American political scions evoke a central contradiction in our thinking. We believe - or say we do - in nurture, not nature. Yet we are comforted by the aristocratic notion that leadership might run in the bloodlines. Michael Beschloss More Quotes by Michael Beschloss More Quotes From Michael Beschloss To people who remember JFK's assassination, JFK Jr. will probably always be that boy saluting his father's coffin. Michael Beschloss fathers-dayboyspeople First of all, there's no mention of political parties in the Constitution, so you begin American history with not only no political conventions but also no parties. Michael Beschloss politicalpartyfirsts So if 1960 had occurred under the old convention system, Kennedy would have had a very hard time getting the Democratic nomination because he would have been rejected by all those people who had worked with him in Washington. Michael Beschloss nominationshard-timespeople Roosevelt understands that there are things that are worth surrendering your career for, like defending the country against [Adolf] Hitler. Michael Beschloss careerscountry You have had presidential candidates over the last 30 years who would have had a very hard time getting nominated under the old system. One example is John Kennedy. Michael Beschloss presidentialhard-timesyears As parties began to develop around the turn of the 19th century, you had party nominees for President nominated in caucuses made up of party members in Congress. Michael Beschloss aggravationpartypresident So the result was that as one approached a political convention for most of the 19th century and for most of the 20th century until the 1960's, part of the drama was the fact that you didn't know ultimately who was going to be the nominee at the end of that convention week. Michael Beschloss politicaldramafacts Legacy is what a president does that affects later generations. Michael Beschloss legacypresidentdoe The Founding Fathers would be sorry to see that America had become so divided and factionalized. Michael Beschloss sorryfatheramerica The founders were very worried that if parties developed in America, you might have something like the modern Italian system, where you have 20 different parties that divide Congress and the country and can't govern. Michael Beschloss partyitaliancountry Then you get to the last half of the 20th century, Americans are getting very skeptical about their leaders and their institutions, and another place that is affected is parties and conventions. Michael Beschloss partyleaderhalf What if we had a culture that prevented these presidents from being courageous? And I worry now that we have a system that makes it very hard to choose people who would make the same courage choice as our great presidents. And I guess what I would say is, in this next campaign, take a look at the people who are running. If they don't remind you of the great presidents, do not vote for them. Michael Beschloss worryrunningpeople A lot of it was, you know, you look for moments where, for instance, we were dependent on Abraham Lincoln making sure that the slaves were freed or John Kennedy bringing civil rights, or the first one I wrote about, George Washington trying to stop the British from invading and ending this country before it even began. Those were turning points where, if you had not had a president stepping up to the plate, if there wasn't a story like that, we would not be here. Michael Beschloss presidenttryingcountry Lincoln was able to say, you know, "It will make me very unhappy if I lose the presidency, but I'm committed to larger things." If you look at candidates and say this is someone who can be happy to go back to their family or they have larger convictions. Franklin Roosevelt jeopardized his presidency by telling Americans in 1940, "We might have to fight Hitler." He loved being president, but he loved defending freedom more. Michael Beschloss fightingunhappypresident We cannot be spun, or at least we'd like to think that we cannot be. And the presidents who are trying to - too overtly to try to say, here is what you historians and what you later Americans should think of my presidency, 30 or 40 years later, they look silly. Michael Beschloss sillytryingthinking You don't say that for a senator to be a great senator he has to vote against his constituency. Michael Beschloss senatorsvote I'm defining [presidential courage] pretty narrowly. It's not only taking a big political risk but it's also the risk that in the hindsight of history, people think it's wise. Michael Beschloss wisepeoplethinking The original thing that fascinated me most was why we expect leaders, and especially presidents, at times to destroy themselves - and that's a sign of being a good leader or a good president. We usually don't expect that of almost anyone else in any profession, in particular, in public life. Michael Beschloss professionleaderpresident The point is that you see candidates running in these different kinds of contests. A primary shows you something that's different from a state party convention, which shows you something that is different than what a caucus shows you. Michael Beschloss partydifferentrunning You have to raise $100 million, probably, to be serious. Michael Beschloss millionsraisesserious
