Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Great men and women of our time?

I spend a lot of my reading time on American (and other) historical biographies. My favorite time period is the Revolutionary War era and the twenty to thirty years that followed. I have been drawn to the great men of that time such as George Washington, John Adams, Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Marshall, and, of course, my favorite, Thomas Jefferson. They all held their own unique perspectives on the world, came at our nation's problems in differing ways and had varying levels of success in their roles as leaders. Often, they sank beneath their high places and ideals, as can be seen in the petty battles they sometimes became embroiled in, their occasional ethical and moral lapses and the wrong choices they were capable of making. Still, they rose to levels of brilliance that at times seem beyond the capacity of the human mind and they founded a great nation that continues to frame itself upon the concepts that these men developed.

This period of time was followed by the era of great statesmen and speakers of the early to mid 19th Century, with men such as Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and John Calhoun, the brilliant triumvirate who battled over the direction of this country on issues such as slavery, states' rights, the reach of the Constitution, and nullification. Andrew Jackson lent his willfulness to the Presidency in such a way as to shape the position's authority for decades to come.

The courage and determined leadership of the men of the Civil War period is easily recognized by men such as Abraham Lincoln, U.S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, all leaders who sacrificed everything for the values they believed in and the principles they stood behind and loved. They were each flawed in their own ways, but their devotion to the people they served and fought for are beyond questioning.

The turn of the century gave this nation the fearless leadership of Teddy Roosevelt, a man who stood firm against anything he believed to be wrong. His strength of conviction is perhaps without equal in American history. Following Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson's devotion to peace and world harmony were a model for a world of "united nations," and while his ideals ultimately fell short, they were attained thirty years later. While imperfect today, they still exist nonetheless.

The men and women of the World War II era that I have read are perhaps without equal in my readings in many respects. Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and though not American, Gandhi and Winston Churchill exhibit the defining traits of unyielding strength opposed to submission to seemingly overwhelming and often deadly adversaries. Public perceptions and opinions were a consideration for them, but ultimately the greater good mattered more, and they all acted according to a system of belief of what was right and wrong, and not what was expedient or accepted.

The turbulent sixties brought this nation John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X, among others. This generation of great leaders took to belief in standing up for principle and what was right to new levels. The concept of fighting for the oppressed, ignored or beaten down was their driving focus, and the stubborn refusal to submit to the powerfully entrenched rigidity of time, while eventually ending their lives prematurely, established them as men who could lead through what they represented long after their deaths.

Another great man, more of the era of the sixties then the current time frame, Nelson Mandela, did not sacrifice his life at the hands of an assassin, but instead gave himself up to imprisonment in the name of freeing an entire people. His unbending conviction stole nearly thirty years of personal freedom, but forced an oppressive regime to bow to his will and release a nation from bondage.

In looking at the current generation of leaders it is hard to find greatness. The United States seems to be led more by bottom dwellers, with the obvious examples being George Bush and the many members of his failure of an Administration. Yet looking beyond these completely undistinguished men and women, Democrats, too, offer up mediocrities as leaders; John Kerry, Al Gore, and the too-fast to shift with the wind men and women of the the Senate and House too vast in number to mention. A Supreme Court that willingly bows to the whims of politics shames the legacy first established for the bench by John Marshall. Consultants, CEOs and yes men set the course of the nation to the point that not one leader would so much as consider taking the nation to a higher place in calling for sacrifice and honest redressing of important matters.

No great men or women come to mind in today's world. No courageous or brilliant minds appear willing to lead. With each hero of another time I read, today's people of power seem all the more lacking in measure.

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