PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 22, No. 10, Nov. 20, 2003

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Biography focuses on journalist and diplomat

Photo by Bill Wiegand "John L. O'Sullivan and His Times," by Robert D. Sampson (Kent State University Press)

The life of a 19th century journalist, diplomat, adventurer and enthusiast for lost causes is brought to life in a new biography. “John L. O’Sullivan and His Times” was researched and written by Robert D. Sampson, communication specialist in the Office of Information Technology and Communication Services in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.

O’Sullivan’s life is usually glimpsed only in brief episodes in other biographies or books about the United States in the two decades before the Civil War, perhaps because the components of his life are sometimes contradictory, Sampson said.

“An exponent of romantic democracy, O’Sullivan became a defender of slavery. A champion of reforms for women, labor, criminals, and public schools, he ended his life promoting spiritualism,” Sampson said. “Although he popularized the phrase ‘manifest destiny,’ O’Sullivan condemned war in his publications and during service in the New York State Assembly. Yet he lost thousands of dollars and nearly went to prison in an effort to violently free Cuba from Spain and annex it to the United States.”

This first full-length biography reveals a man possessed of the idealism and promise, as well as the prejudices and follies, of his age, a man who sensed the revolutionary and liberating potential of radical democracy but was unable to acknowledge the racial barriers it had to cross to fulfill its promise.

It also explores the friendship between O’Sullivan and Nathaniel Hawthorne that played a significant role in the development of the author’s national reputation and describes their close brush with a duel that might have ended the life of one or both.

Much of Sampson’s research for the project was done in UI’s Rare Book Room. “What made this project possible was the existence of a complete run of the United States Magazine and Democratic Review in the Rare Book Room,” Sampson said. “I spent a lot of time in there going through magazines for the period 1837 to 1846, trying to understand O’Sullivan’s world view and take on events of his time. I also had great cooperation from librarians in the Lincoln Room.”

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