Claude G. Bowers
Claude Gernade Bowers (November 20, 1878 – January 21, 1958) was a newspaper columnist and editor, author of best-selling books on American history, Democratic Party politician, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt's ambassador to Spain (1933–1939) and Chile (1939–1953). His histories of the Democratic Party in its formative years from the 1790s to the 1830s helped shape the party's self-image as a powerful force against monopoly and privilege. Bowers was a sharp critic of Republicans and their Reconstruction policies for African American voting rights and civil rights.
Claude Bowers | |
|---|---|
| United States Ambassador to Chile | |
| In office September 7, 1939 – September 2, 1953 | |
| President | Franklin D. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Preceded by | Norman Armour |
| Succeeded by | Willard L. Beaulac |
| United States Ambassador to Spain | |
| In office June 1, 1933 – February 2, 1939 | |
| President | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Preceded by | Irwin B. Laughlin |
| Succeeded by | H. Freeman Matthews (Acting); Alexander W. Weddell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Claude Gernade Bowers November 20, 1878 Westfield, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | January 21, 1958 (aged 79) New York, New York, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Sybil McCaslin Bowers |
| Children | Patricia Bowers |
| Education | High school |
| Occupation |
|
| Writing career | |
| Language | English |
| Period | First half of twentieth century |
| Genre | Popular history |
| Subject | American politics |
| Years active | 1916–1953 |
| Notable works | The Party Battles of the Jackson Period (1922) Jefferson and Hamilton: The Struggle for Democracy in America (1925) The Tragic Era: The Revolution after Lincoln (1929) |
Bowers was ambassador to Spain during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). At first he recommended the United States join other nations in a Non-intervention Agreement. When it soon became clear that Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, in violation of the Agreement, were openly helping the Nationalist rebels, he unsuccessfully pressed Washington to aid the government of the Spanish Republic. He left Spain when it became clear, in early 1939, that the rebels, led by the dictator Francisco Franco, had won the war. Later that year, he became U.S. Ambassador to Chile, which had a leftist government more to his liking.
In domestic affairs he considered himself a staunch Jeffersonian, and was increasingly dismayed at the New Deal interventions into the economy, but kept quiet about it.
Three of Bower's books were genuine best-sellers, "but he is little remembered today except by political historians".