Courageous Leadership Quotes
This quotation shows FDR doing something that politicians rarely do. The country was in the midst of the Great Depression and he was running for the Presidency against Herbert Hoover who as President would do little to help the destitute part of the population or improve the economy. Roosevelt did not lay out specific programs which he claimed would fix the problem. He himself really didn’t know for certain what would and what would not. However he promised bold experimentation—trying new things. When he was elected, he was able to fail with one program and just shift to another until enough were successful. But the great contrast was to Hoover who would do little.
Two of the 20th centuries greatest political leaders were Mao Tse-Tung and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In most respects, these two were polar opposites. However, they had one characteristic in common. They were both willing to try things they were not certain of. If they succeeded, make it a part of the national program. If it failed, try something else. See Mao {642795}.
Centuries later leaders have studied this speech and the actions taken by Elizabeth as the epitome of model leadership and morale building at a time of crisis. What made the event more dramatic were two monarchial norms of the time understood by all the citizens. Monarchs did not open themselves to the risk of very close proximity to their armies with only a handful of retainers. A dissident military commander could kill or capture the monarch as most soldiers had little loyalty to anyone but the commander who paid them. Second, monarchs usually abandoned battlefields where the outcome was uncertain and if not present certainly stayed away. Elizabeth in breaking both these norms was taking obvious risks with her own life (as a women for whom it was even more unexpected) and welfare to share the immediate fate of her subjects. It explains why an absolute monarch was extremely popular with her subjects—great leadership.
In most cases, the politicians why cry most for war, will never have to risk their own lives fighting it.
