In his essay “Churchill and Roosevelt,” Sir Isaiah Berlin compares and contrasts the personalities of Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Britain, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, the President of the United States. Berlin begins his essay by comparing Churchill’s political abilities to that of Disraeli. He then states that Roosevelt possesses similar powers as Churchill. However, according to Berlin, Churchill and Roosevelt are actually much more different than they are alike. These differences are, in his opinion, very obviously brought out by the roles each leader played in World War II. While Berlin tries to maintain a façade of objectiveness, he clearly favors Churchill over Roosevelt. Berlin claims that Roosevelt stands out because he …show more content…
For this reason, unlike Roosevelt, Churchill does not reflect back what is happening in the world. Berlin claims, “Rather, he creates one of such power and coherence that it becomes a reality and alters the external world by imposing upon it with irresistible force” (559). Churchill is not a leader that is a reflection of the current times and where society seems to be headed. Instead, he meditates and draws within himself and creates his own ideas (that are so powerful that they become reality). In the beginning of his essay, Berlin paints a flattering portrait of Roosevelt’s leadership, but this changes as the essay reaches the end. Berlin describes Roosevelt as a “spontaneous, optimistic, pleasure-loving ruler,” but does not say that these are positive qualities (559). He contrasts these qualities with the personality of Churchill, who he states is “not frivolous man” (559). Until that statement, the picture he paints of Roosevelt is a largely positive one. Berlin goes on to claim that Churchill’s “nature possesses a dimension of depth – and a corresponding sense of tragic possibilities – which Roosevelt’s light-hearted genius instinctively passed by” (559). It is clear that which he states that Roosevelt had a type of genius, it was not necessarily the type he found to be positive. He positions Roosevelt to be on the opposite side of the spectrum to