Oscar W. Underwood
A Political Biography
Although Oscar W. Underwood was considered a titan of his age, few American political figures have suffered such neglect as he. Except for his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in 1924, his political career is largely forgotten even in Alabama. The one place in which Underwood is well remembered is in the folklore of Congress, where he is widely regarded as a great party leader who had mastered the rules perhaps as thoroughly as any member of Congress. This mastery, together with steady work, personal magnetism, and a willingness to compromise, made him effective as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in formulating a majority program after the Democrats seized control of the House in 1910. Pat Harrison, Underwood's lieutenant as minority leader, referred to Underwood as the "greatest natural parliamentarian, the greatest leader of a law-making body that I ever saw."
--from the Preface to Oscar W. Underwood: A Political Biography
Oscar Underwood deserves the careful details and candid assessment given him by Evans Johnson [as] the only man since Henry Clay to lead his party in both houses of Congress. . . . This book [is] a solid definitive study.’—Martha H. Swain, Texas Women's University, in the Journal of Southern History
Faithfully reflects its subject, a skilled legislator. . . . The final chapter ‘The Pattern of a Bourbon Elitist,’ stands as an independent biographical essay and satisfactorily summarizes Underwood’s career. A complete political biography.’—Alabama Review
The biography is meticulous and detailed....the most complete study we shall have concerning a pivotal figure in the important years between Populism and the New Deal.' --Wayne Flynt, professor emeritus of history at Auburn University and the author of Poor But Proud: Alabama’s Poor Whites and Alabama in the Twentieth Century.
