Our Chavez (Not Cesar)

THE high point of Linda Chavez’s career came when George W. Bush asked her to be labor secretary; the low point came when she was forced to withdraw. Did something good come out of this rotten experience? Yes, this memoir, this autobiography, that Chavez has now written. It is a brilliant, provocative, and moving book, a blend of the personal— often very personal—and the political. Chavez has led a rich, remarkable life; she has thought about it well; and she expresses what she has concluded from it beautifully.

So, what happened, in that nomination mess? A refresher: Chavez had “harbored an illegal alien” and failed to tell the Bush transition team about it in a timely fashion. Harbored an illegal alien: That was the absurd phrase used about Chavez, as though she had committed a low-down act. What she had done was take into her home a helpless, battered Guatemalan refugee named Marta—giving her money, helping her find work, helping her learn English, and so on. She had done this— and would do this—for many helpless people, mainly immigrants. Chavez, all her life, has been a do-gooder: a real do-gooder, not the kind that merely advocates a government program.

About the Author

Jay Nordlinger

Jay Nordlinger was a senior editor of National Review and a book fellow at National Review Institute.

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THE high point of Linda Chavez’s career came when George W. Bush asked her to be labor secretary; the low point came when she was forced to withdraw. Did something good come out of this rotten experience? Yes, this memoir, this autobiography, that Chavez has now written. It is a brilliant, provocative, and moving book, a blend of the personal— often very personal—and the political. Chavez has led a rich, remarkable life; she has thought about it well; and she expresses what she has concluded from it beautifully.

So, what happened, in that nomination mess? A refresher: Chavez had “harbored an illegal alien” and failed to tell the Bush transition team about it in a timely fashion. Harbored an illegal alien: That was the absurd phrase used about Chavez, as though she had committed a low-down act. What she had done was take into her home a helpless, battered Guatemalan refugee named Marta—giving her money, helping her find work, helping her learn English, and so on. She had done this— and would do this—for many helpless people, mainly immigrants. Chavez, all her life, has been a do-gooder: a real do-gooder, not the kind that merely advocates a government program.