Historian praises diverse views

By Steve Miller, Journal staff | Monday, April 16, 2007

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Modern presidents would be well-served if they appointed Cabinet members who disagreed with them, much as Abraham Lincoln did, says Doris Kearns Goodwin, who described Lincoln's contentious Cabinet in her acclaimed 2005 book, "Team of Rivals - The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln."

But such a scenario is difficult in the modern era, according to Goodwin, who will speak in Rapid City on Wednesday as part of the John T. Vucurevich Foundation speaker series.

Goodwin wrote her 2005 Lincoln book around the theme of Lincoln's mastery of his Cabinet, some of whom had challenged him for the 1860 Republican nomination for president, all of whom vastly underestimated his capacity initially, and most of whom came eventually to believe he was the greatest man they had ever known.

Goodwin's book showed how Lincoln's quiet self-confidence and political shrewdness allowed him to command his Cabinet, overcome incompetent generals and guide the fractured nation through the Civil War. Secretary of State William Seward became his closest confidante. Even Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase, who continued to undercut Lincoln during his presidency, eventually had to admit that the country lawyer from Illinois had outmaneuvered him.

Somewhat like Lincoln, President Franklin Roosevelt appointed two members of the opposite party to his cabinet.

But such Cabinet appointments have been rare since, Goodwin said.

In an interview before her Rapid City appearance, Goodwin said it would be desirable if modern presidents appointed Cabinet members who would - and could - question the president's assumptions in order to sharpen his ideas.

Desirable, but difficult, Goodwin said.

She said presidential election campaigns, including primaries, have become so personally vindictive, that it is more unlikely for unsuccessful challengers to become Cabinet members. For example, she asked, "What would it have been like if Bush had put McCain in the Cabinet?"

The second obstacle is that modern print and broadcast journalists would make such disagreements and internal maneuvering much more public, Goodwin said.

"It's hard to imagine that one could do it on the scale Lincoln did," she said.

Of course, not all presidential candidates have the unique set of personal strengths that Lincoln had to not only tolerate his sniping Cabinet but to eventually mold it into a true team.

Goodwin said Lincoln's central quality was his quiet self-confidence, which was not threatened by powerful men who not only dissented from his ideas but early on disdained his intellect.

Goodwin, who has been writing about political history for more than two decades, said she was two years into her research on Lincoln before she decided on the "Team of Rivals" theme.

She said the first surprise of her research was Lincoln's political canniness.

She also said her research showed that Lincoln was very steady of spirit and even jocular, despite his melancholy appearance and the heavy personal and public burdens he carried. "I think I'd assumed he was more depressed more of the time than he actually was," Goodwin said. "Reading the diaries, he was the one who kept everybody's spirits up most of the time."

Lincoln had his dark moments, but he wasn't paralyzed by depression even in the worst days of the war, Goodwin said. "You could see from reading the diaries and letters how many times a day he would tell a funny story or tell a joke or read a humorous piece ...," she said. "A good story for him was better than a drop of whiskey."

Yet Lincoln was often vilified while in office. Goodwin said subsequent presidents, including Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman and George W. Bush, have read about Lincoln for solace when they were receiving heavy public criticism.

Goodwin taught government at Harvard and later served as an assistant to Lyndon Johnson in his last year in the White House.

Her historical books, including "Lyndon Johnson & the American Dream" and "The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys," have been best-sellers. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her "No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt."

She is also a lifelong baseball fan, and her "Wait Till Next Year: A Memoir," is about growing up in the 1950s in love with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

She is also a television commentator and served as a consultant for PBS documentaries on Lyndon Johnson, the Kennedy family and Ken Burns' "The History of Baseball."

She is currently researching a book about Theodore Roosevelt's years as president.

Asked to speculate how history would rate the presidencies of Bill Clinton, who could claim relatively successful policy achievements but was stained by personal scandal, and George W. Bush, who has suffered no serious personal scandal but has battled a succession of policy setbacks, Goodwin would not say specifically how they should or would be judged. But, she said, "Historians, in the end, look at public failures and successes."

Contact Steve Miller at 394-8402 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com