The Home Front
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn Presidents in Perspective OF all the nations in the world, this one seems to me the hardest to manage. The makers of the Constitution clearly intended a...
...But he came on the scene when additional reforms were needed, and his deep sense of morality exactly suited the mood of the people...
...Herbert Hoover had proved once again that great office does not necessarily confer great power...
...There was bitter opposition to some New Deal measures, especially the proposal to "pack" the Supreme Court...
...Throughout his life he naturally took it for granted that it was his business to set right whatever was out of joint...
...Our last great President was undoubtedly Franklin D. Roosevelt...
...The voters were ready to try almost any change in the law or in economic practice...
...To weld its ideas and to heighten its willingness to sacrifice, he conducted one of the greatest wars the world had ever seen...
...In the end, though, Wilson tried to carry us further than many Americans wanted to go...
...Though he led the country in a great war, I doubt whether he ever fired a gun or shot a wild animal...
...Theodore Roosevelt was born to be a mover and shaker...
...Teddy's righteousness insured him the sympathy of a majority of the American people...
...He failed to bring the South back into the psychological union...
...In recent months there has been quite a bit of speculation on how the current White House resident will square with history...
...Yet, despite an occasional blunder, Roosevelt was always the popular hero...
...Under these circumstances, it has only been men of the greatest energy and the rarest combination of qualities who have made a success of the Presidency...
...There they will find not only a high appreciation for those who had the skill to carry through successful political compromise, but great admiration for men who had the courage to stand alone...
...Woodrow Wilson was as different from Theodore Roosevelt as one could imagine...
...Abraham Lincoln had only half the country to lead-and that the half in which he was born and whose ideas he shared...
...The makers of the Constitution clearly intended a rather even division of powers among the President, the Congress and the courts...
...The Rough Rider was also an outspoken reformer who could wield his "big stick" against Big Business or any other group which had earned the condemnation of the public...
...With glee they hailed proposals which a few years earlier would have been denounced as wild radicalism...
...In France they have a mess of little parties...
...My own opinion is that the President's detracters are a good deal premature, to say the least...
...In any event, I would recommend that the critics of John F. Kennedy give another reading to his book, Profiles in Courage...
...But make no mistake about it: Our animosities of geography and special interest are as bitter as any exhibited in the older multiparty countries...
...George Washington had a comparatively small country to deal with and was practically compelled to create a nation with his bare hands...
...When power was demanded, he had plenty and did not hesitate to use it...
...But FDR, fighting for progressive changes, immediately saw that the depression was a source of almost unlimited Presidential power...
...The United States is difficult to govern largely because of the size of its land and the diversity of its parts...
...But the actual exercise of authority has of course varied according to the energy and ambition of the men who have occupied the several offices...
...And his enthusiasm for war made him a perfect national hero...
...here we have two parties divided into a mess of little parts...
...But he had precisely the qualities which were suited to bringing the North and the West into a tougher and sounder unity than the country had ever enjoyed...
...Consider, for example, the idea of a young fellow from Boston sitting in the White House, trying to provide leadership for a nation which includes New England, Mississippi, Alaska and California-not to mention Hawaii and Puerto Rico...
...He was recognized for what he was, a man eager to utilize his power for the common good...
...A wagon-load of laws and constitutional amendments carried the country along the necessary road...
Vol. 45 • October 1962 • No. 22
