JAMES G. BLAINE: ARCHITECT OF EMPIRE, by Edward P. Crapol, Scholarly Resources Inc., Wilmington, Del., 157 pages, paperbound, $17.95; clothbound, $50.

Much has been written about Maine statesman James G. Blaine. Whether people think of him as the Plumed Knight, Jingo Jim, Mr. Republican or the Magnetic Man from Maine, most don’t realize that Blaine was a forward thinker whose foreign policies were well ahead of his time.

In “James G. Blaine: Architect of Empire” professor Edward P. Crapol succeeds in showing the reader the impact the former two-time secretary of state had in shaping America’s foreign policy during the last quarter of the 19th century.

Blaine, whose contemporaries compared him to German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and British Prime Minister William E. Gladstone, saw the benefits of increased trade with Latin America. He also realized the importance of outmaneuvering England in America’s dealings with Hawaii and in renegotiating the 1850 Clayton-Bulwer Treaty with England to gain a better position in constructing a canal through Panama.

Blaine’s best-known foreign policy triumph was the creation of the Pan-American Conference in 1889. He always sought ways to increase trade with other countries and to showcase American industrial and agricultural strength. He encouraged involvement with national and international expositions to boost trade and product awareness. Blaine contributed an essay to promote economic progress for a publication promoting the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Unfortunately, his death in January of that year ended any chance for him to see America’s success in The White City.

Eight years later, at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y., President William McKinley in his last speech before his assassination praised Blaine, saying, “This exposition would have touched the heart of that American statesman whose mind was ever alert and thought ever constant for a larger commerce and truer fraternity of the republics of the New World. His broad American spirit is felt and manifested here.” Also during his speech, McKinley discussed several other areas of interest to Blaine; reciprocity treaties, an enlarged merchant marine and a canal through Central America.

Blaine was often recognized by politicians through the 1940s for his outstanding contributions in the political arena. Since that time, however, most people’s limited knowledge of Blaine centers on his scandals while in Congress. Fortunately for people in the year 2000, Crapol’s book might turn the tide and create a greater awareness in the coming decades of the tremendous ability of Maine’s favorite son of the 19th century.

Crapol’s Blaine book is thorough. His bibliographical material shows the depth of his research and provides further sources for people to read. “Architect of Empire” is much more readable than Alice Felt Tyler’s “The Foreign Policy of James G. Blaine” (1927), but is not as easy a read as some full-scale biographies about the 1884 Republican presidential candidate.

Given the subject matter, however, it is an enlightening work and Crapol should be commended in shining fresh light on one of this nation’s most brilliant politicians of the second half of the 19th century.

Jim Emple is the NEWS copy desk chief. “Twenty Years with James G. Blaine,” (1928) by Thomas H. Sherman, and “James Gillespie Blaine,” (1905) by Edward Stanwood, are two of his favorite Blaine biographies.