Presidential Greatness

Presidential Greatness

Caroline Smith

University of Houston - Downtown

Abstract

Presidential greatness is the ability and desire to instruct and educate citizens. It is to a large extent determined as a result of a president being in the right place at the right time. In order to determine the greatness of a president, there are some things that should be put into consideration. This includes factors such as leadership where the president shows the ability to sway public opinion and persuade the congress to support his ideas. The president should also be able to deal with issues arising at home and have the ability to establish a policy to anticipate or react to changing times. Ranking of greatness should focus on the leadership qualities, presidential achievements, faults and failures. Another criterion is about foreign policy where the president should show ability to establish peaceful relations in some cases and to use force in other cases as well as his ability to use force effectively. The president should also show ability to handle national emergencies effectively and at little cost.

In order also to characterize a president as great, he must have the ability to maintain faith in the government during times of crisis, ability to communicate ideas clearly, ability to lead the citizens in a positive way and enact positive changes. He/she should also have the ability to present a plan and then enact it to follow through. In short we may say that the presidential greatness is set up by his leadership qualities, response to foreign and domestic crisis, the ability to communicate effectively and ability of the president to accomplish his agenda. There are also factors that influence public perception regarding how well a president is doing his job. It includes some of the discussed factors and also the condition of the economy. The public should also not view the president as ineffective (Morris I. L p243).

Comparing between some of the presidents such as James Madison, he was a political theorist, American statesman and the fourth president of the United States. He drafted the United States constitution and thus was named as the father of the constitution. Through the drafting of the constitution, Madison became a trusted person in the government and became one of the leaders. He mightily much supported the constitution, and that was when he collaborated with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay producing the federalist papers. Madison drafted many basic laws and thus was made the leader in the House of Representatives. He drafted the first ten amendments of the constitution and later was known as the father of the bill of rights. He contributed significantly to the United States government and thus influenced the public perception on valuing him as the president of their State. Madison was also great because he was strong during the time of crisis especially during the time of the 1812 war. He was found to be so prelude to war. He united and influenced other European countries to join his ship even during this time of war. Being a leader of the House of Representatives presented a powerful challenge. He showed that he was confident and communicated useful information to the people that made people elect him as the president meaning that he was influential, and this portrayed strong abilities of a president, he showed his greatness. He believed in the survival of republican government (Ketcham R. L p404).

Unlike James Madison who was the fourth president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th president. Despite him being the 26th president, he was exceedingly much noted for his achievements, personality and range of interests towards his people. It was also due to his leadership qualities of the progressive movement. He founded a party known as progressive party in the year 1912 and was the leader of the Republican Party. Before he was elected as president, he ensured that he had fully influenced the public through his achievements as an explorer, naturalist and soldier in any office he held as a politician. Being the youngest elected president Roosevelt decided to change the economy as this is what the public most observed. He attempted to move the Republican Party towards Progressivism which included trust busting and increasing regulation of businesses. This showed some abilities to greatness as he attempted to change the economy. Just like James Madison, he was also supportive during the time of crisis where as an author he wrote two chapters of a book about the war of the year 1812. Roosevelt study of this war influenced all subsequent scholarship on the naval aspects. On the side of crisis, Roosevelt was also involved in the Cuba war when they declared war with the Spanish, and this was after he had retired as the assistant secretary of the Navy. Roosevelt left behind a lot of legacies showing that he was great. His commanders recommended him for a medal of honor and his face was added on Mount Rushmore. The United States Navy also named two ships under his name. Roosevelt was also the first president whose voice was recorded for posterity. All this shows that Theodore Roosevelt showed some presidential greatness.

There was also the 40th president of the United States of America who was Ronald Reagan and was one of the most impacting presidents in the American history. Greatness is all what these American presidents tried to implement during their time of power. To earn the trust with the public is all what is required to win in case of an election in the United States. Ronald was a radio broadcaster and later an actor. He showed his presidential greatness when he implemented some economic and political initiatives. Through his leadership period, Ronald led towards reducing tax rates. This was in order to spur economic growth, controlling the money supply to reduce inflation, deregulation of the economy and reducing government spending.