The Kingdom and the Power Read Free Page A

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, where cynicism would not be tolerated, Ochs having detested it, and where readability was often rare. And there was finally in Reston’s style an element far more significant than his writing skill or wit, and this was his persuasive tone of moralism and idealism that brought to his readers the inner elevation of a good Sunday sermon—James Reston was something of a preacher. His strict Scotch Presbyterian mother had wanted him to become a preacher, and as a
Times
man he had become one, his column being the podium from which he could spread his Calvinist view of life throughout the land, thrilling thousands with his sound logic and clarity, influencing students, educators, and politicians, sometimes infuriating such presidents as Eisenhower, who once asked, “Who the hell does Reston think he is, telling me how to run the country?” Reston expected great things from the mighty, not only muscle and heart but also some piety and nobility of spirit; and yet when they failed him, as they most often did, he did not damn them but rather foresaw signs of redemption and hope. This was Reston’s special appeal. He communicated hope. The front-page headlines were overcast with gloom and doom, but turning to Reston’s column made the world seem brighter. Or, if not brighter, at least less confused. He could somehow cut through all the complex facts and figures, the allegations and lies and illusions of daily life and put his finger on a central point that suddenly brought everything into sharp focus, making it clear and understandable. There was little negativism or doubt in his vision, and thus his America was a positive place of right-thinking people, and God was on our side—it was as it had been during World War II.
    In those days, twenty-five years ago, Reston had been a young political reporter in Washington, and before that a war correspondent in London during the Blitz, living with his Midwestern wife and baby son on the edge of destruction and rubble, working among a generation of American journalists profoundly influenced by the spirit of that time and place. There was then a purity about the Allied purpose, and the characters in the war drama were well defined, it was the Virtuous versus the Huns;and there was great adventure, danger, and commitment to being a newsman then, and London left a lasting mark on many of these men, giving to Edward R. Murrow a voice, giving to Clifton Daniel a style in manner and dress, and giving to Reston such a deep conviction about the war as a holy crusade that he wrote a book about it, and this book was his first big step to fame. Entitled
Prelude to Victory
, and published in the summer of 1942, it introduced for the first time the spark and patriotism of Reston’s prose. The theme of the book was that “we cannot win this War until it ceases to be a struggle for personal aims and material things and becomes a national crusade for America and the American Dream,” and the voice of Reston from the pulpit could almost be heard in such passages as: “We must defy the danger and welcome the opportunity. We must strengthen the things that unite us and remove the things that divide us. We must look forward to the future with faith in each other and in the rightness of the American Dream. For that is the Prelude to Victory.” Rave reviews greeted the book’s publication both in America and in England, and the movie producer Walter Wanger was so inspired by it that he arranged for a Hollywood bookshop to refund the money to any reader who did not share his view of the book’s importance. The book also expressed great loyalty to
The Times
, and this fact, together with Reston’s general philosophy and the acclaim it received, did him no harm with
The Times
’ publisher, Arthur Hays Sulzberger.
    Sulzberger was then, in 1942, in the prime of his life—fifty years old, a lean and well-tailored man with gray hair, alert blue eyes, wrinkles in the right places, and finally in a