Private Emotions on the Public Stage: The Case of Envy and the American Presidency

Abstract

This paper examines the different expressions of envy as they are manifested in the historical literature on American Presidents. The concept of envy is reviewed with an emphasis on its uncertain origins, its relationships to social learning theory, and psychoanalytical explanations of the emotion. Envy is especially prominent in consumer-oriented competitive societies with discrete youth cultures such as our own. American Presidents often exhibit envy as a result of childhood experiences, their resentment of advantaged people, highly charged professional competition, and their views of history and heroes. Envy is also an important element in expressing social reform and in the uncertain search for justice and equality.