Word: truman
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...could better be bothered by a comparison from our own time. The modern presidency begins with Franklin Roosevelt, and nine men have held the job. In the 28 years from 1933 to 1961, we had one great President, F.D.R., and two very good ones, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower. None of the next six could be put in either of those categories. John Kennedy perhaps had a potential for greatness; the actual accomplishments of his presidency were meager. However, his short presidency and Gerald Ford's short presidency, for all the differences of style, were the best, or least...
...must be steady and stable, housing his exceptional combination of gifts within a personality approximately "normal." Among the modern Presidents, the most nearly "normal" personalities are probably Truman, Ike, Ford, Reagan. "I am disgustingly sane," said Ford. It may be significant that Ford and Truman had not aspired to the presidency, and Ike began to think of it only in his late 50s, when he had already won world fame in a job about as big as President. Reagan had had two satisfying careers in the public eye, as actor and after-dinner free-enterprise speaker, before turning to politics...
...President needs a sense of history, including a feel for the situations where history does not apply. Jimmy Carter, despite his speed-reading studiousness and remarkable memory, was strangely deficient here. The present incumbent seems relatively innocent in the field. Truman and J.F.K. were well-steeped in history. From a sense of history (preferably not just American) flows an informed patriotism, a feel for the powers of an office unique in the world, the restraints upon it, and the tempo of a presidential term, including the special
...perceptiveness about people. This will bear heavily on the quality of the President's appointments and his ability to mold his people into an effective Administration. He must be shrewd enough to see when infighting is unavoidable, even useful, and when it is destructive. F.D.R., Truman, Ike, J.F.K. and for a time L.B.J. were good managers and motivators of people. Nixon's management methods brought us Watergate. Ford and Carter were weak as people managers. Reagan presided over some outlandish administrative arrangements last year, but the machinery is now running better. An awareness of gaps...
...much the same uplift have people always foraged for the small, personal glimmers in the lives of the powerful. Several U.S. Presidents endeared themselves to the public through their pastimes: Ike's golf, Kennedy's touch football, Truman's piano playing. Hoover took to fishing and throwing a medicine ball, though not at the same time. Nixon had no hobbies to speak of, unless one counts the knotting of one's ties. The most interesting pastimes were those of Calvin Coolidge, who reportedly took pleasure in the mechanical horse and pitching hay. The former probably delimited...