Cap, a Life - In the Arena: A Memoir of the 20th Century - Review

National Review, Dec 3, 2001 by Jay Nordlinger

In the Arena: A Memoir of the 20th Century, by Caspar W. Weinberger, with Gretchen Roberts (Regnery, 412 pp., $34.95)

Of all the men in the Reagan era, few made as deep an impression as Caspar Weinberger. And by "Reagan era," we mean, in this case, Sacramento, too, for "Cap" was there-working by the governor's side. He was also with Nixon and Ford, in Washington. And he has managed to be in several other interesting places as well. In 1990, Weinberger published a book called Fighting for Peace: Seven Critical Years in the Pentagon. It was a solid book, but the Weinberger career-and life- deserved a better one. With In the Arena, it is here.

The phrase "in the arena" will be instantly familiar to any student of American politics, culled as it is from the famous Teddy Roosevelt passage about "the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"-who is not a mere spectator, or critic. The title was used by Nixon, for one of his many post- presidential books, and also by Charlton Heston, for his 1995 autobiography. By the time Weinberger realized this, it was too late: The book had already gone too far in the publication process. But, worn as it may be, the title fits.

From the beginning, Weinberger identified with TR, for Cap, like that president, was a sickly boy, who aspired to be a man of strength and importance. He was born in San Francisco in the portentous year of 1917. Weinberger subtitles his book "a memoir of the 20th century"; the description is not overly grand. He attended a parade in honor of Lucky Lindy, who had just crossed the Atlantic. He went to see a defeated President Hoover cast his vote in November 1932. And he remembers the building of the Golden Gate Bridge: the "lines of desperate, out-of- work, able-bodied men who would wait, day after day, for one of the construction workers to fall or injure himself so they could take his place."

The boy was always smitten by politics and government. By 15, he was reading the Congressional Record "avidly and daily." He made endless scrapbooks filled with bits about the national conventions and the like. He was an incorrigible Republican, arguing to one and all about the "Soviet menace" and the beauty of small government. In his senior year of high school, he was elected student-body president, promising a new constitution. His graduation speech was entitled "The Honorable Profession of Politics."

With a scholarship to Harvard College, he was really on his way. He majored in government, though he found the classes "lifeless" and tinged with "liberal bias." He spent much of his time in journalism, contributing a column to a magazine back home, and becoming president of the Crimson, the student newspaper. He was intensely idealistic, then as now: The "street side" of Dexter Gate said, "Enter to Grow in Wisdom"; the "Yard side" said, "Depart to Serve Better Thy Country and Thy Kind." "It has been an inspiration to me ever since." There is no snickering in Weinberger.

He went on to Harvard Law School, but then the war came, although the U.S. was not yet in it. Weinberger wanted to get started nonetheless. He tried to join the RAF or the Canadian force, but poor eyesight kept him out. He finished law school in June 1941, then signed up with the U.S. infantry in September, still eager, and restless: He idolized Churchill, and saw the conflict as one of pure good and evil. After Pearl Harbor, he was sent to Australia, and ended up a captain on General MacArthur's intelligence staff. One day, Eleanor Roosevelt came to visit-and Weinberger, ever the die-hard Republican, made himself scarce. "I took my politics rather too seriously then," he nicely notes.

After V-J Day, it was back to California and law practice-and politics. Weinberger always had a perfectly fine job at a law firm, but he was forever looking for ways into public life. "The trouble with Cap," said a friend, "is that he can't stand making money." His all-enduring wife, Jane, would sigh over her husband's "non-profit activities." He was elected to the state assembly, ran for attorney general-losing-and served as chairman of the California GOP. He also kept his hand in journalism, writing a column and hosting a public-TV show called Profile: Bay Area. Among his guests was "an extremely eloquent and persuasive Malcolm X."

When Reagan was elected governor, he called on Weinberger to be the state's finance director. Not long after, Nixon called, from Washington-to ask Cap to serve as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. He did so. Then he became deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget (under George Shultz), then director. (It was in this period that Weinberger earned the nickname "Cap the Knife"-a William Safire coinage.) He ended his Nixon-Ford career as secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. Weinberger is engrossing on the various Nixon weirdnesses, and on the major policy debates of the time, including the (pathetic) imposition of wage and price controls. Gerald Ford, he holds in suitably high esteem.