Book Review: Principles and Functions of Government in the United States, Conduct of American Diplomacy, the Administration of American Foreign Affairs
| Published date | 01 March 1951 |
| Author | R. A. Preston |
| Date | 01 March 1951 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205100600116 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
66
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
the,
immensity
of
the
veterans'
movement,
the
scope
and
power
of
Gov-
ernment
assistance,
but
also
the
imponderables
still
to
be
faced.
Ottawa,
1950.
H.
M.
Jackson
PRINCIPLES
AND
FUNCTIONS
OF
GOVERNMENT
IN
THE
UNITED
STATES.
Assembled
and
edited
by
W.
Leon
Godshall.
1948.
(New
York,
Toronto:
Van
Nostrand.
xxxiv,
1121
pp.
$5.75.)
CONDUCT
OF
AMERICAN
DIPLOMACY.
By
Elmer
Plischke.
1950.
(New
York,
Toronto:
Van
Nostrand.
xiv,
542
pp.
$6.30.)
THE
ADMINISTRATION
OF
AMERICAN
FOREIGN
AFFAIRS.
By
James
L.
McCamy.
1950.
(New
York:
Knopf.
ix,
364,x pp.
$3.00
U.S.)
One
of
the
most
critical problems
in
the
modern world
is
whether
the
government
of
the United States,
shaped
(with
the constitution
as
a
strait-waistcoat)
to
suit
the eighteenth
century,
can
meet
the
very
differ-
ent
circumstances
of
the
twentieth, particularly
that
position
of
world
leadership
which
has
been
somewhat
reluctantly
assumed.
For
Cana-
dians
these
three
books
about American
government
and
administration
of
foreign
policy will
therefore
have
a
dual
interest. They
will be
sources
of
factual
information
but
at
the
same
time
they
will
be
examined
for
indications
of
American
realization
of
the
seriousness
of
this
problem
and for
suggestions
for
its solution.
Professor
Godshall's
Principles
and
Functions
of
Government
in
the
United
States
and
Professor
Plischke's
Conduct
of
American
Diplomacy,
being
text-books,
can
hardly
be
expected
to
do
more
than
outline
the
state
of
things
as
they
are,
which
they
do
thoroughly
and
competently.
The
do
deal,
also
of
course,
with
criticisms
levelled
against
the
operational
efficiency
of
American
government;
but
inevitably
they
reflect
prevailing American
opinion
that
the
American
form
of
democracy
based
on
the
separation
of
the
executive
and
the
legislature
is
superior
to
all
others
and
that
criticism
of
its fundamentals
is
therefore
really
unnecessary.
This
is
what
one
would expect
in
text-books;
and
the
only
comment
which
is
worth
making
is
that,
remembering
the
flood
of
text-books
in
the United
States
and
the
authority
which
they
possess
in American methods
of
education,
one
is lead
to
fear
the
complacency
which
such
text-books
spread.
Professor
McCamy's
The
Administration
of
American
Foreign
Affairs
is
a
very
different kettle
of
fish.
It
is
no
text-book
but
an
inter-
pretative,
critical
account
of
the
making
of
American
foreign
policy by
one who
has
had large
experience
in
related
fields
of
the
public service.
It
graphically
illustrates the
conflict
between
the
executive
and
the
legislature about
which
Americans
are
almost
all
quite
unworried;
and
it
gives
much
interesting
detail
of
the
chaos
within
the
administrative
side
of
the
machinery
of
government.
The
fact
that
different
departments
of
American
government
can
head
in
opposite
directions
without
appar-
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