BoHisotokry Review
By Marcy Shortuse
Ragtime
in the
White House
Eliot Vestner was a man of few words, until
he started talking about his writing. To see
the change in a stoic man’s face that was
so dramatic was truly a joy to behold. One of
the fi rst things you noticed is the quiet
assertiveness in his voice and a gentle
demeanor. Within minutes you realized this
was a man who was much more comfortable
talking about anything but himself. For the
impressive career that he had, he much
preferred his post-retirement passion – writing
– as a topic of conversation.
There are many things that Eliot was good
at, but one he was most proud of was his
ability to avidly research what he loved. It’s to
our benefi t that he did, as he wrote not one,
but two books that took an extensive amount
of time and a startling knowledge of detail to
complete.
Eliot, born in 1935 in Bronxville, N.Y. in the
time of the Great Depression, was a man who
made his career from being a corporate
investment attorney, and a highly-respected
one at that. He served as a senior executive
at Bank of Boston, and prior to that served as
New York State Superintendent of Banks. While
at university, though, he was working on a PhD
in English; he was always interested in writing
and the written word.
While Eliot passed away just this year, he was
able to fi nish a 500-page book on a man who
served as this country’s president, but is little
spoken of – William McKinley. His fi rst book,
called “Meet Me Under the Clock at Grand
Central: A Family History and Memoir: Fullers
16 GASPARILLA MAGAZINE • November/December • 2020
and Vestners, Merceins, Dwights and Webbs,
New England, Brooklyn, New York,” was based
on extensive genetic research that took more
than a decade. When he completed that
work, he realized he was tired of talking about
himself and his family, and wanted to focus on
someone else. But, who? He eventually chose
this country’s 25th president.
Prior to his passing, we had a chance to sit
down and talk to Eliot about the impetus for
his book on McKinley. Was it because Eliot’s
great-uncle, William Redfi eld, served as
Secretary of Commerce to President Woodrow
Wilson? Was it because Eliot’s wife, Louisa, is a
descendant of John Quincy Adams?
No, Eliot had said, it was more about fi nding
the underdog and shining the spotlight on
them.
“I like to fi nd someone who is underestimated,
and unfairly treated, and I thought
McKinley was both of those things,” Eliot said.
“This is a period in our history that even people
who are history majors don’t pay attention to,
the time between Lincoln and Teddy
Roosevelt. McKinley was an underdog, not in
terms of real life, but in terms of history. In real
life, when he was assassinated, he was at the
top of his game. He had won two terms, he
was a major dominant fi gure in the world, and I
particularly liked the way in which he did it.”
And that is how “Ragtime in the White
House” came into being.
Eliot went on to describe the kindly,
generous, tolerant way in which McKinley
conducted business. When he died in 1901,