Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt: Beam Them Aboard Scotty
Crisis Leader Required Now, Before It’s Too Late
It’s been painful to watch America from afar during some difficult times.
I‘ve thought about it long and hard. America has seen some difficult times this century, but saw far worse in it’s first 200 years. The Civil War wiped out 2.5% (1) of the population and split the young nation in half. It represented an impossible chasm to cross. The Great Depression (1930s) was the economic downturn for the ages, lasting a decade with limited scope for recovery. World War 2 was the war to end all wars, with American troops split on opposite sectors of the globe, freedom and the future of democracy at stake. America entered the crises nervously but came out the other end stronger and improved. For Crisis Leadership, I’m nominating the two leaders who presided over these events.
The Civil War: Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln was elected President in November, 1860, and chaos reigned immediately. Before he assumed office, 7 of the 13 American states seceded from the Union. The Civil War soon commenced, and took over 750,000 Americans on both sides(1). It pitted Americans vs. Americans, family members vs. family members.
It was fortuitous that Lincoln was proficient in dealing with adversity, as he would deal with more than his fair share. His 11-year old son Willie died of typhoid fever one year after he took office. His wife Mary was almost inconsolable, while Lincoln had to grieve quickly and get on with managing the war effort.
The stated cause of The Civil War was State’s Rights, but there was no doubt as to the single right under question. It was slavery. Lincoln wanted the nation to move on from this miserable era. But the Confederacy (the South) refused to succumb.
By 1864, The South was about to fall in Virginia. Surrender and an end to war was in sight when Lincoln stood for his Second Inaugural Address. Southern leaders had mocked and ridiculed him, and he faced huge battles to pass the 13th Amendment, to once and for all abolish slavery.
Despite the turmoil, he had won a second term in a landslide victory. If anyone had the right to be frustrated, to exact revenge, secure payback from adversaries, it was Lincoln. Yet he stood on Inauguration day and said,
“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
How would he have handled a modern, major crisis?
Lincoln would have unified all, not just Americans, but people and nations across the globe. Can you imagine Donald Trump uttering the words, “with malice toward none, and charity for all”?
Lincoln would not blame others for problems that arise, nor brag about his perceived victories. It was not his style. His focus would be on unifying the nation while minimizing personal suffering. You would never, ever hear him utter the words, not my responsibility. The world is crying out for this type of leadership from our shores.
The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.
-Abraham Lincoln
The Great Depression and World War 2: Franklin Roosevelt
Roosevelt was President from 1933 until his passing in 1945. He was born into great wealth and privilege but experienced enormous personal hardships in his lifetime.
At age 39 he was stricken with polio. He would never walk or stand unaided again. Yet he still managed election to four terms of office, unprecedented in American history.
He entered the Presidency in 1933, with the nation under the economic grip of The Great Depression. American and global markets were in a horrendous downward spiral.
There was a run on American banks, but Roosevelt acted immediately and decisively. He set an inspirational tone at his inauguration with the epic statement,
“We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”
On his second day in office, he closed all banks and declared a week-long bank holiday. This single act saved them from ruin.
A few days later he initiated the first of his fireside chats on National Radio. He appealed to the people, to re-deposit their funds. His warm voice communicated confidence and security to masses of people in turmoil. Within one month, two-thirds of the withdrawn cash had been returned to the financial institutions.
People were responding to a new style of national leadership. There was a new feeling of optimism in the air.
Roosevelt was incapable of depression. He felt a moral responsibility to display a brave face to the people. He perpetually beamed with a warm, engaging and infectious smile. When Roosevelt smiled, you just knew that everything was going to be all right.
The Second World War
He proved to be a master strategist during World War 2. Between 1939 and 1941 Hitler and his fascist allies cut a devastating path across Europe, but Roosevelt kept the nation out of the firing line. Americans with long memories had little stomach for interventions after the World War 1 experience. He committed to an isolationist stance and was determined to stay that course for as long as possible.
The American military was not close to battle readiness and Roosevelt knew it. He wanted to buy time to prepare the troops. Alternatively, he volunteered the U.S. as the “Arsenal for Democracy”, with factories producing weapons and supplies for the Allied war effort in Europe.
He recruited General Motors, Chrysler, Ford and other industrial giants. By October of 1940, the Arsenal for Democracy was an amazing war supply machine, churning out everything from airplanes to bullets. It is said that World War 2 was not won by soldiers but by the endless, methodical American production line.
“We must out-produce them overwhelmingly so that there can be no question of our ability to provide a crushing superiority of equipment in any theater of the world war.
-Franklin Roosevelt
American troop involvement was not a matter of if, but when. That day eventuated on December 7, 1941. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt declared war on Japan, but shrewdly omitted Germany and Italy in the declaration. In lockstep, Germany and Italy declared war on America three days later. This provided Roosevelt with his ticket to enter the war in Europe, with a consensus of support from the American people.
Crisis Management Objectives
Task #1: Unite The People
Let’s give Abraham Lincoln the task of uniting a seriously divided country. That was his forte, and our country is reaching Civil War levels of division now. The political and social rifts are incredibly intense. Any Presidential hopeful can expect walls of extreme opposition. Thin-skinned sensitive sorts need not apply.
Once, in a speech delivered during the Civil War, Lincoln referred to the Southern enemy as “fellow human beings who were in error”. Later he was chastised by someone in the crowd for being too soft on the enemy. Lincoln calmy replied,
“Why madame, do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”
Task #2: Inspiring the Country
Roosevelt is assigned this one. Turn him loose on 21st century America with his warm voice and uncanny ability to connect with people from any walk of life. It was said that after contracting polio he gained a special empathy for the poor and downtrodden.
Life in America was so depressing during the 1930s, only an unflappable character like Roosevelt could lift the country, with his warm countenance and never-say-die attitude.
Task #3: Provide Global Leadership
The Arsenal for Democracy is a great model for engagement with business leaders. No weapons are required for our unique 21st-century crisis. However, I have a vision of Roosevelt developing a global supply chain for healthcare supplies, patterned after the Arsenal concept. What I cannot see is Roosevelt allowing supply prices to skyrocket due to bidding wars between 50 states, as has been the Covid-19 experience.
Our world is changing rapidly, and visions for the future are cloudy, at best. Those who claim to see the future are just one side of delusional. There is however, one certainty, that the road ahead will require leaders of exceptional vision and possess exceptional leadership qualities to help navigate new pathways and yes, global cooperation.
Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt presided over different eras, but in those times, during extreme crises, they demonstrated extraordinary vision. They guided America through dark periods but left enduring legacies and models for leadership.
(1) Facing History and Ourselves: Statistics From The Civil War
