Presidential Historians For Obama

History matters. If we paid more attention to it, learned more of it in school, we'd be a wise people.
Here are the historians who think obama would make a great president and their statement on why he'd be a good president.

Historians for Obama
Manan Ahmed, Shawn Leigh Alexander, Catherine Allgor, Laura Anker, Joyce Appleby, Ray Arsenault, Robert Baker, Lewis V. Baldwin, Christopher Bates, Rosalyn Baxandall, Robert L. Beisner, Doron Ben-Atar, William C. Berman, David Blight, Ruth Bloch, Daniel Bluestone, Edward J. Blum, Carolyn A. Brown, Mari Jo Buhle, Paul Buhle, Randolph Campbell, Charles Capper, Clayborne Carson, John Chavez, William Cohen, Dennis Cordell, Mary F. Corey, George Cotkin, Edward Countryman, Daniel W. Crofts, Robert Dallek, Jared N. Day, John d'Entremont, Dennis C. Dickerson, David Doyle, Jr., David V. Du Fault, W. Marvin Dulaney, Gretchen Cassel Eick, Carolyn Eisenberg, J. Michael Farmer, Michael Fellman, Antonio Feros, Peter Filene, Kenneth Fones-Wolf, William E. Forbath, Shannon Frystak, Matthew Gabriele, Lloyd Gardner, David Gellman, James Gilbert, Toni Gilpin, Rebecca A. Goetz, Warren Goldstein, Linda Gordon, Anthony T. Grafton, Will Gravely, James Green, Sara M. Gregg, Robert Griffith, Michael Grossberg, James Grossman, Carol S. Gruber, Joshua Guild, Roland L. Guyotte, David Hall, Kenneth Hamilton, J. William Harris, Nancy A. Hewitt, Jonathan Holloway, Jeffrey Houghtby, Tera W. Hunter, Harold Hyman, Maurice Jackson, Lisa Jacobson, Randal Jelks, John Jentz, Benjamin H. Johnson, David A. Johnson, Robert KC Johnson, Jennifer M. Jones, Patrick D. Jones, Peniel E. Joseph, Michael Kazin, Ari Kelman, Richard H. King, Sarah Knott, Melinda Lawson, Steven Lawson, Jackson Lears, Alan Lessoff, Edward T. Linenthal, William A. Link, James Livingston, Paul K. Longmore, Ralph E. Luker, J. Fred MacDonald, Chandra Manning, Norman Markowitz, Kevin Mattson, Martha May, Timothy Patrick McCarthy, Joseph A. McCartin, Robert S. McElvaine, Marjorie McLellan, James McPherson, Tony Michels, Walter Moss, Todd Moye, Joan Neuberger, Michelle Nickerson, David O'Brien, William L. O'Neill, William A. Pencak, Claire Potter, Michael Punke, David Quigley, Stephen G. Rabe, Albert J. Raboteau, Monica A. Rankin, Janice Reiff, Leo Ribuffo, Natalie J. Ring, Ruth Rosen, Peter Rothstein, Edward B. Rugemer, Douglas C. Sackman, Leonard J. Sadosky, Nick Salvatore, Brian Sandberg, John Savage, Martha Saxton, Ellen W. Schrecker, Rachel F. Seidman, Brett L. Shadle, James Sidbury, Daniel J. Singal, Manisha Sinha, Harvard Sitkoff, Daniel Soyer, Paul Spickard, Brian Steele, James Brewer Stewart, Jeffrey Stewart, Mary Stroll, David Thelen, Jeffrey Trask, Stephenie Ambrose Tubbs, Bruce M. Tyler, Siva Vaidhyanathan, Kara Dixon Vuic, David J. Weber, Barbara Weinstein, Richard Weiss, Kathleen Wellman, Daniel Wickberg, Craig Steven Wilder, Margaret Williams, R. Hal Williams, David W. Wills, Charters Wynn, Susan Yohn, Eli Zaretsky

HNN Editor: The list of signers was updated 2-3-08.

Our country is in serious trouble. The gap between the wealthy elite and the working majority grows ever larger, tens of millions of Americans lack health insurance and others risk bankruptcy when they get seriously ill, and many public schools do a poor job of educating the next generation. Due to the arrogant, inept foreign policy of the current administration, more people abroad mistrust and fear the United States than at any time since the height of the Vietnam War. Meanwhile, global warming speeds toward an unprecedented catastrophe. Many Republicans and overwhelming numbers of Independents and Democrats believe that, under George W. Bush, the nation has badly lost its way. The 2008 election thus comes at a critical time in the history of the United States and the world.

