Liberalism and Leadership : The Irony of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

Most scholars and pundits today view Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy as aggressive liberal leaders, while viewing Schlesinger’s famous histories of their presidencies as celebrations of their steadfast progressive leadership. A more careful reading of Schlesinger’s work demonstrates that he preferred an ironic political outlook emphasizing the virtues of restraint, patience, and discipline. For Schlesinger, Roosevelt and Kennedy were liberal heroes and models as much because they respected the constraints on their power and ideals as because they tested traditional institutions and redefined the boundaries of presidential power. Aggressive liberalism involves the use of inspirational rhetoric and cunning political tactics to expand civil liberties and insure economic equality. Schlesinger’s emphasis on the crucial role that irony has played and should play in liberalism poses a challenge to the aggressive liberalism advocated by liberal activists, political thinkers, and pundits. That his counsel was grounded in conservative insights as well as liberal values makes it accessible to leaders across the political spectrum. "A growing literature on the Presidency identifies the technical skills of Presidents by focusing on their political thought and moral values, often assuming a President's values and goals are the most crucial component of his moral thought and behavior. Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.'s was an empiricist and historian whose work on the presidency shows that value commitments do not translate smoothly into policy achievements. Possessing the dispositions and skills to address setbacks and unexpected crises was as vital to Franklin Roosevelt's and John Kennedy's accomplishments as their liberal moral views. At the same time, Schlesinger implied several key skills Roosevelt and Kennedy demonstrated were moral virtues rather than mere techniques intended to enhance the President's power. Schlesinger's moral framework relies on insights about trends in American history to argue Roosevelt's and Kennedy's ironic virtues often helped them avoid dangerous illusions to which Americans have been prone to succumb. Appreciating the history-based regime analysis at the heart of Schlesinger's liberalism opens up a new avenue of presidential analysis and may offer a path forward. In an age where external, institutional checks on the Presidency continue to dwindle, internal checks on Presidential overreach become all the more necessary. Schlesinger may have acknowledged and often championed the expansion of the President's institutional powers, but he also urged liberal leaders to cultivate ironic virtues to prevent these powers' abuse. That his counsel was grounded in conservative insights as well as liberal values makes it accessible to leaders across the political spectrum"-- Provided by publisher