The American Revolution produced a galaxy of brilliant
\npoliticians and statesmen of extraordinary courage,
\nintellect, creativity, and character. They succeeded in
\ndrafting an unparalleled Constitution and establishing
\nenduring democratic political institutions while
\nnevertheless failing to grapple with the wrenching issue of
\nslavery and the rights of women. In this course, we will
\nexplore the lives, ideas, and political leadership of these
\nmen, most of whom belonged to the social elite of their day:
\nWashington, Madison, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, and
\nHamilton. We will study in depth their superb writings and
\nalso read recent interpretations of the founding generation
\nby Gordon Wood, Joseph Ellis, Edmund Morgan, and others.<\/p>\n
In this seminar, we will focus on the leadership of
\nsome of the greatest American presidents–Washington,
\nJefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt —
\nas well as some of the most controversial– Lyndon Johnson
\nand Richard Nixon. We will investigate how these presidents
\ndeveloped as leaders before as well as after their election
\nto the presidency. How did they determine their goals,
\nassemble their leadership teams, and mobilize followers?
\nWhat challenges did they face and what principles guided them?
\nWhat kind of character, intellect, skill, and talent are required
\nof presidents? Can we relate these historical examples to the
\nAmerican presidency today? Readings will include correspondence,
\nspeeches, biographies, and political analysis.<\/p>\n
In the late 18th century, two revolutions burst forth– they
\nwere the most striking and consequential events in modern
\nhistory, decisive turning-points that transformed society and
\npolitics. This course takes an interdisciplinary approach
\nto the study of the overarching ideas and visions of the
\nsister revolutions. Through works of literature,
\ncorrespondence, political essays and speeches, we will seek
\nto understand the fundamental goals and accomplishments of
\nboth revolutions. We will read works by Rousseau,
\nRobespierre, Saint-Just, Tocqueville, Victor Hugo, Edmund
\nBurke, Thomas Paine, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton,
\nThomas Jefferson, and others.<\/p>\n
In this course we will study the lives, ideas, visions and, above all, the political and moral leadership of Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. The three Roosevelts transformed the role of government in American society, bringing about fundamental and lasting change. What were their leadership strategies and styles? Did they mobilize followers or did their followers mobilize them? How did they balance political compromise with bold, principled leadership? How did their personalities affect their visions and their goals? To what extent did they offer ethical and moral leadership? In addition to studying histories and biographies, we will do extensive research in primary source material.
\nFormat: Seminar.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
— LEAD 285 and POLI SCI 285 The Revolutionary Generation: Galaxy of Leaders The American Revolution produced a galaxy of brilliant politicians and statesmen of extraordinary courage, intellect, creativity, and character. They succeeded in drafting an unparalleled Constitution and establishing …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2758,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-327","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/susan-dunn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/susan-dunn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/susan-dunn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/susan-dunn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2758"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/susan-dunn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/susan-dunn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":703,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/susan-dunn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/327\/revisions\/703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/susan-dunn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}