Greatness!

It isn’t very often that we get to witness greatness. Greatness in leadership usually only occurs when the times, and a special person come together at a moment when they are most needed.  That’s happened only a few times in our short history as a nation. I began re-thinking my notions about greatness after seeing the Steven Spielberg film Lincoln. I’ve always been very interested in our 14^th President, having read three different Abraham Lincoln biographies over the years. So, it was a special treat for me to see this movie. The portion of Lincoln’s life covered in the film only involves the last four or five months of his life. It’s based in the Doris Kearns Goodwin book Team of Rivals and concentrates on Lincoln’s efforts to get the Congress to pass the 13th Amendment, outlawing slavery. The movie provided a truly fascinating glimpse into Lincoln’s life and character, as well as giving us a good look at the political atmosphere of the times. To top off the experience of that film, Daniel Day Lewis gave an extraordinary performance as Abraham Lincoln. When the film ended I felt as if I had actually seen the real Lincoln. Some years ago I had the chance to be in Washington D.C. and visit the Lincoln Memorial. For me, it was the most moving part of our visit to the Capital. Being there at the memorial, I could actually feel the greatness of Lincoln.

Reflecting on that experience and other thoughts I’ve had about great leaders in our history, I recognized that greatness is hardly ever recognized in its own time. For good reasons I think, greatness can only be truly appreciated when viewed through the long lens of time. For that matter some evils and other mischief also require a bit of time before we see it for what it is. An example would be the horrible Communist witch hunts of the 1950’s spearheaded by Senator Joe McCarthy. His particular brand of evil went on for several years before anyone dared rise up to stop it-meanwhile so many lives and careers got ruined. Returning to Lincoln, his greatness was not appreciated in his time in spite of the fact that he presided over the secession of half the country and the bloodiest war in our history in order to restore the country. No other President had, or has had to contend with a challenge of that magnitude. He met that challenge and saved the country while at the same time changing the very nature of the nation by leading the way to abolish slavery. Nonetheless, he faced unbelievably harsh criticism at every turn and was roundly despised by many in the country and by many in the government. Today’s political chicanery, name calling, and ugliness are nothing compared to the practices in Lincoln’s time. Through it all,he stayed very true to his duty as President. He preserved the nation- he preserved the Constitution- and he altered the social fabric of the country by causing those around him to heed the call of freedom upon which the whole thing was based. He did so largely by the force of his will and his indomitable character. That is greatness!

Lincoln’ claim to greatness came from his deep convictions and core values. That is not to say that he was always resolute in every position or solution. His election itself was the beginning of secession. Lincoln was the first President elected as a member of the relatively new Republican Party. Republicans were the more radical party of the day, replacing the Whigs, and were solidly anti-slavery. As Lincoln launched the Civil War to restore the Union and bring rebellious states back into the country he often struggled with the issue of slavery. He was deeply opposed to slavery but felt his obligation to preserve the Union was greater. Because of that conflict in his heart, he had some rather “inventive” thoughts to deal with slavery. For instance, he proposed moving all slaves back to Africa- to the country of Liberia (which he helped establish for that purpose). He also proposed moving freed slaves to western territories or just having the Federal Government simply buy all the slaves, then free them. For the first two years of his Presidency he was singled-mindedly determined to bring the Union back together and deal with the slavery issue separately. That strategy neither advanced the war effort nor paved the way to ending slavery. It finally came to Lincoln that freeing the slaves was the best way to achieve his goal of restoring the Union AND abolishing slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation was his temporary solution to give more popular purpose to the war for Northerners, and set clear boundaries about reunification for Southerners. As the Civil War was ending, Lincoln needed to abolish slavery by law once and for all, and do it before the Southern states rejoined the Union; because he knew it could not pass with Southerners back in the Congress. Greatness was on display in his genius for molding the events and the times to achieve great ends. He was both cunning and determined achieve his ends.

Lincoln wasn't our only leader to demonstrate greatness that passes the test of time. Woodrow Wilson took us the through the “war to end all wars” and conceived of a planet governed by reason instead of global war. His idea for a League of Nations never came to be. Instead the world punished Germany and returned to isolationism which gave rise to the Nazi party, National Socialist movements, militaristic empires, and even more unspeakable death and destruction. It took two World Wars to see the greatness in Wilson’s vision. FDR was also a man of greatness. Often facing a fiery minority opposition, he led the country out of Depression by replacing fear with hope and crafting social changes that define our country to this day. Incidentally he also led us through (along with other great men) through WWII, the most devastating war in the history of man.  Lyndon Johnson’s greatness was in his willingness to forsake future political power to continue Lincoln’s work of ensuring civil rights for African Americans, and continuing FDR’s work of providing dignity to working men and women through the passage of Medicare and other social programs.   

Greatness is an amazing thing to behold and appreciate for its achievements, and for its rarity. We are facing huge fiscal, social, and international diplomatic issues today-most of them near crisis level. I believe that greatness lives somewhere in the mix of current events and today’s leaders, and is waiting to show itself. We have extraordinary men and women in leadership positions today. Like those who found greatness in the past, today’s leaders are suffering the pettiness of small-minded detractors who cannot recognize the core principals upon which greatness is built. These detractors harp at the small issues, mired in their partisan ideologies. Today we see that at work in the petty efforts by a few Senators to pick on Susan Rice in a desperate search for a scandal to pin on the President, or stick to non-sense pledges made to lobbyists in place of their duty to govern.  Folks like this have always been part of the American political landscape, but they have always faded in history’s memory because history prefers greatness to pettiness. Jefferson, Lincoln, Wilson, FDR, and all those who advanced our country dealt with the worst elements of political life, but overcame obstacles placed in their way by the puny and ignorant because they had a vision, and values that transcended pettiness.

Today’s fight is to rescue and restore the middle class from the ravages of economic and social unfairness and injustice. This turning point in our history will determine whether greed and selfishness robs the country of its remaining wealth and we fail, as other great societies of the past failed, when too few had too many riches; or whether government will stand for the middle class to create growth and prosperity as it did during other periods of prosperity in our past when the emphasis was on building the middle class, not catering to the obscenely wealthy. My best hope is that those who look through the long lens of history generations form now, will see that greatness overcame all obstacles once again.

Thanks for looking in.