The Thunders of Silence

Congressman Jason Mallard turns public hostility into a source of attention in Irvin S. Cobb's political fiction. Once close to his party's presidential nomination, he becomes a conspicuous opponent of American wartime policy. Cobb's narrator presents his eloquence, wounded ambition and appetite for publicity through sharp caricature, while friends, enemies and followers offer competing explanations of his conduct.

The action moves between national political debate and a crowded meeting in New York, where supporters wait outside in falling snow. Meanwhile, a confidential telegram circulates among publishers, and commissioned articles and cartoons are withdrawn. This contrast between a public platform and private coordination makes the press central to the story. Readers can examine how the narrative connects personal vanity with political influence, while also encountering its strongly partisan treatment of dissent and its suspicion of supporters born abroad.