Lion In The White House By Theodore Roosevelt: Pressure For Change

Theodore Roosevelt was undoubtedly a visionary leader. In the early 1900’s, the worldwas on the verge of the First World War Theodore Roosevelt had concerns with the UnitedStates’ ability to defend ourselves from increasingly aggressive world powers. According toAida Donald’s book Lion in the White House, President Roosevelt was not content with theability of the Navy to defend our borders, and he repeatedly engaged Congress and the Americanpeople regarding the construction of the Panama Canal as there were not enough ships toposition at all the locations required. At the time, most American’s could not envision being ableto complete such an endeavor (Donald, 2007). Despite resistance to the building of the PanamaCanal, President Roosevelt

This feat wasn’tsomething Theodore Roosevelt could accomplish on his own; he needed the support of thecongress and the American people. As shown in Aida Donald’s book, he expertly used his abilityto create a Pressure for Change and displayed Inspirational Motivation to gain support for thismonumental project. The Barnes Center identifies Pressure for Change, specifically throughpeace as, “peace necessitates, at least in the minds of some people, the need for reduction is sizeof military forces” (BCEE, 2014a). In this instance however, President Roosevelt createdpressure for change by showing the public the need to expand military capability to preservepeace. Additionally, President Roosevelt used the Transformational Leadership trait, Inspirational Motivation. As stated in the Full Range Leadership Module, InspirationalMotivation is a leadership trait where the leader can motivate others to strive towards a “mustachieve future” (BCEE, 2014b). President Roosevelt was able to do this in the early 1900’s. ThePanama Canal was a feat that most people at the time felt could not be accomplished and did notunderstand the need for this