cover image Nixon's Piano: Presidents and Racial Politics from Washington to Clinton

Nixon's Piano: Presidents and Racial Politics from Washington to Clinton

Kenneth O'Reilly. Free Press, $27.5 (525pp) ISBN 978-0-02-923685-7

University of Alaska historian O'Reilly (Racial Matters) ably synthesizes a large volume of material to portray what he sees as the mostly sorry record of American presidents who, on matters of race, pandered to what was worst in America for the sake of votes. The early leaders, Reilly posits, were hypocrites; Abraham Lincoln ``was the first to act his conscience on matters of race.'' Even New Dealer FDR accommodated himself to Jim Crow in military strategy, and Harry Truman and JFK (a ``civil rights minimalist'') were pushed not by ideals but by pressure or expediency. O'Reilly has harsh words for Ronald Reagan's attempt to turn the clock back and George Bush's consistent flip-flops on race. If Jimmy Carter's compromises on affirmative action couldn't keep his fellow Southern whites in the fold, Bill Clinton has even more carefully pursued a ``balancing act'' in which he regularly dissociates himself from the likes of Jesse Jackson and Lani Guinier. ``These are bleak times,'' the author concludes, suggesting that attacks on welfare and affirmative action still don't address the source of white middle-class anxiety. (Nov.)