Character Above All: Exploring Presidential Leadership

Character Above All was a May 29, 1996 PBS initiative that began with a television broadcast and evolved into a lecture series at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin, a published book by Simon & Schuster and a web site. It allows citizens to focus not only on the character of American presidents but on the importance of this virtue in everyday circumstances.

Excerpts from essays by notable historians on American presidents from the book Character Above All, edited by Robert A. Wilson include:

Doris Kearns Goodwin on Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Roosevelt had a remarkable capacity to transmit his internal strength to others, to allow, as White House counsel Sam Rosenman observed, the men and women who came to Washington during the new deal to begin to feel it and take part in it, to rejoice in it – and to return it tenfold by their own confidence."

Steven E. Ambrose on Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Indeed, whenever associates described Eisenhower, there was one word that almost all of them, superior or subordinate, used. It was trust. People trusted him for the most obvious reason – he was trustworthy."

Peggy Noonan on Ronald W. Reagan

"At the core of Reagan's character was courage, a courage that was, simply, natural to him, a courage that was ultimately contagious. When people say that President Ronald Reagan brought back our spirit and sense of optimism, I think what they are saying in part is, the whole country caught his courage."

America is at a crossroads due to the current culture of corruption. Our nation must rise to the challenge and dedicate itself to a new era of leadership with character at the heart of its transformation.

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Character Above All

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