David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler. Henry Clay: The Essential American. New York: Random House, 2010. 624 pages.
Henry Clay was a giant of early American politics. As Speaker of the House, senator from Kentucky, secretary of state, and de facto leader of the Whig opposition to Andrew Jackson, his power often rivaled that of presidents. But today, though most Americans might acknowledge him as vaguely important, few know much about his actual accomplishments.
In this book, Heidler and Heidler provide a welcome correction to this trend with an exhaustive biography of Clay that might reintroduce him to a new generation. The Heidlers have drawn on a range of sources, including the work of other historians, contemporary news accounts, Clay’s speeches, and private correspondence. The result is a balanced portrait of Clay that does justice to a man full of contradictions, who owned slaves and advocated a protectionist tariff yet spoke as a champion of liberty.
The authors not only present the reader with a life of Clay; they reevaluate several ideas about Clay, such as the claim that, in 1841, he deliberately sabotaged John Tyler’s presidency in order to clear the field for his own run in 1844. The Heidlers suggest that this wasn’t true, and that Clay posthumously became the victim of an organized smear campaign orchestrated by political enemies with axes to grind. Points like this make the book an interesting, critical read; since the authors are actively evaluating the extant sources, the reader gets to do the same.
HENRY CLAY as comprehensive a book about Clay that the non-specialist is likely to want. While it is quite readable, it’s readable in the sense that a marathon is runnable: it’s good enough to keep you turning the pages, but with 624 of them, it’s a long haul. Those looking for a briefer introduction might find the going a bit tough, but there is a great deal of good writing–and powerful history–in these pages.
