The Post-Journal
The Problem Of Pomposity In Politics
JAN 6, 2024
ROLLAND KIDDER
When Bob Woodward, renowned reporter of the Watergate scandal, came to Chautauqua last summer, he was asked to comment on the many Presidents he had covered and what made or broke their Presidencies.
His reply was that the biggest problem such politicians
face is “pomposity,” in other words “getting too big for their britches.” He
not only attributed President Nixon’s downfall to this…but reflected that it
was all too often a weakness or illness that affected those in high places.
After a while, they can come to think that the rules don’t apply to them.
Perhaps the word “arrogance” also describes the
problem, and I have often thought, that “lack of humility” might also be an apt
description for the malady.
Just to remove ourselves from current politics, I have
always thought that one of President Lincoln’s great gifts was his lack of
pomposity. He knew where he had come from–the “sticks,” rural Illinois. He knew
that timing and luck played a lot in his getting elected. He did not tout
himself. He recognized the agony that the country was going through during the
Civil War, and he “agonized” with those on both sides of the conflict.
Another President who came out of that same era, was
Ulysses S. Grant. Grant had been mustered out of the Army after a rather
mediocre career and was working in his father’s leather shop business in the
small town of Galena, Illinois when the war broke out. Initially, he was not
invited to rejoin the U.S. military…so volunteered instead for the Illinois
militia. At war’s end, he had become the General responsible for all of the
armies fighting for the Union. Yet, he never forgot his humble beginnings.
Grant was not an ego man. He didn’t “toot his own
horn.” He just kept fighting and moving south. Lincoln saw this and brought him
back to Washington. Near the end of the war, the two would meet at City Point,
Virginia where Lincoln would go out to inspect the front lines. Then, at night,
he and Grant would sit around a camp fire and discuss strategies to end the
war.
When the Civil War ended, there was an epic surrender
meeting between General Grant and General Lee at Appomattox Courthouse. Lee
arrived in full uniform riding a pristine horse with his ceremonial sword
attached to his waist. Grant arrived in a plain, soldier blue uniform wearing
little, if any, rank insignia. He was disheveled and didn’t look like a
conquering general, though one he was. He was courteous and deferential toward
Lee. Had they been fighting on the same side, Grant would have been junior in rank
to Lee.
Both knew the war was over. But, Grant didn’t rub it
in. He showed humility. He didn’t tout himself or the victory.
Many years later, the same attributes would help propel
Dwight D. Eisenhower to the top of the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II.
Eisenhower had come from a small town in Kansas, and he never forgot it. His
lack of pomposity was the perfect anecdote in working with the upper crust in
Great Britain, men like Winston Churchill and General Bernard Montgomery.
Though burdened with the great task of winning a war in Europe, Eisenhower had
a sense of humility about himself and the job he faced.
Humility and the lack of pomposity are not easily
learned…they are grounded in character. It is trait we need to look for in our
leaders.
