On
Tuesday December 11th
Michael Beschloss made an appearance in Schneider auditorium as the
second of five cultural life presentations. Beschloss is a White
House Historical Association member, National Archives Foundation
trustee, and has served as a historian for the Smithsonian
Institution. He has written multiple books about presidents such as
Truman and Roosevelt, as well as novels on Jackie Kennedy and the
Cold war. Currently he works for NBC news and PBS.
His
lecture on “Presidential Leadership” was open to the public, and
attracted a variety of people. The auditorium was filled with local
historians from Brown, URI, and other local influential institutions,
Johnson and Wales faculty, and a plethora of students.
While
some people found his hour long speech to be rambled, confusing, and
filled with examples that went right over their heads, most intently
listened to every word Beschloss had to say.
The
lecture had three main points:
- How to study a president.
- What makes a good president?
- Is the system to choose our president a good one?
Beschloss
explained, “To study a president correctly you need to look into
how he was out of the office,” In other words, how the president
thought and what actions he took when nobody was watching. Also,
examiners should take a look at decisions they've made years after
they made them, as new discoveries are more likely to be released.
He
also informed the audience on his 4 points to being a good president:
- Guts: to make a decision no matter what consequence it may have on your campaign.
- Persuasion: to have faith that you can convince America what is right and wrong for the country.
- A Sense of History: looking back to similar crisis in the past to search for ways to solve today’s crises.
- Acceptance: “can they deal with other opinions” For example, if the president is democratic, will they be able to compromise with republicans?
Lastly
he shared his opinion on our current election process. Beschloss
believes that our current system “is less likely to choose great
presidents.” He believes that way too much money goes into a
campaign and instead of a battle between minds, it becomes a
competition to see who can spend the most money.
He
presented many examples, and showed off his historical knowledge
during the entire hour. After his lecture, there was a question and
answer segment. Many people, content on what they just heard, left,
leaving many historians, ready for some historical debate.
The
questions varied. Some were simple, such as “What got you started
in history?” While others contained points such as Iran and US
controversy, differences in presidents from first to second term, and
if presidents are natural born leaders or not. But possibly the best
question, based on the fact that this lecture was on a college
campus, was simply “Why are voters today less informed?”
Beschloss explained that back in the day there were only three
television channels, and if the president was speaking, he was on
every channel, the same goes for times when the radio was the best
way to communicate to the masses. Today, people who do not wish to
listen to the speech can simply change the channel or read an
different article on the internet. As the question and answer
section concluded, Beschloss informed us on his upcoming projects.
The
lecture was a huge success and a positive experience to those who
went. After the interesting presentation that Beschloss made,
students and staff are now looking forward to going to the other
three speakers coming up in the cultural life series. We thank
Michael Beschloss for coming to Johnson and Wales and sharing his
historical incite with us.
