Five Great U.S. Presidents: Leadership, Vision & Legacy

Defining Presidential Greatness

The top five great United States Presidents, as examined in this paper, are Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.

Presidential greatness, like charisma, is a broad construct that has led to numerous studies and writings on the subject. In his article published in a 2001 issue of Administrative Science Quarterly, Howard Garland reviewed several studies that attempt to define presidential greatness. One study, by Murray and Blessing, asked 846 American historians to rate Presidents Washington through Carter on a great-to-failure continuum. It found that background characteristics such as age, education, appearance, religion, occupation, and prior political experience appeared unrelated to greatness. The majority of historians wrote that they considered "presidential personality and character" to be critical requisites, although there was much variation among the personalities of those listed as "great." However, when the researchers examined the major roles undertaken by the presidents, they discovered that the role of symbolic spokesman for the nation rivaled that of foreign policy planner and domestic policy initiator. In other words, what mattered most in the historians' estimations was "the president's ability to set the national agenda and then point the public in that direction through the skillful use of imagery and rhetoric" — often the first step toward ensuring a solid place in history.

This ability to establish a vision and persuade the public to work toward enacting it was echoed in Smith's 2000 study of presidential greatness, which asked 58 historians to rate Presidents Washington through Clinton on ten dimensions, including public persuasion and vision/agenda setting. Together, these two studies suggest that the skillful use of imagery and rhetoric is critical to a president's ability to persuade citizens to help enact his vision.

To demonstrate the power of imagery, consider that Martin Luther King, Jr. could have stated, "I have an idea" — yet he proclaimed, "I have a dream," and that imagery made all the difference in the impact of his speech. Examples such as this underscore the basic premise that leaders who choose words evoking pictures, sounds, smells, tastes, and other sensations tap more directly into the average citizen's life experiences than leaders who appeal only to the intellect. By engaging not only their followers' minds but also their senses, leaders make their messages more immediate, real, and appealing, enabling them to rally the public behind them.

The Five Qualities of Effective Presidents

In his book Hail to the Chief: The Making and Unmaking of American Presidents, author Robert Dallek identifies five characteristics found in the most effective presidents: vision, pragmatism, consensus, charisma, and credibility. According to Dallek, certain presidents are consistently judged successful while others are deemed unsuccessful — regardless of the poll — because there seems to exist a broad consensus about which presidents deserve praise and which deserve condemnation. Although Dallek recognizes that there is no true formula for measuring presidential greatness, he believes these five characteristics reflect performance, stating: "What seems most striking is the extent to which each of these elements have been present and absent in the leadership of the most and the least effective chiefs."

Dallek argues that throughout the history of the United States, these five qualities have been constants among the most effective presidents. First, every successful president has had vision, insight, and a clear idea of where he wanted to lead the nation. Regardless of how idealistic some of the dreams have been — whether for a harmonious nation or for America's Manifest Destiny — "a clear and comprehensible grand design has been central to every significant presidential advance." Second, the most successful presidents have been great realists or pragmatists who understood that politics is the art of the possible, and that effective leadership is achieved through sensible opportunism and flexibility in response to changing conditions at home and abroad. Third, Dallek notes that presidential gains depend on the consent of the governed, and that pursuing major policies without a national consensus courts defeat.

Fourth, the best presidents have always recognized that effective leadership requires a personal connection to the nation's citizens, and that a president's power rests largely on the affections of the country. From Washington to Lincoln to the two Roosevelts and even Reagan, the force of presidential personality has played a major role in determining a president's fate. Fifth, "a corollary to conditions three and four, presidents need credibility — presidents who are unable to earn the trust of their countrymen are governors who cannot govern and lead." Each of these qualities connects to and builds upon the others, because no president has distinguished himself by being merely visionary, or a good politician, or charming, or trustworthy alone.

Dallek also observes that the White House today is as far removed from Washington's era as space travel is from the horse and buggy. The global responsibilities a president faces today far exceed those encountered in the 1790s, as do the president's impact on the economic and social life of the country. Because of nuclear weapons, electronic communications, and expanded national and international responsibilities, presidents today must think and act differently than their earlier predecessors. Nevertheless, the essential elements of compelling leadership have remained unchanged through the years.

Harry S. Truman and the Fair Deal

Harry S. Truman served as president from 1945 to 1953. The Employment Act of 1946 created the Council of Economic Advisers to help Truman formulate economic policy. He also sought to extend the Fair Employment Practices Committee — which monitored discrimination against African-Americans in the hiring practices of government agencies and defense industries — and worked to enlarge the Social Security System and establish a national health insurance system.

Truman took a strong stand on civil rights and was the first President to address the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), declaring: "The only limit to an American's achievement should be his ability, his industry, and his character." His report, "To Secure These Rights," was a detailed and unabashed brief for civil rights legislation. In his 1948 State of the Union address, Truman again called for civil rights legislation, national health insurance, a housing program, and a higher minimum wage. His "Fair Deal" called for economic controls, an increase in the minimum wage, expansion of the Social Security program, a housing bill, national health insurance, development projects, liberalized immigration laws, and ambitious civil rights legislation for African-Americans.