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Carl Vinson: Patriarch of the Armed Forces. By James F. Cook. (Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 2004. Pp. xxxiv, 390. $35.00, ISBN 0-86554-754-8.)
Carl Vinson occupies a prominent place in the history of the United States Congress during the twentieth century. A native of Milledgeville, he represented Georgia's Tenth District in the House of Representatives for fifty years, from 1914 through 1964. James F. Cook has written what he calls "the first full biography" of Carl Vinson (p. xi).
During his many years on Capitol Hill, Vinson remained a quintessential public servant. He spent nine hours a day on the Hill and invested many of his evening hours in reading through official papers. Quiet and unassuming in his private life, he avoided Washington social...