Im a sophomore mcconnells gone are scholar, and it is an honor for me to serve as mc for this program tonight. Tonight we not only have a chance to think seriously about the american presidency and its requirements for one of the truly great scholars but we also have the chance to pause and remember one of our own. This was a mcconnell scholar who graduated in 2001, after 9 11 he joined the u. S. Army and had risen to the rank of captain while he was killed serving in africa. Tonight, we remember dan as a model mcconnell scholar by asking dr. Barbara perry to deliver the daniel j utley memorial lecture. Dr. Perry is a local girl, having graduated from the anniversary of louisville with a degree in Political Science. She went on to receive her and a at Oxford University and her phd. She was able to return to one of her alma maters to serve as as a professor of ethnic and institutions. She is also the director of president ial studies and cochair of the president ial oral history program. She also served as the project director of the Edward S Kennedy oral history project. She also served as a nonresident fellow with our Mcconnell Center here at the present university of louisville. She is the author or editor of 13 books, including rose kennedy. And the Supreme Courts image in the american mind. She is a frequent guest on radio and Television News programs. Most importantly, she enjoys spending her free time watching cardinals. Ladies and gentlemen, please help us welcome dr. Barbara perry. [applause] dr. Perry thank you so much for that generous introduction. It is wonderful, as always to be here and come back to louisville. No matter how long i am in virginia, this is always home. The university of louisville is a special home. I have worked with professor paul weber he was my mentor here. He founded the Mcconnell Center. It is always special to be at the center and speaking with so many wonderful scholars here. I just wanted to say a word to the senator. I think some may view them as strange bedfellows. A lifelong, dyed in the wool democrat as paul was, scholar, and academic. And a conservative senator. They came together for the good of the commonwealth of kentucky, for the city of louisville and certainly for the university. I always want to thank them. I think paul is watching us and i always want to express my thanks to him. It is an honor to be the memorial lecturer this year. I have read about the amazing career and service to our country and the fact that he gave his life and service to our country, it makes him the ultimate mcconnell scholar. And im so grateful to be here and speaking in his honor. I want to thank my dear friend gary greg the director of the Mcconnell Center along with felicity jones. Also, to all of those at the Mcconnell Center who helped put this evening on. First of all, let me say happy president s day. Thank you for coming to celebrate with us. I always say it at the miller center. We study the presidency every day. I particularly like to spend president s day talking about topics who are of interest of those of us who follow the presidency. Might think it will be a short lecture. Does it matter who is president . Yes. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming. [laughter] dr. Perry i looked back at this topic and i remember being assigned it in 2008. I wondered at the time, why did they assign me this topic . I decided that it might be because they had a sense not that it didnt matter who was president but perhaps that all politicians are alike. When people have that view, they view them all as bad. I thought maybe they want me to distinguish those president s who are great. So i did, i started by saying that the president of matters the most are the ones who are our greatest president s. We will talk about at least two of them from Mount Rushmore and several others. I will hope that you will join in with me in thinking about what you think makes a good great president. Also, how we might apply that Going Forward when we rate and rank our president s. It wont come as a shock to you to know that the three top president s that are considered the greatest, whenever they are right or rated, these three president s come out at the top. In this order, abraham lincoln, George Washington and franklin roosevelt. I like that. They come from three different centuries, they come from three s inerent important period the history of our country. There is one democrat, one republican and one who is neither. Nonpartisan is how we view George Washington. What makes a great president . How would we define that . I came across a definition that i particularly like. It helps to distinguish these top three from the next three or four. It might include Teddy Roosevelt or Thomas Jefferson or john kennedy. Aaron david miller who is a diplomat and scholar of the presidency has written a book about why there arent any great president anymore. Sort of an interesting and intriguing topic. His definition of what makes a great president would be that you have to have preserved the country during an existential challenge or crisis. If you think about it, of course, for George Washington, saving the country as it was being pounded. It wasnt certain that our country would carry on. It could have broken apart at any time in the founding. Founding period. Fdr weathers the Great Depression, a worldwide depression and also world war ii. Great president s are great leaders. That would come as no shock to anyone. I have come across this definition of leadership that i think could be used by anyone in any organization. I think it could be used if you are the head of the pta the block watch in your neighborhood, the head of your corporation or a company. It comes from the u. S. Army handbook. The leadership influences people by providing purpose, direction and motivation. Purpose is clear, vision is clear, leadership is motivating people to operate and accomplish the mission and input of the organization. In the case of the president , that organization is the country, the presidency itself and the executive branch of government. It obviously has a major impact on the government as a whole. Lets start with washington. Clear vision he had, to be sure. He knew he wanted to save the union, he knew he had to save the union. He could have let himself become a cult of personality or even a king. Remember, he stepped aside after two terms he went home to mount vernon. If you look at the rest of the categories, they come out of the boy scout handbook. Honesty, ambition, courage, selfcontrol and discipline, impeccable judgment, devotion to work, humility, all of those would go with what we teach our children when we teach them birch owes virtures. The last one, not so much. I should give credit where credit is due to the late james rees. He was the wonderful director of mount vernon and passed away which to prematurely much too prematurely. He wrote a few books. The last one is not something you would teach your child. I will tell you in part how that works for washington. You might recall the famous phrase, he was eulogized when he passed away in 1799. That is not even three years after he left the presidency. He was eulogized as first in war, first in peace and first in the heart of his countrymen. We go back to the revolutionary war where he is the commander in chief of the american forces, fighting off the british to become independent and not a colony. The very first thing he had to learn dr. Greg has walked a lot written a lot about this. Washington was not always a successful military man. He was not successful in leaving troops in the french and indian war. He had to learn to distinguish the obvious from the not obvious. Here is one, make sure you locate the latrines are a enough away you are not expecting your infecting your troops with diseases. Pretty obvious. The second was learn effective intelligence gathering. That was less obvious, he had to learn under the circumstances of the revolutionary war. How to find most beneficial intelligence. Establish clear rules, this is pretty clear, no drunkenness in the ranks, no cursing in the ranks. These were rules he put into place. He knew that he was not a great orator. He is the least skilled in oratory of the three great president s. He only had a Grade School Education but he tended to be rather softspoken. He was not a great orator. He tended to get nervous in crowds. Having said that, he presented a commanding figure. How did he do this . First of all, he was 62. In that era, when the average man was 57 would be like looking at someone who is 66 or 67. He stood out among his contemporaries. He knew he was rather narrow of shoulder. To be dramatic, he would order his uniform specially made with large shoulders that would make him look wider. It was then said as you see from this painting he would be on a steed going into battle. He had such impeccable horsemanship. No one could sit a horse with commanding dramatic flair as washington. His troops used to be amazed that he could sit above that horse and that the horse would remain still as well because he had such complete command. Finally, this is the last one. This is something that he carried into the presidency. What were the options that he had available to him . In the revolutionary war he could not match person for unit, army for army with the british. He also he had to figure out what his options were. They were the element of surprise, particularly around the style warfare guerilla style warfare. With the french now on our side and the british behind them, he knew he had them and forced them into surrender. When he goes into the presidency, you see some of these traits and lessons come to the floor. The sign of a good leader is one that is selfconfident but not arrogant. So confident in his own leadership and in his intellect that he didnt worry about having smart people around him. For example, hamilton, we know about him because of the hit broadway play. He chose him a brilliant economist and the first secretary of the treasury. He chose Thomas Jefferson. That was his secretary of state. Henry knox was his secretary of war. Madison was in the house of representatives from virginia. Even though he had been the father of the constitution for the philadelphia convention, he didnt worry about separation of power. He would often advise washington and help him with speechwriting. He took a large role in the famous farewell address that washington gave. He also established executive privilege. This is not anything that is in the constitution. Washington thought he should have the right as the president to keep secrets and keep secret the conversation he had with his advisers. We know that this is a president that lasts up until the present time. It is modified by the Supreme Court in 1974 when Richard Nixon uses he says he doesnt have to turn over the watergate tapes. We say no, 80 the Supreme Court used that argument. They said no, we do agree that this president was established by washington. It is meant to apply to know that to military and diplomatic secrets. It does not apply in the case of watergate to evidence that was required and a criminal justice matter. This was a criminal trial in the watergate scandal. He was forced to turn those over, that narrows the definition of executive privilege to his resignation of the presidency. Another Lesson Learned on the job for washington was that he went to the senate and he thought i will listen to them as they talk about the treaty that im interested in. He decided that this is so depressing and so upsetting to listen to the senate discuss trade is that he said i am leaving and not going back. I will forge my own treaty and through the constitution, i will send them up through the senate and have them approved or not but i will not listen to them to depressing, to upsetting. Too depressing, too upsetting. This is part of the interesting dramatic to the right here. He banished the whiskey rebellion. Ryan tests riotists