Leadership Characteristics of the Past Needed for Present Challenges

Recently PBS aired the series “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History” which chronicled the lives of three significant political influencers of the early 20th century, Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Response to Ken Burns' series was impressive. For PBS it was their largest viewing audience for the past several decades following the popular series "The Civil War" and "Lewis & Clark." According to the Nielsen rating each two-hour segment had an average of 9.2 million viewers and an impressive 11.7 million on the first night. Why such a popular series? I wonder if at least a portion of the success was related to a longing for a time where America’s national leaders reflected a different character and spirit than what is portrayed by current leadership. Joseph Palermo concludes that placing the Roosevelts beside the current political scene reveals, “The utter failure of our current ‘leaders’ is glaring by comparison.”
     The Roosevelt dynasty was by no means perfect. They made plenty of mistakes, failed in numerous endeavors, and had many detractors. Yet, many people in our current population long for leadership like the Roosevelts, one that is not ruled by political handlers and correctness, and bereft of courage to assume personal responsibility for decisions and actions taken. Courageous, compassionate, collaborative, and well-conceived decisions seem to be something we perceive in leadership of the misty past, not something we observe in the chaotic present. Many in our country perceive there is a leadership paralysis that is causing the nation to flounder in its responses to the worldwide challenges that seem to surface daily. Could the popularity to the Roosevelt series reflect a desire for a new norm in our political leadership that would be more reflective of a distant past rather than the disastrous responses of the current status quo? 
     One of the Roosevelts that impressed me was Theodore. He was a complex character wrapped in a cloak of both macho activism and pensive spiritual reflection. He was the man who would lead a military charge involving hand to hand combat and in the next moment send men into military action challenging them with a spiritual insight. This was illustrated in 1917, as American troops prepared to leave for the battlefields of France and Belgium in the First World War. Former President Theodore Roosevelt was asked by the New York Bible Society to write a message that would be inscribed in the pocket New Testaments that each of the soldiers would be given. He called his comments the “Micah Mandate” based upon Micah 6:8, “He has shown you, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you: but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” 
     He concluded his inscription with these words, “Remember: the most perfect machinery of government will not keep us as a nation from destruction if there is not within us a soul. No abounding of material prosperity shall avail us if our spiritual senses atrophy. The foes of our own household will surely prevail against us unless there be in our people an inner life which finds its outward expression in a morality like unto that preached by the seers and prophets of God when the grandeur that was Greece and the glory that was Rome still lay in the future.” George Grant concluded Theodore Roosevelt’s words, “called for a three-fold demonstration of moral and practical balance: a stringent commitment to justice, a tangible concern for mercy, and a reverent humility before the Almighty.” 
     Some might argue that our current political environment and cultural perspectives would not allow for such statements. As an objection they would raise the politically correct interpretation of the “establishment of religion” clause of the Constitution to prohibit any such biblical language. Perhaps, however, what the people of our nation want is a leader like a Theodore Roosevelt, whose courageous character is concerned more that there is a soul in our nation than that the words he speaks are cloaked in political correctness. Political leadership in our day seems to carefully wordsmith speeches and statements to make them politically correct and in the process make them devoid of moral impact. 
     We have just elected political leaders for a term of service. Let’s now pray for them as commanded in Scripture (see 1 Timothy 2:1-2). There are numerous things for which we might pray like wisdom, integrity, humility, a heart for justice, etc. Perhaps we could also pray that they might be like former President Theodore Roosevelt and have a concern for the soul of the nation. Pray we have a nation of leaders filled with courage, compassion, and conviction. Such leaders are needed for the challenges of the twenty-first century.