Franklin D. Roosevelt's Certain Trumpets: Traditional Classics On Leadership

“In our personal ambitions we are individualists. But in our seeking for economic and political progress as a nation, we all go up or else all go down as one people”- Franklin D. Roosevelt (BrainyQuote, 2018). What Roosevelt was saying was the only way to grow as a nation is to be one people. He recognized that in order to be one people, one nation, the leader and the followership need to come together. Interestingly the position of a leader’s job is often a part of what he is meant to be doing as a leader. Meaning, a major part of good leadership is usually the job itself, but when accompanied by a devoted followership we have the half plus a half equaling one, which equals successful leadership. Now, when we contemplate the leaders mentioned in Certain Trumpets we can see how they corroborate, how when successful, this can be when done right. When considering the writers in Traditional Classics on Leadership we notice how they echo on what tests to authority should be allowable and what those challenges should look like.

Roosevelt was a man who knew what authority meant and how to get what he wanted. He had a clear vision of what he wanted to accomplish and he was never going to be deterred. Although, with the pursuit of his goals he brought much angst from those around him he had a unique way to bring others to rally around him. Even with his handicap he showed the world his “splendid deception” that would allow him to go down as one of the foremost leaders in the United States (Wills, p.29,