Presidential Courage

I just finished a fascinating book called Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and how They Changed America 1789-1989. I have always been interested in American history and, in particular, the Presidents of the past. (I am related to President Grover Cleveland.)
In this book, the author (Michael Beschloss) highlights how American Presidents have, at crucial moments, made courageous decisions for the national interest although they knew it might be jeopardizing their careers. It also shows the human side of these presidents (George Washington, John Adams, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan). These men were not perfect. Some were egotistical. Some made “back room deals.” Some were racist. Some vacillated while making these decisions. But, in the end, these Presidents made difficult decisions that have stood the test of time and have made America a better country. In Andrew Jackson’s words, these Presidents were “born for the storm.”
I intend to write 3 different blog entries discussing this book and the conclusions I have drawn from it. I invite you to dialogue with me during this.
So, let’s start with a three word question: What is courage?
It’s easy to see courage in the soldier on the battlefield who must carry out orders that may get him killed. But what about others who don’t necessarily put their lives at risk?
In the book, the author talks a lot about Presidents who made decisions that were greatly unpopular at the time, yet made a huge difference in the grand scheme of things. Both George Washington and John Adams made decisions for peace that were so unpopular at the time that people were seeking for these men to die. I find this absolutely fascinating, especially in the case of George Washington. The Revolutionary War hero was elected by Electoral College in 1788 and 1792 UNANIMOUSLY, yet a few years later was very unpopular. Why was he unpopular? He negotiated a peace treaty with Great Britain because he knew that the American army was so depleted that it could not take on the Redcoats again and win. In his home state of Virginia, Revolutionary veterans made toasts that stated, “A speedy death to General Washington.” John Jay, who bargained with the British for the treaty and for whom it is named after, stated that he could walk the 15 states at night by the light of his burning effigies. Easy to say that Jay’s Treaty was very unpopular. But in the end, he knew it was right. He pushed it through Congress and set a Presidential precedence that a President should not just preside. Martha Washington stated that Jay’s Treaty hastened his death. President Washington was content to let history provide his reward and wrote, “The arrows of malevolence, therefore, however barbed and pointed, never can reach the most vulnerable part of me.”
Similarly, John Adams, who was always worried about the comparisons to Washington, became very unpopular by granting a peace treaty with France. It actually cost him the election in 1800 when his political rival, Thomas Jefferson, won. News of peace with France, without costing the United States anything, arrived after the election. Peace had been achieved with France, relations with Napoleon Bonaparte were opened, and it led to Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase. Adam’s treaty with France spared his young country a confrontation that might have threatened its survival. None of this would have happened if Adams had been too timid to defy his own party, the Federalists. It was Adams quote, “GREAT is the guilt of an unnecessary war,” that many people today echo regarding our country’s current war. He dreamt that his tombstone would read not about his role in waging the Revolution, but, “Here lies John Adams, who took it upon himself the responsibility of Peace with France in the year 1800.”
There are other acts of courage that this book points out. President Lincoln deciding to enact the Emancipation Proclamation, which could have made reconciliation with the South and re-election impossible. He was attacked by his friends and stated, “God knows, I have at least tried very hard. And to have it said by men who have been my friends that I have been seduced by power!” President Theodore Roosevelt taking on the big industry leaders, like J.P. Morgan, who controlled his party. His cousin, FDR, standing up to Hitler by supporting Great Britain before the United States was involved in World War II. This was in stark contrast to the isolationist mentality of most Americans at the time. President Kennedy finally enacting the Federal government to help the civil rights movement.
After reading about these controversial decisions, I have come up with some conclusions about courage. Courage is doing the right thing no matter the cost. It is going through a course of action that is right while overcoming fear. This fear could be fear for your well-being or fear from major consequences. You may never know whether your action was right. Kennedy had doubts and did not live long enough to see his civil rights bill pass through Congress. FDR wasn’t around for the end of World War II. But these decisions were right. They were courageous.
You don’t have to look to a President to see courage or a courageous decision. Courage is found in the adolescent who turns down pot when his friends are all doing it. Courage is seen in seen in the child who jumps into the pool the first time overcoming her fear.
After President Truman went against his advisers and racist Americans to acknowledge the new country of the Jews, Israel, he stated that the ultimate test of any Presidential decision was “not whether it’s popular at the time, but whether it’s right…If it’s right, make it, and let the popular part take care of itself.”