THE CASE AGAINST CONGRESS: The Pervasive Corruption of Capitol Hill Exposed in Condemning Detail

by Drew & Jack Anderson Pearson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 1968

Congressional votes have always been bought and traded, and many taxpayers have taken political peccancy for granted. This documentary survey of power abused will, however, arouse all but the most cynical and convince all but the most skeptical in its assuredly large audience. The authors examine conflicts of interest as manifest--and, yes, pervasive--among congressmen-lawyers, regulatory agencies, oil-depletion allowance advocates, and others serving the groups they are supposed to monitor. Then the lobbyists: ""Brahmin Barristers,"" foreign agents like Julius Klein, and pressure groups of greater weight than merit. Dodd's career (""in microcosm, the story of Congress"") is recounted at length; so are the adventures of Clark Clifford, super-lobbyist and adviser to four Presidents, and of Mendel Rivers, the inebriate Armed Services Committee chairman, who typified influence-mongering and seniority-system defects. Plus tidbits about Johnson, McCarthy, and the Kennedys. . . . The style gets rather theatrical, and the absence of an analytical framework sometimes seems to put free trips and padded payrolls on the same level as, e.g., the multimillion defense contracts ""awarded because of a bouillabaisse of political pressure, geographic appeal, corporate greed, old Army ties and cocktail parties."" But it's superb muckraking with a short election-year fuse.

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION