Dasher/Yankee from
Lanouette, Georgia William J.
To her ent/miesi Evita, as she was popularly known, was a tacky, vindictive ex-whore who parlayed limitless energy and ambition, native guile and her rela- tionship with Coionel Juan D. Perdn into...
...an ant Washington bias...
...Moreover, his manipulation of Argentine politics from exile in Madrid and his as- tonishing return to the presidency in 1973 prove beyond cavil that he was a genius in his own right, and did not need Evita to succeed...
...A close examination of the historical record reveals that Evita had nothing to do with Perrn's restoration on October 17, 1945...
...A central thesis of the biography is that Juan Perdn was in essence a "front man" for Evita...
...It is too soon, perhaps, to tell...
...to most people, but he is "Jimmy Why...
...Two books explore Carter's past i I IMMYCARTER,our mystery President, may no longer be "Jimmy Who...
...Unfortunately, John Barnes's biography falls far short of doing justice to its subject...
...Why did he decide to attack smok- ing and continue price supports for tabacco...
...Yet the rich complexities of her personality and the drama of her meteoric career deserve much more than hyperbolized special pleading...
...Might he renounce and resolve the Salvation: the thirst THE FAITH THAT DOES JUSTICE Edited by S. Haughey Paultst, $5.95 [295 pp.] EDUCATION FOR JUSTICE Brian Wren Orbis, $4.95 [145 pp.] Ed Marciniak A RE THE SOCIAL movements of the Western world, once fired by a pas- sion for equality or freedom, now giving way to a gathering concern for justice...
...They now have the value of nos- talgia, of return, of romanticized mem- ory turned into a norm...
...She refused to submit t hysterectomy, and the cancer that rail have been arrested eventually killed he In addition, the book teems with fact1 errors, and also suffers from sloppy ec ing...
...She served critical functions, but within his scheme of gov- ernance...
...William J. Lanouette I IIII I I I I II I IIII IIIIIIIII After almost two years in the publ arena of the White House Carter st seems a mystery...
...Might he continue to confront Congress with demands that he amazingly ends upwinning, like the Panama treaties, the mideast arms sale, or the end to the Turkish arms embargo...
...If Plains had not really existed some adman might have wanted to invent it for us...
...Evita, First Ladywas first published London...
...Even though the women's lib- eration movement, with unprecedented aid from the medical profession and the U.S...
...Now they have value because they are not...
...Barnes remains generally sympathetic even while devel- oping some of the more negative aspects of her public and private life...
...But a book of this sort is only as strong as its material, and the sad fact is that Barnes did not research his subject very thoroughly...
...to many...
...To her ent/miesi Evita, as she was popularly known, was a tacky, vindictive ex-whore who parlayed limitless energy and ambition, native guile and her rela- tionship with Coionel Juan D. Perdn into the de facto exercise of presidential au- thority...
...First, it seems, Carter has always been most confortable when acting from inner conviction...
...He also writes with style and sensitivity...
...WILLIAM LANOUEI-IE is on the staff of the National Journal, Washington...
...these were once coins of value in the democratic politics of the American nation because they were the reality of much of the nation's life...
...The authority she wielded as First Lady was delegated to her by the President...
...Her participation in his first run for the presidency was inconsequen- tial...
...He misses, example, a touching letter written Evita to Perdn on the eve of her tri t Europe and made public for the first t :. in 1975, as well as the revealing le Perdn sent to Evita from his confinem on the island of Mart~n Garc[a in Octo 1945...
...rather, as the largest Order I REVIEWERS JACK MILES is a California-based writer and editor...
...actively campaigned to promote his presidential candidacy in 1946...
...Having spearheaded the establishment of a free- standing Israel, Zionism is today con-fronting not without travail, demands of equity now for Palestinians...
...If both books stress Carter's drive for self-improvement and change, what do they then suggest about his behavior now and in the future...
...Evita, First Lady does manage to avoid the manic excesses of prior treat- ments of Eva Perrn...
...Commonweal: 822...
...The lat conveys a similarly distorted version Eva Perdn's historical significance, t: at least the music is first-rate...
...The authors of The Faith That Does Justice and Education for Justice hope that during the remainder of this century a thirst for justice will enliven social internal inconsistencies in his foreign policy...
...But the two need each other--that is to say, the nation and its capital city need what is symbolized by the intense man from the provinces, and such a man needs what is symbolized by Washing- ton...
...She did not, as Barnes tells us, make radio speeches for her husband dur- ing the campaign...
...I II I IIII IIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIII DASRER James Wooten Summit Books, $11.95 (377 pp...
...But other gambles, such as the Camp David summit, are sure to occur again simply because they test Carter's stamina as a moralist and chal- lenge his ingenuity as a tinkering en-gineer...
...He seemed to con from nowhere, grasp the Democrat nomination, and win the election befo...
...By relying almost exclusively upon stale, gecondary sources, Barnes has fal- len into the trap of presenting as fact aspects of the Evita legend that for differ- ent reasons have suited both detractors and worshippers of the First Lady...
...we could discover much about the persc behind that smiling image...
...However, the weight of the ob- jective evidence supports none of these assertions...
...His attempt to in-volve the Israelis and Egyptians in a renewed round of Geneva peace talks in 1977 backfired because of vociferous domestic opposition...
...In other words, he used her, not the reverse...
...Commonweal: 820 sisting negative lines about Carter, to the point by late 1977 of dismissing him as a one-term President...
...and virtually ruled the country until her untimely death from cancer...
...If Carter is true to the principles and the persona revealed in these books he can be expected to be what he has always been--a politician of substance and surprise...
...Her admirers looked upon her as Cinderella incarnate, the bountiful ben- efactress of the poor and the tribune of Argentina's workers...
...Supreme Court, succeeded in legalizing abortion upon demand, ques- tions about the rights of an unborn infant, the duty to protect life and the future of the family persist, agonizing consciences and challenging national mores...
...Carter also finds exhilaration in taking on seemingly impossible tasks, and may JOIN COMMONWEAL AMIIOClATES Sust,'d'nin g Member: $5O C arter Member: $|00 or more Co~,,,onwoal Associates 2~ Madison Ave...
...It was a political gold mine, of course, not because it is representative but because it isn't...
...and a practical, n~ nonsense approach to solving problem: At the time that geemed enough, .an compared to his predecessors it was...
...Peronist mythology exaggerates Evita's exploits in order to make her worthy of her exalted role as Perrn's indispensable helpmate...
...Why did he waver on a weapon as inhumane as the neutron bomb...
...Indeed, he seems totally unfar tar with most of the more recent rev~ tions about Evita appearing in Argent books, magazines and newspapers d ing the early 1970s...
...According to Barnes, she re- scued him from oblivion when he was arrested and deported to an island on the River Plate in October 1945...
...This in turn has led him to a basic misconception about Evita's rela- tionship with her husband...
...The Jesuits were not dealing with an intramural matter affecting only their order...
...YANKEE FROlq GEORGIA William Lee Miller Times Books, $10.95 (247 pp...
...Richard R. Roach, one of the eight Jesuit contributors to The Faith That Does Justice, writes revealingly of that meeting: "the members of the Society of Jesus solemnly affirmed that Christian faith absolutely requires the pursuit of justice in the world...
...Small townness, farming, self-made businessmen, deacons in Baptist churches, district of- ricers of the Lions Club...
...Might he finally take a stand that consciously defies some of his critics and advisers--on energy policy, health care, or defense...
...JOSEPH A. PAGE is ao associate professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington...
...MICHAEL TRUE is professor of English at Assumption College in Worcester, Mass...
...ED MARCINIAK iS President of the Institute of Urban Life, Chicago...
...Yet, the issues which polarized the litigants in Alan Bakke's suit against the University of California (affirmative ac- tion vs...
...The first of these paperbacks has a special history...
...It is not surprising, therefore, that Evita books to date amount to either hagiography or "hatchet jobs...
...New York, N.Y., 10016 be expected to follow this impulse, espe- cially in the field of foreign affairs...
...ROBERT L. KING teaches English at the College of Our Lady of the Elms in Chicopee, Massachusetts...
...To name one of most interesting, her doctor gave interview revealing that her illness t first been discovered when she had have an emergency appendectomy January 1950...
...The overthrow of her husband three years later triggered frenzied efforts to extirpate her name and image from the national consciousness...
...I I for justice f movements, whether reformist, radical, or revolutionary...
...reverse racism) were those re-volving primarily around justice, not equality...
...Both books find the rationale for political and economic change in the justice generated by a Christian faith...
...The death of Eva Perdn in 1952 inspired canonization peti- tions to the Vatican...
...and arrived at the bookstores about the same time the rock opera Ev, opened in a West End theater...
...In 1975 the Jesuits convened a general congregation, the thirty-second in their 400-year history...
...Barnes depicts Peron as being lost without Evita...
...The Middle East seems to hold a special fas- cination for Carter...
...Miller concludes: ~'The capital and Carter pulling on each other represent once again what Niebuhr called, in a phrase that Jimmy Carter marked, 'the self-correcting powers of democracy.' " Carter's roots are also revealing, Mil- ler writes...
...He may begin to assert whal he personally believes more strongly when the frustrations of political horse- trading overwhelm him...
...He stood fi what many people wanted at the tim rural and moral simplicity...
...But far more important causes led to his downfall in 1955...
...He ga~ us a campaign autobiography that i probably more revealing than he wishec For, if carefully examined, there ar traits and tendencies in Carter's past th, help us understand what he is doin now--and may do next...
...The basic weakness with Evita, First Lad), stems from Barnes's failure to go I IIIIIII II IIIII I IIIII Mystery man as president beyond rabidly anti-Peronist writi published in the 1950s...
...Why did he declare the "moral equivalent of war" with a battle plan for his energy program such a mish-mash that even his advisers had trouble understanding it...
...And yet, Jimmy Carter has reveale much about himself in his past...
...Anti-Peronists want to believe that Juan Peron was a sniveling coward who had to hide behind a woman's skirts...
Vol. 105 • December 1978 • No. 25
