U.S. Politics & Government - 1945 - 1989, U.S. Politics & Government - 1945 to Present, Senators & Representatives - Biography, Legislators - U.S. Political Biography, The United States House of Representatives

Rostenkowski

Name: Rostenkowski
Author: Richard E. Cohen
ISBN: 9781566633109

by Richard E. Cohen

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Overview

For thirteen years, during a time of Democratic congressional dominance in Washington, Dan Rostenkowski became one of the most influential American legislators of the twentieth century. As chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, the representative from Illinois influenced the nation’s tax laws, international trade, Social Security, health care, welfare, and a good many other areas—policies that affected most Americans. Richard Cohen’s scrupulous political biography of Rostenkowski follows his rise to power from modest origins in the Democratic ward politics of Chicago’s Polish northwest side, to his legislative triumphs, and ultimately to his criminal conviction and imprisonment for abuses of House practice. Because Rostenkowski served so many years in Congress (1959-1995), his career offers a prism into the changing nature of the institution and of the Democratic party, a change that gradually brought a new bitterness to Washington politics. Even when the congressman gained national influence, he remained close to Chicago politics and his boss, Richard J. Daley; but as he lost touch with local voters, opposed to political reforms, and clung to his personal stubbornness, he greased the skids for his downfall. Mr. Cohen has written a compelling, eye-opening story of American politics at work, portrayed through his career of one of its most fascinating practitioners. With 8 pages of photographs.

Synopsis

This scrupulous political biography of Dan Rostenkowski follows his rise to power from modest origins in the Democratic ward politics of Chicago's Polish northwest side, through his national legislative triumphs, and ultimately to his criminal conviction and imprisonment for abuses of House practice. But the story offers much more than Rostenkowski's personal tragedy: it's a tale of the transformation of American political life, and of the fall of old-fashioned congressional politics. An insider's story. Anybody wanting to understand Congress and its place in American politics should read it. --Jim Wright. Masterful...not just a book on Rostenkowski; Cohen has spun the tale of the entire modern period of Congress. --Larry Sabato

Chicago Sun-Times -

An authoritative and balanced study.

About the Author, Richard E. Cohen

For more than twenty years Richard E. Cohen has reported on Congress for the National Journal, a nonpartisan magazine located in Washington, D.C. A winner of the Dirksen Prize for distinguished reporting on Congress, he has also written Washington at Work and Changing Course in Washington: Clinton and the New Congress.

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Editorials

Chicago Sun Times

An authoritative and balanced study.
— Steve Neal

Chicago Sun-Times

An authoritative and balanced study.
— Steve Neal

Chicago Tribune

Witty and riveting...a lesson in how politics really works.
— Clarence Page

New York Times

A legislative biography with a knowing eye.
— Robin Toner

The New York Times

A legislative biography with a knowing eye.
— Robin Toner

Washington Monthly

An important, revealing, anecdote-laden biography...written by an enormously gifted journalist.
— Charles Lewis

From The Critics

An authoritative and balanced study.
—Chicago Sun-Times

Library Journal

Big-city machine politics, which made Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley such a dominant force in the Democratic party, had ossified by 1990, helping to destroy the career of his prot g , Rep. Daniel Rostenkowski, chair of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee from 1981 to 1994. Cohen (Washington at Work), an award-winning correspondent for the National Journal, sympathetically portrays Rostenkowski's long career in the House of Representatives, 1959-94, as a metaphor for the rise and fall of the Democratic control of the lower house. Rosty's Chicago political education, which taught him that there are "no permanent friends, no permanent enemies," served him well as chair of Ways and Means by allowing him to maneuver such important pieces of legislation as the 1986 Tax Reform Bill through Congress. Unfortunately, when political ethics became an important public concern, Rostenkowksi could not change with the times. He was forced to resign from the House in 1994 because he padded his staff with ghost employees, a once-common machine practice. Cohen writes movingly of Rostenkowski's failings. Most of the book, however, is a highly detailed appraisal of Rostenkowski's legislative proceedings and is therefore recommended for larger public and academic collections and congressional policy specialists.--Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

A political biography that follows Rostenkowski from his origins in the Democratic ward politics of Chicago's Polish northwest side through his tenure as the powerful chairman of the House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee to his eventual conviction and imprisonment on charges of corruption. Alongside the rise and fall of Rostenkowski's fortunes, the changing nature of the deal making and negotiation of party politics inside the House are examined. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Kirkus Reviews

This latest offering from veteran journalist Cohen, the congressional correspondent for the National Journal and author of various political works (Washington at Work: Clinton and the New Congress, not reviewed, etc.), is a biography of the fallen Illinois congressman as well as an analysis of the struggles of the Democratic Party and an examination of the changing political atmosphere in the 1990s. Because of his financial improprieties and intransigent adherence to old-fashioned pocket-lining, pork-barrel, Chicago-machine-style politics, Dan Rostenkowski tumbled from his lofty position as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and landed in a cell in a federal penitentiary in Oxford, Wis. With patent sympathy (and sometimes even affection), Cohen chronicles Rostenkowski's rise and fall, punctuating his narrative with comments from a wide assortment of Rostenkowski's friends, allies, and foes. Even more revealing are observations from the subject himself while in prison (Cohen was the only visitor he saw during his eight months of incarceration). Cohen argues persuasively that this case illustrates a significant change in the American political terrain—Rostenkowski was an anachronism, unaware of his own imminent demise. A superb reporter, careful and comprehensive, Cohen reveals with disturbing clarity the actual workings of Congress—a system that resembles only superficially the placid and polite process found in school textbooks. He describes, as well, a newly rapacious media, hungry for important political prey. Rostensowski, however, is stylistically clumsy, a repository for just about every effete and inadequate image in political discourse. People playhardball, step up to the plate, perform juggling acts, flex political muscle, and throw in the towel. On this otherwise bright book, the cumulative effect of these lazy locutions—and there are many—is corrosive. A significant analysis of a politician and of a political style by a savvy and sensible reporter. (8 pages photos, not seen)