Review: The Birth of Nations
| Date | 01 March 1975 |
| Published date | 01 March 1975 |
| Author | Peter J. Boyce |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070207503000118 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
REVIEWS
171
power, he
was,
in
the
final
analysis,
superficially
spectacular
but
actually
rather
average,
neither
an
outstanding
statesman
nor
a
great
man
...'
Professor
Buhite
has
laboured
manfully
and
painstakingly
to
find
importance
in
the
bombastic
career
of
that
'perfect
model
of
a
modern
Major
General,'
Patrick
J.
Hurley.
In
the
end
honesty
compels
him
to
the
above
conclusion.
Few
who
passed
within
Hurley's
orbit
would
disagree
with
it
-
as
far
as
it
goes.
Coming
out
of
nothing
in
Oklahoma,
Hurley
certainly
managed
to
inject
himself
into
an
impressive
number
of
important
events
of
his
time:
secretary
of
war
under
Hoover,
the
Philippines,
the
Mexican
oil
expropriation, and
an array
of
special missions
during
World
War
ii
culminating
in
his
ambassadorship
to
China
where his
talent
for
action
based
on
ignorance,
his
colossal
vanity,
and
his
unpre-
dictable intemperateness
found
its
finest
expression.
Apart
from
the
settlement
of
the
Mexican
oil
expropriations,
there
is
no
evidence
his
participation
in
any of
these events
made
any significant
contribution
-
except for
the
damage
he
did,
in
his
rages,
to men
who
ran
afoul
of
him,
some
of
it
irreparable. (He
even
managed
to
lose
the
signed
original
of
the Declaration
on
Iran
which
came
out
of
the
Big
Three
meeting
in
Teheran
in
1943
and
which
he
erroneously
thought
was
his
original
idea.)
Professor
Buhite
has been
meticulous
in
his
coverage
of
docu-
mentary
sources.
It
is
a
pity
he did not
interview the
people who
knew
Hurley,
many
of whom
are still
around
and
probably
not
at
all
reluctant
to record
their
impressions.
John
F.
Melby/University
of
Guelph
THE
BIRTH
OF
NATIONS
Philip
C.
Jessup
New
York:
London: Columbia
University
Press,
1974,
xiv,
361pp,
$14.95
Recently
retired
from
a
distinguished
public
life
which
incorporated
a
lengthy professorship
at
Columbia,
several
assignments
with
the
State
Department, and
nine
years
on
the
International
Court
of
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