Where would we be without cell phones and television newscasts?
Our national leaders seem to thrive on the publicity of Congressional investigations and the airways are overburdened with "tweets" and breaking news in seemingly short lived excerpts of the last event. We are blessed with freedom of speech via any medium but it seems we the public are the target of any source capable of grabbing our attention.
We have been hearing about President Trump's first overseas trip for so long that truthfully I thought he had already gone. Since I have no "smart phone" to receive his tweets, the newscasts are my only source for major events in his life. He has managed to dominate the news with tweets, and comments made to foreign dignitaries, and firing the FBI director. It won't matter whether he is in the United States or overseas, a break from the minute-by-minute coverage will be a relief -- if we actually have one. How our president will be received overseas remains to be seen. According to the newspaper, he will be spending two days in Saudi Arabia where it is reported the "Kingdom wants Trump to align U.S. interests with Saudi Arabia's." Shouldn't that be the other way around? It certainly sounds like they are on the right track by setting up a special website just to cover his visit. They seem to be playing to his love for attention. Could a true showman like Trump himself do a better job of drawing on a person's weakness for publicity?
The president is also scheduled to attend a NATO and G-7 summit during his trip. These activities will take him to Brussels and Sicily after he visits Israel and the Vatican. If you look at the overall trip, the whole world will see and hear how he handles himself in an environment outside of America. How they judge him will be, or should be, of interest to all of us at home. This is not going to be a trip to visit a golf course or resort that he owns and can control the activities. This is going to be a real test of his leadership skills and his ability to sell American ideals in an arena for the world to evaluate.
There is no question President Trump is a very different kind of leader. From my previous exposure to several New York city residents, he is not unusual in personality and self-confidence. There is a much different outlook about life in the metropolitan New York area than we usually expect to find in native northwest Arkansans. Where my view of him varies from other men noted for their ability to "get things done" is in the realm of politics. I remember as a child three great war-time generals who used the platform of World War II to demonstrate leadership in the arena of the war. Their leadership was in stressful situations of war, where cooperation of a large number of people to achieve a goal was required. Those men each handled their responsibilities differently. They achieved success in the presence of news coverage that glamorized their success, but also exposed their humanness.
Whether the movie "Patton" did justice to the general's war-time leadership, people like me will never know. What he accomplished in the European war zone was crucial to the Allies' victory and in spite of an oversized ego, he is seen as a war hero. Whether he could have been successful in other areas of life we will never know. General MacArthur had similar results in the Pacific war zone and he is remembered as a war hero with a penchant for corn cob pipes and his willingness to express his views at the risk of personal embarrassment in the public eye of the news media.
General Eisenhower, as we all know, had a different responsibility and managed to keep our Allies in the battle and shared the success of winning. He managed to shift from war hero to the presidency and still avoid the pit falls of the political arena which came with the celebrity status of winning in both fields.
Ronald Reagan managed to turn a successful career in Hollywood into a political career but he worked up through the governor's role to the White House. He used his charismatic charm to his advantage as actor, governor and president.
The same pressure seems to be where Donald Trump stands at this point in his presidency. Can he be diplomatic enough to be seen as a world-class leader? He proved in the world of entertainment that he could succeed if writing books, building hotels and starring on television are the measure. The international stage as America's president is definitely a different setting. And, he hasn't displayed much charm since the election fever has died down.
Whether we can see the role of success in an area other than politics being a training ground and a platform for being evaluated as a leader depends on one's view. The old adage, "leaders are made, not born," seems appropriate to measure these four individuals who handled the lime-light of international success in their particular areas of training. The ability to transfer their success into other areas of society seems to have been a matter of manner and the ability to work with others. The display of these attributes seems to have made the difference when they found themselves playing in a new field. Where will "The Donald" find himself in history when he is viewed by these standards? It might help for him to learn to listen and consider the consequences before he "tweets."
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Editor's note: Leo Lynch, an award-winning columnist, is a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Editorial on 05/24/2017