The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 61, July 1957 - April, 1958 Page: 423
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Book Reviews
might well have given more study to House's Texas political
career. They recognize that his very presence was soothing to
Wilson, that in other respects he was of some aid to Wilson, but
they do not concede that he had great influence over Wilson in
making important decisions. They have some doubts about the
genuineness of House's protests of affection for Wilson and point
out that at certain times, when his diary recorded sharp criti-
cisms of Wilson, he was uttering or writing honeyed words to
his chief.
An examination of the correspondence of House's Texas days
would have revealed something similar in his relations with the
Texas governors whom he aided and counseled-Hogg, Culber-
son, Sayers, and Lanham. He praised them, addressed them in
endearing terms, and, if he had kept a diary in those days, prob-
ably would have complained about them when vexed. His diary
was for his own use, and he did not deem it disloyal to pour out
his complaints on its pages. He never betrayed one's confidence.
These writers conclude that the beginning of the "break"
between House and Wilson was in the early days of the Peace
Conference, starting as a seam that grew finally into a cleavage.
But little weight is given to the report that it was because
Wilson, on his return to Paris in March, i919, discovered that
in his absence House had "given away everything." House had
kept Wilson informed of developments. Furthermore, the men
worked together on the best of terms for months thereafter.
The authors suggest that the unpleasant advice that House felt
obliged to give Wilson from time to time may have worked
against harmony; and that when things did not go to suit him,
the President felt impelled to blame somebody. They bring out
the fact also that Mrs. Wilson, by her own published words, did
not like House. Still one is left to wonder why President Wilson,
after his illness in the fall of 1919, never again turned to House
for aid and counsel.
In recounting his refusal to work with the "mild reservation-
ists" in the Senate, and thereby failing to save anything by way
of United States support of the League of Nations, the authors
deal severely with Wilson.
The most serious criticism to be brought against a book based
on this approach is that it deals too much with idiosyncrasies and423
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 61, July 1957 - April, 1958, periodical, 1958; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101164/m1/505/?rotate=90: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.