Here is the first of two items from the archives, a pair of posts from twenty-one years ago this month, in which John Anderson takes a look at the universe of the Hartley Yarns. Subject: The Hartleys and Machiavelli From: John Anderson Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2001 13:39:30 -0500 THE HARTLEYS AND MACHIAVELLI 1. Importance of Reputation At the end of 'Time and Time Again', Allan tells Blake, 'In the meantime, you can read Machiavelli.' (WoHBP, pg. 28) A look at that author and political strategist reveals several interesting things that apply to the Hartleys. One section of 'The Prince' is titled 'Essential to Avoid Being Hated or Despised' (pg. 52). A prince 'will acquire odium...particularly through rapacity and by laying violent hands on the property or the women of his subjects.' (ibid) And, 'he should see that his judgment is irrevocable and he should acquire such a reputation that no one will dream of deceiving him or trying to get the better of him.' (ibid, pg. 53) In 'TaTA', Allan disables the gun that Blake loans to Frank Gutchall. This is because the preacher 'didn't want that gun to shoot a dog. He has no dog. He means to shoot his wife with it.' (WoHBP, pg. 19) Thus, Gutchall is trying to 'deceive' Blake in order to 'lay violent hands' on a woman. If successful, as in Allan's 'first' life, this will harm Blake's reputation. The 'other time...Gutchall talked the .38 officers' model out of you...he'd shot his wife four times...and then...blast[ed] his brains out...The cops traced the gun; they took a very poor view of your lending it to him.' (ibid, pg. 27) Allan thus not only saves several lives, but protects his father from 'odium'; he says, 'I didn't want to see you lose face around City Hall.' (ibid) Indeed, it actually enhances Blake's reputation, as 'it was another quarter hour before the detective-sergeant who returned the Luger had finished congratulating Blake Hartley and giving him the thanks of the Department.' (ibid, pg. 20) This seems to be the first step in Allan's plan to stop WWIII, by building for Blake a reputation that will help get him elected President. Thus, Allan's foreknowledge makes it very difficult for the Hartleys to be 'deceived', and we can presume this is especially true in the early years before their changes to the timeline become extensive. 2. Acquiring Prestige Another section of Machiavelli is called 'How a Prince Should Conduct Himself in Order to Acquire Prestige' (TP, pg. 65). 'A prince is also esteemed when he shows himself a true friend or a true enemy, that is, when, without reservation, he takes his stand with one side or the other.' (ibid, pg. 66) This is certainly the basis for Piper having the Hartleys follow 'a strong line of policy' (WoHBP, pg. 28), which is not explicitly stated, but understood to be staunchly anti-communist. It is also in line with his 'self-reliant man' concept, 'the man who "actually knows what has to be done and how to do it, and he's going right ahead and doing it, without holding a dozen conferences and round-table discussions and giving everybody a fair and equal chance to foul things up for him."' (WoHBP, pp. 2-3) In 'TaTA', the Hartleys seem like pretty capable men already, but Allan's foreknowledge will help the Hartleys become self-reliant on a global scale. 3. 'The Undertaking of Great Enterprises' Machiavelli also states that 'Nothing brings a prince into greater respect than the undertaking of great enterprises and setting a glorious example.' (TP, pg. 66) Interestingly, the Hartleys name their company 'Associated Enterprises', which could be yet another example of Piper's subtle humor in wordplay. Machiavelli's 'glorious example' is Ferdinand of Aragon, who married Isabella of Castille and united Spain; the trend in Western Europe at the time was toward greater national unity, followed by expansion and international conflict. Also, Ferdinand always made 'use of the pretext of religion' (ibid, pg. 65) in his wars, in which he 'attacked Granada ... attacked Africa, made the campaign in Italy, and has recently turned on the French.' (ibid) These elements certainly sound similar to Piper's trend after WWII toward greater international unity, followed by power-bloc rivalry and outright conflict. The Hartleys are attempting to unite the democratic nations, and appear to be using 'the pretext of ideology' in their anti-communist wars. Among these are the 'Indonesian campaign' (WoHBP, pg. 218), as well as their presumed support for the democratic forces in the Subcontinent against the 'Indian Communists', and later their aid to Tallal against the 'Eastern- inspired' uprisings in the Caliphate (deduced in 'Alliances Activated'). The 'great enterprises' in the time of Ferdinand included Spanish exploration and expansion into the New World, and those of Allan and Blake also involve new worlds. These include the voyage of the Kilroy to Luna; the Hartleys' Philadelphia Project parallels the early short-range Portuguese and Spanish voyages to the Azores and Canaries. Another, deduced in 'Postwar Positions', is the civilian colonization of Luna and Mars; since Piper compares the latter to Spain's settlement of the New World, the First Mars Expedition parallels Columbus. On a personal level, Ferdinand was the King of Spain, and rose 'in fame and glory to be the leading monarch in Christendom.' (TP, pg. 65) Blake becomes President of America, which in the Cold War also meant 'the Leader of the Free World'. That Ferdinand started out as King only of Aragon could support the idea I've seen on the List that Blake is Governor of Pennsylvania before becoming President. 4. The Prince (of Terra) From these parallels, it is therefore likely that Piper considered the Hartleys rulers in the Machiavellian mold. This may support my deductions of both their many 'great enterprises' (especially trying to prevent WWIII and American interplanetary expansion) and their later becoming chiefs of the TF itself. Assuming Blake orders China and India to join the Federation at the end of WWIII, as I proposed in 'The Hartley Plan', they actually become the first leaders of the entire globe. The world is not fully unified in the 1st TF, so the Hartleys are not 'Kings of the World', but since their influence is planetwide, Blake and Allan could become in effect the first 'Princes of Terra'. --John A. Anderson --- John's original message is available here: https://web.archive.org/web/20080310060821/http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0112&L=piper-l&T=0&F=&S=&P=477 A second, related message to follow shortly. Cheers, David -- "It started when I began contributing to some of the professional journals. There's still a little of what used to be called male sex-chauvinism among my colleagues, and some who would be favorably impressed with an article signed D. Warren Rives might snort in contempt at the same article signed Doris Rives." - Doris Rivas (H. Beam Piper), "Day of the Moron"
