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Bush-Gore Race Marks Return of American Dynasties by Steve Sailer UPI, October 12, 2000 |
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"Some folks are born made to wave the flag "Fortunate Son" by John Fogerty Oddly enough, in this presidential campaign it's the senator's son, Vice President Al Gore, who might well be forgiven for humming Creedence Clearwater Revival's bitter anthem of working class resentment. His opponent, George W. Bush, is the grandson of a senator, brother of another governor, and, of course, son of a president. What may seem even stranger is that these examples of modern day dynasties are not flukes. They are representative of a broad trend toward more children carrying on the family business. The "New Nepotism" can be seen not just in politics, but in entertainment and sports as well. In the American vernacular "nepotism" implies appointing an incompetent relative to a job they don't deserve. We congratulate ourselves for the growth in American "meritocracy." Today, family influence is supposed to mean less and college entrance exam scores mean more. Yet, powerful men's sons, and increasingly, their wives and daughters are succeeding to political leadership with a regularity reminiscent of the feudal days of old Europe. In Chicago, some of the biggest names -- Mayor Richard M. Daley and Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. -- are also among the oldest. In a striking example from Minnesota, the 1998 race for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination matched up three heirs. Voters had to pick between the descendents of a former governor, Orville Freeman, and two ex-Vice Presidents: Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale. Hubert Horatio Humphrey III won, but lost the general election to Jesse "The Body" Ventura. This shows that there is still room in American politics for the self-made man, at least as long as he's willing to first make a name for himself by dressing up in tights and being body-slammed by Hulk Hogan. Perhaps less surprisingly, today's Hollywood is evermore overrun by the spawn of yesterday's stars. Ben Stiller, star of the new comedy "Meet the Parents," is the son of Jerry Stiller, who played George Costanza's dad on "Seinfeld," and Anne Meara. Kate Hudson, now winning good reviews in "Almost Famous," is Goldie Hawn's daughter. Angelina Jolie and her dad Jon Voight will appear together in the upcoming "Tomb Raider." Gwyneth Paltrow of "Shakespeare in Love" is the daughter of Blythe Danner. Other young actors with popular parents include Freddie Prinze Jr., Mira Sorvino, Laura Dern, Kiefer Sutherland, and, let us not forget, Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez. Some celebrities come from even older dynasties. Natasha Richardson is part of the fourth generation of Redgraves to star on screen. Drew Barrymore is the scion of the most legendary family in American acting. Angelica Huston's father John directed her grandfather Walter to an Academy Award in the 1948 classic "The Treasure of Sierra Madre." In many different fields of "pop cultural" endeavor, dynasties reign. The World Wrestling Federation's current superstar is The Rock, the self-described, "Most electrifying man in sports entertainment," if he says so himself. His father Rocky Johnson was the first African American Tag Team champion. His maternal grandfather High Chief Peter Maivia was one of the first Samoan wrestlers to make it big in America. The Rock's Samoan wrestling cousins include Rikishi, the master of the "stinkface" finishing move, don't ask -- you don't want to know what it is, and 500 pound Yokozuna. Similarly, WWF announcer Jerry "The King" Lawler, who was comedian Andy Kaufman's old ring rival, is the proud papa of young wrestler Grandmaster Sexay. We may soon see a fourth Ali-Frazier boxing match. When Muhammad Ali's daughter Laila announced she was going to box, Jacqui Frazier, daughter of her dad's great rival Joe Frazier, responded by climbing in the ring too. In auto racing, the Earnhardts, Unsers, and Andrettis are among the most prominent names. NASCAR's first four generation family was cut short in May when 19 year old Adam Petty died in a crash. In golf course architecture, Robert Trent Jones Jr. and his brother Rees carry on the name of the dominant designer of the postwar era. They compete with architect Pete Dye's multitudinous clan, as well as such newcomers to this cozy business as Jack Nicklaus II. Strangest of all is the recent surge in father-son dynasties in the ruthlessly meritocratic career of baseball. Curveballs don't care who your daddy was. Yet, on the team with the best record in baseball, the San Francisco Giants, the best player is Barry Bonds, whose father also starred for San Francisco in the Seventies. While Bonds may have been the finest player in the National League over the last decade, the American Leagues' player of the Nineties was most likely slugger Ken Griffey Jr., now with the Cincinnati Reds. Remarkably, Ken Griffey Sr. played for the Big Red Machine in