Woodrow Wilson's Right Hand: The Life of Colonel Edward M. House (review)

Godfrey Hodgson has produced a very readable biography of Texas businessman and Woodrow Wilson confidante Col. Edward M. House, although the book would be more accurately entitled "The Public Life of Edward M. House." Very little is explored about the man outside of his public actions. Readers interested in House's personal life will have to go elsewhere. The author's main purpose is to resurrect House's image by stressing his important role as Wilson's advisor and to defend the colonel's actions at the Versailles Peace Conference following World War I.

Hodgson dispenses with House's early years in Texas by treading familiar ground in two quick chapters. Nevertheless, we are reminded of House's background as the son of an English immigrant who became a wealthy Houston trader, banker, and landowner during the antebellum era. House and his brothers later inherited their father's wealth and expanded the family fortune. With a comfortable income ensured, House desired to get involved in Texas politics, not as a candidate for office but as an influential behind-the-scenes kingmaker. Starting with the re-election campaign of Jim Hogg in 1892, he became a major force in Democratic party politics for the next twenty years, responsible for electing three successive governors and serving as a major political advisor to each one. By the early 1910s, House became bored with Texas politics and sought influence at the national level. House eventually latched onto Woodrow Wilson's rising star. Opposing Arthur Link's evaluation of House's contribution, Hodgson confirms the Texan's important contributions during the 1912 presidential campaign—from providing valuable advice to Tom Love and others seeking a pro-Wilson Texas delegation at the Democratic National Convention to the colonel's success in securing the endorsement of William Jennings Bryan.

The core of the book, however, explores House's role as Wilson's main policy advisor. Hodgson convincingly portrays House as a vital component to Wilson's decision making—not as a mere flattering courtier as he has sometimes been described. House especially played a key role in European diplomacy—before, during, and after World War I. Hodgson demonstrates how House was instrumental in the formulation of Wilson's famous Fourteen Points and details the vital work he performed at the Versailles Peace Conference.

The author also describes House's eventual estrangement from Wilson, leading to his exclusion from the president's inner circle. After Wilson returned to the United States in the middle of the Versailles proceedings, House began to strike tentative compromise deals with European leaders that the president believed would undermine his desire for a nonpunitive peace agreement. Though Hodgson correctly believes that Wilson would have had to compromise with the victorious Allies eventually in order to get their acceptance of his vision for a League of Nations, nevertheless, the president soon lost faith in his friend. The author goes to great lengths to show that the effects of Wilson's chronic illnesses, the president's idealism and inherent stubbornness, and the maneuverings of Wilson's second wife, Edith (who despised House because of her belief that the colonel tried to dissuade Wilson from marrying her), all contributed to Wilson's overreaction. The book concludes with a short chapter covering House's last years—how he tried to defend his actions at Versailles and how Franklin Roosevelt often solicited his advice during the first five years of the New Deal.

Overall, Hodgson defends Edward House admirably, but Woodrow and Edith Wilson are not portrayed in a flattering way to say the least. A reader interested in balanced perspective must seek another book or combine this work with a pro-Wilson monograph.