Senator Leahy: A Life in Scenes

by Philip Baruth

Having vaulted to a position in the United States Senate at the tender age of thirty-four, Patrick Leahy now claims the longest tenure of any member of that institution still serving―and he was third in line for the presidency when the Democrats held control. Few recent American lawmakers have watched history unfold so at such close range; fewer still have influenced it so powerfully. Philip Baruth brings a thriller-like intensity to the most spectacular of those the 9/11 attack on the US capital, the contentious drafting of the Patriot Act, the ensuing anthrax attacks, and the dramatic 2014 opening of diplomatic ties with Cuba. Throughout, the biography focuses in on Leahy’s meticulous image making, his cultivation of a “Top Cop” persona both in the media and at the ballot box. It is an approach that culminates in simultaneous roles for the lawmaker as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and as the tough-talking “distinguished gentleman” in Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed Dark Knight trilogy of Batman films. Leahy’s improbable success, Philip Baruth argues, in the end lies in his ability both to be and to play the top cop not only in post-Watergate Vermont, but in a post-9/11 America viciously divided between the red states and the blue.

344 pages, Hardcover

Published May 2, 2017

About the author

Philip Baruth is a novelist, and has spent twelve years as a regular commentator for Vermont Public Radio. His commentary series, “Notes from the New Vermont,” focused on both the national and the local, the deeply political and the undeniably absurd.

In addition to Vermont Associated Press awards for commentary on Howard Dean and the effects of 9/11, Philip won a national Public Radio News Directors Award for “Lonesome Jim Does Totally Gnarly,” a spoof of Jeffords’s split with the GOP. “Birth Rate Blues,” his satirical take on Vermont’s low fertility stats, shared a 2009 Edward R. Murrow Award in the Overall Excellence category, then won a Public Radio News Directors Award several months later.

His 2003 novel The X President took this penchant for satire to new lengths: the book follows the desperate attempts of a 109-year-old Bill Clinton to re-write his historical legacy. The New York Times selected The X President as a Notable Book of 2003.

Philip lives in Burlington, Vermont, and has taught at the University of Vermont since 1993. Before that time, he earned a B.A. at Brown University, and his Ph.D at the University of California, Irvine. His latest novel, The Brothers Boswell (Soho Press), is a literary thriller, tracing the famous friendship between James Boswell and Samuel Johnson, author of the first modern dictionary. The Washington Post eventually selected Brothers Boswell as one of the Best Books of 2009.

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Senator Leahy’s career has always been marked by a profoundly accurate moral compass: he is one of the reasons I am so proud to be a Vermonter. And in Philip Baruth’s incredibly interesting examination of the most meaningful moments in Senator Leahy’s life — and in the life of America — we see the inside story behind them. This is a terrific book for anyone who is intrigued by the last half-century of American politics.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is a nuts and bolts exposition of historical events occurring during Senator Leahy's public service career as Vermoont State's Attorney General and U.S. Senator. The narrative includes Senator Leahy's impact on and reaction to those events; and, in a sense, how they molded one another. If you want a bit of insight into the workings of the Senate prior to the Trump era, this is a good read.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Patrick Leahy was elected to the U.S Senate from Vermont when he was only thirty-four. In his long career he has seen a lot of history unfold, including the 9/11 attack on the US capital, the drafting of the Patriot Act, the anthrax attacks, and the dramatic 2014 opening of diplomatic ties with Cuba.

This biography tells us of Leahy's image making, his top cop reputation in the media and his popularity in Vermont. He has served as the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and appeared in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy of Batman films.

I went with members of my bookgroup to author Philip Baruth's book launch and reading in Montpelier. Baruth is an English professor at UVM and has served as the majority leader of the Vermont Senate from 2012 to 2016. He graciously came to my bookgroup meeting after we read another of his books, The Brothers Boswell.

I remember Senator Leahy as state's attorney of Chittenden County and when he became Vermont's first Democratic Senator. He was born in Montpelier, Vermont, and lived in a house across the street from the Vermont Capitol. His father was a printer and his Father was Irish and his mother was Italian and her ancestors came to Vermont in the 19th century to work at local granite quarries

He graduated from Saint Mike's College and received his J.D. from Georgetown. He worked a law at firm headed by Philip H. Hoff, then Governor of Vermont. He married Marcella Pomerleau. It was interesting to find out that Leahy has been legally blind in his left eye since birth.

It is a good read