We endorse Barack Obama for president because we think he is the candidate best able to address and start to solve these profound problems. As historians, we understand that no single individual, even a president, leads alone or outside a thick web of context. As Abraham Lincoln wrote to a friend during the Civil War, "I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me."

However, a president can alter the mood of the nation, making changes possible that once seemed improbable. Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and kept the nation united; Franklin D. Roosevelt persuaded Americans to embrace Social Security and more democratic workplaces; John F. Kennedy advanced civil rights and an anti-poverty program.

Barack Obama has the potential to be that kind of president. He has the varied background of a global citizen: his father was African, his stepfather Indonesian, his mother worked in the civil rights movement, and he spent several years of his childhood overseas. As an adult, he has been a community organizer, a law professor, and a successful politician - both at the state and national level. These experiences have given him an acute awareness of the inequalities of race and class, while also equipping him to speak beyond them.

Obama's platform is ambitious, yet sensible. He calls for negotiating the abolition of nuclear weapons, providing universal and affordable health insurance, combatting poverty by adding resources and discouraging destructive habits, investing in renewable energy sources, and engaging with unfriendly nations to ease conflicts that could otherwise lead to war. He takes more forthright stands on these issues than do his major Democratic competitors.

But it is his qualities of mind and temperament that really separate Obama from the rest of the pack. He is a gifted writer and orator who speaks forcefully but without animus. Not since John F. Kennedy has a Democrat candidate for president showed the same combination of charisma and thoughtfulness - or provided Americans with a symbolic opportunity to break with a tradition of bigotry older than the nation itself. Like Kennedy, he also inspires young people who see him as a great exception in a political world that seems mired in cynicism and corruption.

As president, Barack Obama would only begin the process of healing what ails our society and ensuring that the U.S. plays a beneficial role in the world. But we believe he is that rare politician who can stretch the meaning of democracy, who can help revive what William James called "the civic genius of the people." We invite other historians to add your name to this statement.

Manan Ahmed, Cliopatria*
Shawn Leigh Alexander, University of Kansas
Catherine Allgor, University of California, Riverside
Laura Anker, SUNY, Old Westbury
Joyce Appleby, University of California, Los Angeles
Ray Arsenault, University of South Florida

Robert Baker, Georgia State University
Lewis V. Baldwin, Vanderbilt University
Christopher Bates, California State Polytechnic, Pomona
Rosalyn Baxandall, SUNY/Old Westbury
Robert L. Beisner, American University
Doron Ben-Atar, Fordham University
William C. Berman, University of Toronto
David Blight, Yale University
Ruth Bloch, University of California, Los Angeles
Daniel Bluestone, University of Virginia
Edward J. Blum, San Diego State University
Carolyn A. Brown, Rutgers University
Mari Jo Buhle, Brown University
Paul Buhle, Brown University

Randolph Campbell, University of North Texas
Charles Capper, Boston University
Clayborne Carson, Stanford University
John Chavez, Southern Methodist University
William Cohen, Hope College
Dennis Cordell, Southern Methodist University
Mary F. Corey, University of California, Los Angeles
George Cotkin, California Polytechnic Institute
Edward Countryman, Southern Methodist University
Daniel W. Crofts, The College of New Jersey

Robert Dallek, Boston University
Jared N. Day, Carnegie Mellon University
John d'Entremont, Randolph College
Dennis C. Dickerson, Vanderbilt University
David Doyle, Jr., Southern Methodist University
David V. Du Fault, San Diego State University
W. Marvin Dulaney, College of Charleston

Gretchen Cassel Eick, Friends University
Carolyn Eisenberg, Hofstra University

J. Michael Farmer, University of Texas, Dallas
Michael Fellman, Simon Fraser University
Antonio Feros, University of Pennsylvania
Peter Filene, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Kenneth Fones-Wolf, University of West Virginia
William E. Forbath, University of Texas, Austin
Shannon Frystak, East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania

