Rise of Obama: The Lincoln Link

Abstract

Since about the time that Franklin D. Roosevelt first became president of the United States of America, theorists have applied scholarly research techniques to speculate about the motivation of political leaders. The first classic work, Harold D. Lasswell’s Psychopathology and Politics (1936), employed a novel approach, applying Sigmund Freud’s psychological work to politics. Lasswell argued that politicians in general are insecure neurotics because they failed to have their most basic psychological needs met in childhood. As a consequence, when they reach adulthood, these individuals typically seek power to fill that lunca in their psyche. Lasswell adopted Freudian theory to postulate that political leaders “displace their private frustrations onto public objects and rationalize it in terms of the public good.” In short, political leaders are psychologically sick individuals for whom power becomes a soothing balm. Even a cursory examination of Napoleon Bonaparte, Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, and Joseph Stalin, along with dozens of lesser-known dictators, seemingly validates both Freud’s pessimism about human nature and Lasswell’s cynical view of politicians. In the ensuing decades, challenges to Lasswell’s conclusions have been mounted by other theorists who argue that his work was too one sided and ignored prominent leaders, such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Mahatma Gandhi, who did not fit his mold.1KeywordsPolitical LeaderPresidential CandidateModern PsychologistQuick PathFreudian TheoryThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.