Wilsonian Crisis Leadership, the Organic State, and the Modern Presidency

Abstract

In Woodrow Wilson's writings on presidential leadership, crisis serves as a solution to the grinding gears of institutional gridlock. This notion of crisis leadership is closely tied to Wilson's vision of the organic state, which posited a deep underlying and even mystical popular unity, brought to the surface by the spur of crisis and knit together by a prophetic, interpretive leader. This link between crisis leadership and the organic state undergirded Wilson's famous break with the American Founding. This article argues that the struggles with inadequacy experienced by most modern U.S. presidents come into sharper focus through the lens of Wilson's leadership theories. Since Wilson's critique of the Founding involves a rejection of Lockean limits, such a refocusing might begin by reconsidering those limits, including the limits of consensus and the limits of leadership.