I highly recommend "Touched With Fire," a brilliantly-researched, sensitively-written study of Morris B. Abram, an individual at the forefront of many of the twentieth century’s defining political battles.
At one level, the book traces Abram’s unlikely rise from a small town in Georgia to the corridors of the White House, counsel’s table at the Supreme Court, partner’s office at a leading New York law firm, president’s office at Brandeis University, and seat of the US representative to the United Nations. At each step, author David Lowe provides detailed anecdotes that convey the political climate and combats of that era, as viewed by a man who served five US presidents.
At another level, this book is a fascinating contribution to the intellectual history of twentieth century America, detailing the story of yet another prominent figure who began his political life firmly within the Democratic Party, to find over time that as his ideas sharpened and evolved as they grappled with the realities of the world, the Party that had been his natural home moved leftward while resorting to an ideological puritanism that ultimately, painfully, forced Abram out of its fold, in the process straining many friendships, some to the breaking point.
Perhaps, however, the book’s most important contribution is its portrayal of the character and personality of its subject, Morris B. Abram. (Full disclosure – I had the opportunity to work with Abram the last few years of his life.) There is much to learn from – and admire about – Abram. While deeply engaged in political battles, he rarely lost his charm, graciousness, and sense of humor. He cherished and respected ideas profoundly, and the political battles he waged were formed around the values embedded in the ideas in which he believed. Sometimes this came at the cost of friendships, which hurt him. But his stronger impulse was to remain loyal to the conclusions at which he arrived, based as they were, not on self-interest, but a deep love for his country and the values of its Constitution.
Sophisticated, articulate, and principled, while still being driven towards victory, Abram would be at a loss to explain today’s shallow, personality-driven political discourse. But through "Touched With Fire," those who wish to engage in a different form of politics have an example to follow.
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