Seventies. In fact, the Griffeys played together in the same outfield in 1990. Before a dozen years ago, there were only two example where both father and son were good enough to qualify for the All-Star Game. Since then has come a deluge of terrific sons and even grandsons. Besides Bonds and Griffey, Astros outfielder Moises Alou is the son of Montreal manager Felipe Alou, and nephew of Matty and Jesus Alou. Robbie and Sandy Alomar, as well as Todd Hundley are also All Star heirs. Indeed, the Nineties saw the first three generation All Star dynasty, as second baseman Brett Boone succeeded his dad Bob and granddad Ray. No one has thought harder about the new nepotism than prominent publisher and editor Adam Bellow, who is writing a book on it. If he decides to stick with his original working title of "In Defense of Nepotism," his book, due out in 2001, will be the first volume with "nepotism" in the title since the 17th Century. In a phone interview from his New York apartment, Bellow suggested, "All the ordinary family virtues that we praise are nepotistic. We clearly don't want to get rid of it in private life. We don't want to disrupt the cycle of generosity and gratitude that links the generations together. And that is very much a matter of allowing people to pass on their legacy to their children." The precisely-spoken Bellow is cheerfully aware that his generally positive perception of nepotism and dynasticism might not be shared by those who aren't as closely related to a Nobel Prize winner as he is. His father is 84 year old literary giant Saul Bellow. Over the last twelve months, the elder Bellow has sired both the acclaimed novel "Ravelstein" and the 43 year old Adam's new little half-sister. The younger Bellow illustrates some of the paradoxes of modern dynasticism with examples from his own life. "I started out in my twenties trying to write novels and short stories. I had no difficulty interesting publishers but I had a great deal of difficulty in completing any piece of writing to my own satisfaction. I decided that I could not set myself up in competition with my father. And I didn't want to appear to be capitalizing on his name and connections. So, I gave up my ambitions to be a writer of fiction and became a book editor instead, and specifically a non-fiction editor. If I couldn't write my own novels, I'd be dammed if I was going to help other people write theirs." Bellow says that, contrary to the assumptions of many, his father did nothing to help him get his first job in publishing. On the other hand, he frankly notes that his famous name helped him move directly from grad school to a fairly responsible job. Being a Bellow let him skip the usual apprenticeship in gofer jobs around the publishing house. Even though he abstained from writing, was he still an opportunist by making a career in books rather than in, say, auto parts? Bellow believes this question illustrates a larger truth about the new nepotism. "Now that fathers are less often allowed to bestow a livelihood upon their sons, it falls to the sons to step forward and claim that legacy as their birthright." Of course, the family name and connections only open the door. "If Laila Ali, for example, turns out not to be a good boxer, she'll get knocked on her ass." Bellow quickly lived up to his name by bringing to market such surprise bestsellers as Dinesh D'Souza's "Illiberal Education" and David Brock's expose "The Real Anita Hill" for the Free Press. The culmination of his career there was Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray's 845 page analysis of IQ, "The Bell Curve." Probably no book with more statistical graphs ever sold more copies. While the content of "The Bell Curve" remains deeply controversial, the form of the book received widespread praise as a model for communicating a highly technical subject matter to the reading public. Bellow goes on to reflect upon the other side of the coin of dynasticism. "But why is the public prone to accept a family member?" Why did the people of Tennessee seem to think it right and fitting that young Al Gore should inherit his father's old Congressional seat? Why did Republican insiders shower campaign contributions upon the relatively untested George W. Bush? "There is a deep emotional satisfaction that we all understand in the pride of a father whose child wants to emulate him," points out Bellow. Bellow adds, "There is the popular idea that talent and abilities run in family. This is part of the folk wisdom of all societies. And it's perfectly true, in a statistical sense." Due to both nurture and nature, children inherit some of their parents' capabilities. Dr. Thomas Bouchard's famous 1990 "Minnesota Twins" study of identical twins raises separately confirmed that many physical, intellectual, and personality traits can be passed on genetically. Still, exactly what will get inherited is always unpredictable. In American politics, the appeal of famous brand names like Bush and Gore is testimony, Bellow believes, to "The reassurance and security of a certain amount of continuity at the top in a