were not happy to have to pay a federal tax on whiskey. Washington took control of the army to march up to pennsylvania and with other commanders to put down that rebellion. A very important president set them about the power of the National Government over those who might have a different view in the state. Now i will turn to doris kearns. Oodwin i will talk about a president ial scholar, a public intellectual. She was a phd in Political Science rather than history and she focuses on her graduate work. She had a white house fellowship under lyndon johnson. She began writing on the presidency. You may have read her books on johnson. She has a very important set of commonsensical president ial greatness elements. Starting with courage and selfconfidence. Learning from mistakes, being open to change, seeing something that goes wrong and not getting stuck in a particular route. Emotional intelligence. Having a strong moral compass. She learned it from lyndon johnson, the man did not know how to relax, i dont think he knew how to relax. President s need to be able to find some way to relax. Finally, to be both inspiring and to be able to be inspired. How did lincoln carry out these elements of greatness . As she points out, he kept the faith, even on the darkest days of the civil war when it looks like the union could lose to the south and the confederacy. Even at the beginning of the presidency when the country broke apart, as someone who was against slavery, they caused the first set mistake of the confederacy to lead the union. He kept the faith and he helped the people to keep the faith. He worked with opponents. If we needed a president to reach out to the other parties, we needed it now. Rather than form a cabinet of all republicans, he reached out to the different factions of the parties. He was not opposed to rethinking his strategy. He saw that it was not working. He would rethink the military strategy. He would rejigger the strategy with his commanders. If he didnt like the commanders, he ran to a lot of them before he got to as grant, he would get rid of those commanders. He accepted blame when things went wrong. This is something that we can apply. We have a whole another list to come to. He would get mad, he would have a temper. Rather than write a letter in anger, he would write it and then put it in a drawer. He wouldnt send it, then his anger was upside. We can all learn that lesson on email and tweets and perhaps facebook posts. In addition to those categories, they also point out that lincoln had a real understanding of public sentiment. He was able to gauge where the public was. He didnt go to quickly on emancipation. He held back. He stuck to his principles which were to eventually come to the notion that slavery should be abolished. Ultimately, as he got into 1860 1863, it began to be a first printable to abolish it. He knew when and what time he should use it on public sentiment. He didnt do it after a loss for it would look like he is becoming rather hysterical. He waited until some Union Victories had mounted and then let it out. I also love this one, president s need to know how to laugh. They need to know how to take a joke, tell a joke and they also need to know how to laugh at themselves. They knew to be needs to be selfdeprecating. It makes them approachable by the people. My famous story of Stephen Douglas lincoln said that if i had two bases, would i be using this one . He knew how homely he looked. He was 64 in the 1850s and 60s, he stood out. I love this picture from the National Archives because people had to sit for so long to have the picture actually take. They tended not to smile. There is a little bit of upturn in his. He is with his son, his favorite son. I like to think that the two of them had been exchanging a funny joke. Lincoln had the gift of oratory. Despite being selftaught, he was able to weed history and drama and poetry into his speeches. Who can forget the gettysburg address . He was the number one president ial, inaugurated address. What about more modern president s . The technology changed. I turned to another scholar who taught Political Science at princeton. They are still considered a dean of president ial studies. There are six categories that are pretty self explanatory. They must be able to communicate in public and we know now that means using technology and using media particularly electronic media. They must be well organized. They should have political skill to get elected. As we discussed at the Mcconnell Center, they must also be able to go from politicking in the campaign to politicking in government. Perhaps even making a little less of the politicking and more government in governing. They need to have a clear policy. Maybe even more important than lincoln. Public policy is so important. Cognitive style, that may be less selfevident. The Millis Center did the official oral history of every president since jimmy carter. We interviewed the president s, we interviewed their top 50100 senior advisers. We are coming to the and of the bush 43 project. We are hoping that the obama budget will be required. We always ask how did your president learned . How did your president take in information . Some of it is obvious, is your president a reader . Does your president for a script or a thick briefing book . Was he someone who preferred to listen rather than to read or be briefed . How did he take that information and apply it . We get very interesting answers to that. Finally, emotional intelligence. I would say that would be balance to be mature, to be someone who does not fly off the handle. Someone who doesnt have a red hot temper were sure to view short view. We come to the first modern president , fdr. How did greenstein apply this to fdr . Soaring rhetoric, competence, 25 of the people were out of work. My own family lived in dayton ohio at the time. My grandfather lost his job after the stock market crash. He didnt work steadily for six years. They lost their home, they had to