The Makings of a Leader: A Review of Doris Kearns Goodwin's Leadership in Turbulent Times

Abstract

The Makings of a LeaderA Review of Doris Kearns Goodwin's Leadership in Turbulent Times Madison Stern (bio) Doris Kearns Goodwin. Leadership in Turbulent Times. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2018. 473 pages. Hardcover $30 From red apparel emblazoned with the phrase "Make America Great Again" to increasingly divided rhetoric in American politics, any citizen of the world cannot help but watch as the United States devours itself with its own polarized system. Some argue that the era of American hegemony is over in part due to isolationist policies.1 As the future begins to look less certain for the country, one must ask: what American era are we hailing as great, and what made it so? In Leadership in Turbulent Times, Doris Kearns Goodwin examines the effects that four leaders in American history had on the country in some of its darkest hours. Good-win, a Pulitzer Prize winner and renowned historian with over fifty years of experience, follows Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson through their lives. The book, enlivening history with its heavy reliance on firsthand accounts of the four men in action, begins with the ripples of their upbringing and their interest in politics and travels with them all the way to their deaths. All four have very divergent experiences, though Goodwin identifies certain facets of their lives, such as personal tragedy and good timing, as key in their success as leaders. Though the book focuses entirely on the past without reference to the modern day, Goodwin's critique of modern leadership shines through the prose. Goodwin's book examines the importance of adept leadership in times of division, though the traits that make these leaders well-suited for their times vary. Becoming the Man Goodwin's stories of the four men's vastly different childhoods show the importance of character that goes beyond formation by mere circumstances. Abraham Lincoln, her first study, displays humility and a voracious mind as he grows up in poverty, with anecdotes of the future president walking miles to find a proper English grammar book or borrowing books and candlelight from neighbors.2 She particularly highlights his empathy, noting his "ability to put himself in the place of others, to imagine their situations and identify with their feelings."3 For Goodwin, this early empathy, mixed with a growing ambition and an unsurpassed eloquence, would later become one of the key features of his leadership style that she applauds. In Franklin Roosevelt, she recognizes his adaptability, gained through continual shifts in his life circumstances after his father's health declined.4 For Goodwin, these vignettes of the great men's youths aim to provide the reader both a vivid, engaging story and the honest truth that no single formula made these men. Each grew up in his unique situation, with varying degrees [End Page 154] of parenting and wealth and different paths that led them eventually to politics. Living Up to the Challenges A key aspect of the narrative of each life that Goodwin focuses on is the personal tragedy that befalls each leader in turn. From these tragedies, Goodwin asserts, these men learned some of their most critical lessons as they dragged themselves up through the darkness and came out the other end. Certainly, just as their early lives are different, so too are their tragedies. Lincoln copes with crippling depression, while Theodore Roosevelt says that "the light has gone out" of his life after losing his mother and wife within twenty-four hours, and Franklin Roosevelt is paralyzed by a sudden polio infection.5 In this, Lyndon B. Johnson's narrative of losing an election to the Senate seems a little bit out of place. It particularly stands out since the other men had experienced their own failures in politics, and those failures did not break them down, only pushed them to question their previous tactics. However, the ability to overcome adversity through reflection and personal strength remains a theme that Goodwin identifies in their later successes as leaders. This section also helps to humanize these revered men by telling some of the lesser-known stories of their struggles as they moved toward their leadership...