highly mobile and volatile society. People are comforted by a familiar name and face." Hollywood dynasties stem from a fairly similar set of causes. "People have always said," Bellow points out, "'Everything in Hollywood is run by nepotism.' Hollywood was built by powerful, self-made dynasties like Louie Mayer and the Warner brothers, who built the great studios and then used their power to employ their children and other relatives in behind-the-scenes jobs." What about starring roles? While it's hard to quantify, Bellow believes that there may well be more famous offspring on screen today than ever before. "While the barriers to entry have always been lower for the children of stars, acting has become more attractive than ever before to young people." An alternate explanation for all the Hollywood broods onscreen these days points to the kind of "assertive mating" practiced by dog breeders. It may seem odd to think of Hollywood as a sort of giant kennel slowly breeding a new, better looking strain of human. Still, it's a truism that handsome actors marry beautiful actresses. Is it so implausible that their progeny would tend to be more attractive than average? The growth in family dynasties in baseball may represent the most difficult phenomenon to explain. Possibly the best way to understand the sons also rising in baseball is to compare it to golf. Why has baseball become more dynastic than golf? Recently, 31 year old Gary Nicklaus finally made it on to the lower ranks of the PGA tour, where he joins other sons of more famous fathers like Dave Stockton Jr. and Tommy Armour III. Still, golf hasn't been anybody even remotely similar to a Barry Bonds or Ken Griffey Jr. since Sam Snead's nephew J.C. Snead won some tournaments in the Seventies. This may be may stem from golf drawing new stars from new population groups over the last couple of decades. Meanwhile, baseball largely stopped expanding its demographic base at that point. The last quarter of a century has seen the initial emergence of world class players from the continent of Europe, such as Seve Ballasteros, Bernhard Langer, Jesper Parnevik, and 20 year old Spanish phenom Sergio Garcia. Also, the old British Commonwealth has produced more great players than ever before, such as Greg Norman from Australia, Nick Price from Zimbabwe, and Vijay Singh from Fiji. Furthermore, British golfers such as Nick Faldo once again started winning major championships. Since the dominant golfers of 1920 to 1980 were almost entirely American (with the exception of Gary Player of South Africa), this means that the sons of these old American stars are facing much greater competition than before. Further, golf is slowly beginning to draw American players from racial and ethnic minorities. Besides the incomparable Tiger Woods, there is his old Stanford teammate Notah Begay III, a Navajo Indian who has won play time on the tour during the last two years. Finally, while the great majority of American tour players are from white, upper middle class backgrounds, America's upper middle class is far larger than it was in the past. All this widens the competition. In contrast, professional baseball expanded it reservoir of talent almost continually from the 19th century until about 1970. In the 1890's, big city Irishmen dominated baseball. Then Southerners like Ty Cobb arrived, followed by second generation immigrants such as the three DiMaggio brothers. In 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first African American player. Desegregation also allowed in lots of Cuban and Puerto Rican players. Then about forty years ago, the San Francisco Giants discovered the mother lode: Dominicans. They soon had Moises Alou's father and two brothers playing side by side in their outfield. By the mid-Seventies, Dominicans were beginning to flood the big leagues. After that, however, the demographic expansion of baseball rosters slowed greatly. A trickle reopened in 1995 when the L.A. Dodgers imported Hideo Nomo, the first of a number of East Asian stars. Meanwhile, African-American youth largely lost interest in baseball, turning instead to basketball and football. That meant that the young black kids who did receive intensive tutoring in the game were increasingly concentrated among those who grew up around the ballpark like young Bonds and Griffey. White boys remain fairly interested in baseball, but the grand old game hardly has the near-monopoly on their interests that it enjoyed before Extreme Sports, videogames, The Rock and all the other modern distractions came along. Thus, baseball expertise has slowly drained out of the general American culture. It's now concentrated more and more in certain baseball-focused families. Johann Sebastian Bach grew up in an era when music was expected to be a family business. In fact, in his region of Germany, musicians were often referred to as "bachs." Baseball may be headed back toward this medieval mode. Steve Sailer (www.iSteve.com) is a columnist for VDARE.com and the film critic for The American Conservative.
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