A Novel Of Insider Washington
Ward Just's 1997 novel, "Echo House" tells a story of intrigue, power, and sadness in following three generations of the Behls, a fictitious family in Washington, D.C. The family lives in a large, historic Washington, D.C. mansion, Echo House, which once hosted a conference between Abraham Lincoln and General George McClellan. (Lincoln's shadow and the memory of the Civil War hang heavily over this book.) The story begins with Adolf Behl, a senator who had been led to believe he would be the Democratic Party's nomination for vice-president but was rudely denied. The two other Behls, his son Axel and grandson Alec take a more roundabout approach to power than running for office. They become consummate insiders and fixers, sometimes operating on the far side of the law who work for their country and for themselves largely behind the scenes.
The story has a feel of both realism and nostalgia. Novelistically and historically, the book is at its strongest in the early stages during WW II and its aftermath through the Truman administration as Axel Behl works as a fixer to help the United States through the Cold War and in the restoration of Western Europe. Much of the story turns on Axel's own war service in WW II in France as an intelligence officer for General Patton and the impact of this experience through the rest of his life. A pivotal moment of the story takes place in 1952 at the presidential campaign headquarters of Adlai Stevenson in Springfield, Illinois. Alex's son Alec decides to become a lawyer and will soon take his place behind the scenes with the powerful in Washington, D.C. where, among many other things, he works to ease the process associated with the impeachment and resignation of President Richard Nixon.
The story runs together public and personal lives. In particular it shows a great deal of the marriages and sexual behavior of both Axel and Alec. Both men can be callous towards women as well as heavy, behind-the-scenes philanderers. Axel had married a New York woman, Sylvia, who was a poet, with bad results. (The conflict between the life of poetry and imagination and the rough, practical-driven life of official Washington is also a thread running through the book. In addition to Sylvia's life as a poet, the book includes many allusions to works such as Henry Adams' novel, "Democracy", Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" and Homer's "Iliad")
I found the book poignant. I felt sympathy for the characters and for their goals of public service. I also saw them as more than fallible human beings in the public and personal lives. The book seems to trace a falling-off in American politics from the days of FDR and WW II through Nixon and the late years of the 20th century with a period of hope during the Kennedy presidency. The chronologically early parts of the story are also the most effective. The group depicts the small group of insiders that surround the principle characters and describes their various activities, most of them clandestine, under successive presidencies. Just tells the stories of these activities through indirection and through hints. This approach gives some idea of the modus operandi of the characters, but it also slows the book down and makes it difficult to follow in places.
I have lived in Washington, D.C. since the resignation of President Nixon and enjoyed seeing Just's portrayal of the city which I have made my home and the changes it has undergone with time. It brought back my own memories.
The most effective aspect of the book for me was the many passages of reflection on the United States and on its political process. Sometimes this reflections are in the author's voice and sometimes in the voices of his characters. The book recalls an America of greatness with all the personal and political shortcomings of its political leaders. The Behl family and its associates for all their sexual flaws and their arrogance were devoted to the United States and to promoting its welfare. With the falling-off after WW II the author seems to see in American life, the book still allows room for hope and regeneration. Among many eloquent passages in the book, the following is one of several discussions of Lincoln taken from a long reminiscence from Axel Behl to his son early in the novel.
"[W]hen the war ended we returned to Washington back to Echo House, my work in the government. I had to give back , Alec. When you fight a war and win it, you own it. And it owns you. The price is never cheap and you have to protect the victory, as you would any investment. The winning cost is too much blood, don't you see? You can't walk away from it and simply allow people to bleed to death and create the very conditions you fought in the first place. And if you don't think
government can break your heart, walk over to Mr. Lincoln's memorial sometime and look at his face."
The scope of "Echo House" goes beyond the lives of Washington insiders. With its sad, thoughtful tone, the novel tells something about the past greatness of the United States, the personal and political sacrifices this greatness demanded, and the possibility of understanding and restoring something of this greatness in America's future.
Robin Friedman
