In The American Leadership Tradition, Marvin Olasky sets out to prove the link between private morality and success in political leadership, sketching moral portraits of 10 presidents, with Henry Clay, Booker T. Washington, and John D. Rockefeller thrown in for good measure. George Washington provides Olasky's perfect model to which future presidents should aspire, depicted as loyal to his wife, Martha, and possessing a strong faith in God. Jefferson, in contrast, is portrayed as suspicious of religion--and then, of course, there are his affairs with Sally Hemings and Maria Cosway (a married woman he knew in Paris while serving there as ambassador). "Jefferson's career," Olasky writes, "provides an important example of how even a leader who scorned any Scripture he could not control, and implemented policies contrary to biblical teaching, did not quite wreck a country with a decentralized government and a citizenry committed to preserving both liberty and virtue." Despite receiving Congressional censure, Andrew Jackson is praised, largely because he was a religious man who read three chapters of the Bible a day, remained faithful to his wife his entire life, and supported smaller central government and term limits for federal officials. Grover Cleveland--a youthful carouser who fathered a child out of wedlock--also benefits from Olasky's political formulation of morality, having fought government growth and attacked a bill aimed at providing pension benefits to Civil War veterans and their families because he felt charity was best left to churches and local organizations, not the federal government.
Olasky's sharpest criticism is given to Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and--unsurprisingly, perhaps--Bill Clinton. All of them were unfaithful to their spouses, and each was self-absorbed, but how thoroughly did their personal qualities damage their presidencies? Olasky is not fully convincing here. His strongest points, ultimately, concern how a president's personal behavior sets the standard for future presidents and affects the public trust: "When shepherds take the wrong path, sheep follow," Olasky concludes. "The United States desperately needs honest and discerning shepherds to lead it into the next century." --Linda Killian
Basco's excellent program in controlling one's perfectionist attitudes and behavior is conveyed by her "step-by-step instructions and exercises for gaining a better understanding of why you think you are never good enough and for making positive changes that will improve your self-esteem." Examples from ordinary people like you and me pepper her text and make personal application of her guidelines much easier; her material is underscored by the concept that perfectionism is not automatically a bad trait, that what any perfectionist needs to know is how to separate the upsides from the downsides and emphasize the advantages while maintaining a firm grip on the disadvantages. This is a serious book, and one of the author's most important discussions is about a common habit of perfectionists, which is "over-simplification," whereby "things are inaccurately viewed as belonging to only one of two simple categories such as right or wrong, good or bad, perfect or not." For consideration for all public library psychology collections. Brad Hooper
From Kirkus Reviews
A work of interpretive opinion, not of fresh historical understanding. The fox, it is said, has many ideas and the hedgehog one. Olasky (Renewing American Compassion, 1996), editor of the Christian magazine World, is a hedgehog here. Unfortunately, his single ideathat we must assess religious beliefs and morality if we're to understand the motivations and actions of national leadersis, like many such ideas, unexceptionable and misleading. It's misleading because it's only one of many ways to evaluate presidents. Worse, Olasky likens his approach to that of the great historian, ironist, and prose stylist Richard Hofstadter. But while, like Hofstadter, Olasky has written a book composed of portraitsin his case of 13 presidents and other leadersunlike Hofstadter's essays, Olasky's lack subtlety, weight, and often accuracy. What are we to make of a claim that American forces won the battle of Saratoga in 1778 not because of superior skills and the normal turns of fortune, but because the British commander was in bed with his mistress? Or that Woodrow Wilson was little more than a hypocrite? What this book lacks is nuance and balance. Which is a pity, for Olasky is onto something important: that many, probably all, American presidents have been flawed. We need to recognize that fact and to acknowledge that a democratic republic is not likely to have saints for chief executives. We're also justified in assessing personal character in evaluating and voting for presidents. But are there no other considerationsa president's vision (Jefferson's), political skills (FDR's), or deep moral sense (Lincoln's)to bring to bear in assessing the character and achievements of our top elected officials? Must a single approach to assessing presidentsthe moralistic onebe used to the exclusion of all others? This book strains credulity by suggesting that the answer is yes. (12 illustrations, not seen) (For another look at presidential ethics, see Richard Shenkman, Presidential Ambition, p. 1784) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Review
Governor George W. Bush Marvin Olasky is one of the most influential new conservative voices in America today. Influenced by his deep faith, his writings show that values and moral convictions are critical to the strength of a free society and a free people.
Gary L. Bauer Family Research Council In this time of confusion about the relationship of private morals to public virtue, Marvin Olasky has done us a great service. His book examines our nation's history, from George Washington to Bill Clinton, in order to reveal how the character of our leaders has been, and remains, crucial to America's destiny.
U.S. Senator John Ashcroft Public servants are teachers. This truth was impressed upon me by my service as Governor and Senator -- that the teaching example of our leaders is profoundly important. What should our leaders teach? This is the question that Marvin Olasky answers in clear and ringing terms in The American Leadership Tradition. In this important book, Olasky examines the lives of several important Americans and establishes the urgent need for role models who stand for the virtues that we want to pass on to our children, including honesty, responsibility, and accountability.
About the Author
Marvin Olasky graduated from Yale University in 1971 and gained a PhD in American Culture from the University of Michigan in 1976. He was a professor at The University of Texas at Austin from 1983 to 2008 and has also had appointments at Patrick Henry College, Princeton, San Diego State, and The King’s College, New York City. He edited World magazine from 1992 to 2021, was a correspondent with The Boston Globe, a columnist with the Austin American-Statesman, and has research affiliations with Discovery Institute and Acton Institute.
