon's seminal James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity and other sources, Hart makes a credible case for this thesis, showing that Monroe's experiences as an officer in the Revolutionary War, governor of Virginia, member of Congress, secretary of state and war, and diplomat gave him a unique perspective on America's strategic weaknesses and the means to overcome them. While this brief if well-written account lacks the depth of Ammon's work, it is a satisfying and informative read. Recommended for public libraries, especially those that do not have the Ammon book in their collections.-Thomas J. Baldino, Wilkes Univ., Wilkes-Barre, PA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Gary Hart represented Colorado in the U.S. Senate from 1975 to 1987. He is the author of fourteen books, and has taught at Yale, the University of California, and Oxford University, where he earned a doctor of philosophy degree in politics. He was co-chair of the U.S. Commission on National Security for the 21st Century and is currently senior counsel to the multinational law firm Coudert Brothers. He resides with his family in Kittredge, Colorado.