Vestal, Theodore M. The Eisenhower Court and Civil Liberties, Praeger, 2002. 360p bibl index afp ISBN: 0-275-97284-4, $64.95.

With admirable skill and sophistication, Vestal evaluates the record of the Supreme Court from 1953 to 1962, before the Kennedy-Johnson appointments rounded out the “Warren Court.” By concentrating on this earlier period, Vestal illuminates the impact of Eisenhower-appointed Justices and reveals their surprisingly rich contributions to civil liberties. The writing is lucid, rich, and penetrating.

President Eisenhower appointed five Supreme Court justices.  Theodore Vestal’s book is the most exhaustive study to date of their work-product in the field of civil liberties.  The author examines their judicial opinions in civil rights cases ranging from the controversial anti-subversion cases of the mid-1950s to decisions on the rights of minorities and fair trial procedures.  Excellent chapters on the recruitment and background of the five justices and the patterns of agreement among them, together with their differences with the Court’s then liberal and conservative blocs, reinforce and clarify Vestal’s careful legal analysis. The popular image of the Eisenhower Court, which functioned at the height of the Cold War, is that of a cautious tribunal largely deferential to the policies of popular majorities. In fact, under the leadership of Chief Justice Earl Warren, the first of the Eisenhower appointees, they crafted, as Vestal documents, a transitional jurisprudence that began placing restraints on legislative policies impinging on basic liberties; in so doing, the five justices – both liberals and conservatives – paved the way to the jurisprudence of personal freedom that would mark the Court’s work in the post-Eisenhower years.  Political scientists and legal scholars alike will find that this book fills a gaping hole in the recent literature of American constitutional law.

--Donald P. Kommers
            Robbie Professor of Political Science and Professor of Law
            Notre Dame Law School                       

Legal historians and public law scholars have traditionally made the distinction between the early Warren Court years (1953 to 1961) and the later years (1962 to 1969).  The general view has been that the “real” Warren Court came into being in 1962 and that the reputation of liberal activism was at best uncertain during the early years.  Through careful use of quantitative and qualitative analyses, The Eisenhower Court and Civil Liberties goes a long way toward clearing up the ambiguous legacy of liberalism during the early years of the Warren Court.

--Michael C. Tolley, Professor of Political Science
            Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts

Reviewed in 2002Dec. CHOICE.

Political scientist Vestal (Oklahoma State Univ.) contends that the Eisenhower Court's relatively libertarian stance has been too little appreciated by scholars and journalists alike. That Court, he argues, relied on the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment to safeguard elementary freedoms for political radicals, African Americans, and other little-liked individuals. Led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the High Court not only helped to erode the legal edifice of McCarthyism but also liberalized obscenity standards, curbed Congress's ability to terminate citizenship, challenged police misconduct, and weakened segregation in the arena of public education. It also initiated the equal protection revolution and provided judicial sustenance for legal arguments based on the theory of privacy, which are generally associated with the 1960s and thereafter. These accomplishments, Vestal points out, were delivered by a Court that possessed "no dominant intellectual center." Moreover, it crafted decisions on the basis of compromises involving the various factions of the Court. Perhaps most tellingly, Justice William Brennan served as a new kind of libertarian who opposed the call for total incorporation of the Bill of Rights delivered by Hugo Black and William Douglas, but opposed "abridgments of fundamental freedoms." Recommended for academic libraries. Upper-division undergraduates and above.

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Professor Vestal's work is a significant contribution to a realistic appraisal of contemporary Ethiopian politics. It is an eye opener. I have no doubt that it will be remembered as one of the first exposes of the subtler tyrannies of the post-Cold War world. His keen understanding of the complexities of Ethiopian politics has enabled him to capture what is truly unfolding behind the facade of 'democratization'.              

--Getatchew Haile
            Professor of Medieval History      
            Saint John’s University  

Vestal, Theodore M. International Education: its History and Promise for Today, Praeger, 1994. 229p bibl index afp ISBN 0-275-94759-9, $55.00.

Reviewed in 1995 Jan CHOICE.

Timing could not be better for publication of Vestal's recounting of the history and current status of international education as practiced in the US. Educators at all levels, elementary to graduate school, who see the need for international and intercultural understanding will find Vestal's book a mine of information and also strong encouragement to move at this time toward filling the gap. Despite dire national budgetary constraints, says Vestal, international educators actually find themselves today with a rare "peace dividend" in the form of the 1991 National Security Education Act, which provides $150 million annually for undergraduate scholarships for study abroad, for graduate fellowships, and for strengthening international programs at US colleges and universities. The fact that these funds come from the intelligence budget of the Department of Defense and will be administered by that agency, however, leaves some grant recipients welcoming but also wary. Vestal provides a comprehensive account of federal funding for international education from the Kennedy to the Clinton administrations. Upper-division undergraduate through faculty.

--Laura Ymayo Tartakoff, M.A.L.D., J.D.
            University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill