The Governors of Indiana (review)

The Governors of Indiana fills a useful purpose in compiling brief biographies of the fifty men who have led the State of Indiana from its territorial period to the present. Including the official state portraits as well as the years of service for each of these figures, this attractive volume will be used as point of reference for years to come.

The introduction, "Indiana Governors: Powers and Personal Attributes," claims that "historically, the office of governor in Indiana has been a weak institution," lacking vital veto powers enjoyed by governors of other states (1). The editors therefore devote more time to the office itself, rather than to the men who occupied it. On the whole, the introduction disappoints, drifting from topic to topic in a manner that often trivializes people and events. Others may note that the three professors, whose specialties are political science and journalism, did not collaborate with a historian for this key essay.

As with any volume with multiple authors, Indiana Governors struggles to achieve analytic consistency. Entries on the two most renowned Hoosier governors, Oliver Morton and Paul McNutt, will be read with the most interest. Yet even these pieces have difficulty balancing personality with historical context. At their best, they touch on the major challenges facing the various administrations. However, one suspects that many of the authors were generous to a fault with their subjects. For example, if as many governors stressed education as this volume maintains, then the Hoosier State might instead be called the Education State.

The most useful feature of this volume is the further reading list at the end of each biography. Although at times the lists can be frustratingly incomplete, as in the omission of Andrew Cayton's Indiana Frontier from a list of books explaining the life of William Henry Harrison, they nevertheless provide an important starting point. The Governors of Indiana also highlights a potential hassle for those wishing to conduct research involving any of the governors: the multiplicity of archival holdings in the Hoosier state. Primary documents concerning Harrison, for example, are held at three different places in Indianapolis: the Indiana Historical Society, the State Library, and the State Archives.

This work would have benefited by having fewer authors (forty contributed to this volume) and by paying greater attention to context. In addition, including each governor's party affiliation on the first page of each biography would have helped orient readers at the outset. Because readers will use this as a reference book, such a basic structure would have helped considerably.

Despite some shortcomings in analysis that may be a function of the format, the Governors of Indiana ably accomplishes its main task of chronicling those who occupied the highest political office in the Hoosier State.