Voters in the 2008 election who expect to elect a great president are likely to be disappointed, according to Vanderbilt University presidential scholar Erwin Hargrove. “We have developed extremely high expectations, partly fueled by the 24-hour media and Hollywood depictions, of our presidents,” said Hargrove, author of The Effective Presidency: Lessons on Leadership from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush. “We need a more realistic standard.”
Hargrove, a Vanderbilt professor of political science, emeritus, believes that the United States has had only three great presidents – George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. In his latest book, Hargrove analyzes the effectiveness of America’s eight most recent presidents, including George W. Bush.
Hargrove defines an effective president as “someone who can read the political landscape, know what is politically possible and then lead effectively within the constraints of the time. The individual uses his or her political skills and resources to accomplish what is doable.”
In his book Hargrove draws important distinctions between eventful and event-making presidents. “Eventful presidents tend to be the most effective,” he said. “They get things done that come up in the course of events and need to be handled, tasks that people want done. On the other hand, an event-making president is one who leads in a time of crisis, has great talent and makes fundamental changes in government and society, for better or worse.” He said that event-making presidents often become flawed because they tend to reach beyond the legitimate authority of the office. They may actually create crises in their drive to be great.
Hargrove puts Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush into the category of event-making. “George W. Bush has overreached at every turn,” Hargrove said. “He was successful in Afghanistan and could have ridden that to political success at home, but he sunk his ship when he imprudently invaded Iraq. Under the Bush administration, there have been numerous violations of civil liberties and national security laws.”
Hargrove said that Johnson overreached with the Vietnam War, although at the start of the escalation he had high support from Congress and the public because of concerns stemming from the Cold War. Hargrove emphasized that there are good and bad aspects to all presidents. “LBJ was an especially effective legislative leader. Nixon had difficultly with the Democratic-controlled Congress, but he had some modest achievements,” Hargrove said. “In the end, he overreached with his behavior during the Watergate scandal, and it destroyed his presidency.”
Reagan, Hargrove said, is more difficult to put in a single category. “With Iran-Contra he overreached his constitutional bounds and he was unrealistic about the Strategic Defense Initiative, but his ability to work with Mikhail Gorbachev on arms control redeemed his presidency.”
Hargrove views John Kennedy, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton as the eventful – as opposed to event-making – presidents. “Kennedy and Clinton were effective presidents because they tailored their policy ambitions to what was politically possible, with some exceptions,” he said. “Ford and Carter were transition presidents with limited political support although Carter had some policy achievements. Bush 41 was highly effective in foreign policy because, like Kennedy and Clinton, he was prudent and practical.”
Hargrove wrote his book after teaching a Vanderbilt history seminar on the same topic in 2004. “I know that I’m going against current thought when I call for a more realistic view of our presidents,” he said. “We tend to idealize our presidents, and when they don’t perform, we jerk them off the pedestal. That’s not constructive in the long run, so I think that voters need to consider a more realistic standard.”
Click on www.paradigmpublishers.com for more information about Hargrove’s latest book. His other publications include: The President as Leader: Appealing to the Better Angels of Our Nature, Presidential Leadership: Personality and Political Style, The Power of the Modern Presidency and Jimmy Carter as President: Leadership and the Politics of the Public Good.
Media Contact: Ann Marie Deer Owens, 615-322-NEWS
annmarie.owens@vanderbilt.edu