Matthew Gabriele, Virginia Tech
Lloyd Gardner, Rutgers University
David Gellman, DePauw University
James Gilbert, University of Maryland
Toni Gilpin, Chicago, Illinois
Rebecca A. Goetz, Rice University
Warren Goldstein, University of Hartford
Linda Gordon, New York University
Anthony T. Grafton, Princeton University
Will Gravely, University of Denver
James Green, University of Massachusetts, Boston
Sara M. Gregg, Iowa State University
Robert Griffith, American University
Michael Grossberg, Indiana University
James Grossman, Newberry Library
Carol S. Gruber, William Paterson University
Joshua Guild, Princeton University
Roland L. Guyotte, University of Minnesota, Morris

David Hall, Harvard University
Kenneth Hamilton, Southern Methodist University
J. William Harris, University of New Hampshire
Nancy A. Hewitt, Rutgers University
Jonathan Holloway, Yale University
Jeffrey Houghtby, Iowa State University
Tera W. Hunter, Princeton University
Harold Hyman, Rice University

Maurice Jackson, Georgetown University
Lisa Jacobson, University of California, Santa Barbara
Randal Jelks, Calvin College
John Jentz, Marquette University
Benjamin H. Johnson, Southern Methodist University

David A. Johnson, Portland State University
Robert KC Johnson, Brooklyn College
Jennifer M. Jones, Rutgers University
Patrick D. Jones, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Peniel E. Joseph, Brandeis University

Michael Kazin, Georgetown University
Ari Kelman, University of California, Davis
Richard H. King, University of Nottingham
Sarah Knott, Indiana University

Melinda Lawson, Union College
Steven Lawson, Rutgers University
Jackson Lears, Rutgers University
Alan Lessoff, Illinois State University
Edward T. Linenthal, Indiana University
William A. Link, University of Florida
James Livingston, Rutgers University
Paul K. Longmore, San Francisco State University
Ralph E. Luker, Cliopatria

J. Fred MacDonald, Northeastern Illinois University
Chandra Manning, Georgetown University
Norman Markowitz, Rutgers University
Kevin Mattson, Ohio University
Martha May, Western Connecticut State University
Timothy Patrick McCarthy, Harvard University
Joseph A. McCartin, Georgetown University
Robert S. McElvaine, Millsaps College
Marjorie McLellan, Wright State University
James McPherson, Princeton University
Tony Michels, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Walter Moss, Eastern Michigan University
Todd Moye, University of North Texas

Joan Neuberger, University of Texas, Austin
Michelle Nickerson, University of Texas, Dallas

David O'Brien, College of the Holy Cross
William L. O'Neill, Rutgers University

William A. Pencak, Pennsylvania State University
Claire Potter, Wesleyan University
Michael Punke, University of Montana

David Quigley, Boston College

Stephen G. Rabe, University of Texas, Dallas
Albert J. Raboteau, Princeton University
Monica A. Rankin, University of Texas, Dallas
Janice Reiff, University of California, Los Angeles
Leo Ribuffo, George Washington University
Natalie J. Ring, University of Texas, Dallas
Ruth Rosen, University of California, Berkeley
Peter Rothstein, Juniata College
Edward B. Rugemer, Yale University

Douglas C. Sackman, University of Puget Sound
Leonard J. Sadosky, Iowa State University
Nick Salvatore, Cornell University
Brian Sandberg, Northern Illinois University
John Savage, Lehigh University
Martha Saxton, Amherst College
Ellen W. Schrecker, Yeshiva University
Rachel F. Seidman, Duke University
Brett L. Shadle, Virginia Tech
James Sidbury, University of Texas at Austin
Daniel J. Singal, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Manisha Sinha, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Harvard Sitkoff, University of New Hampshire
Daniel Soyer, Fordham University
Paul Spickard, University of California, Santa Barbara
Brian Steele, University of Alabama, Birmingham
James Brewer Stewart, Macalester College
Jeffrey Stewart, George Mason University
Mary Stroll, University of California, San Diego

David Thelen, Indiana University
Jeffrey Trask, New York University
Stephenie Ambrose Tubbs, Helena, Montana
Bruce M. Tyler, University of Louisville

Siva Vaidhyanathan, University of Virginia
Kara Dixon Vuic, Bridgewater College

David J. Weber, Southern Methodist University
Barbara Weinstein, New York University
Richard Weiss, University of California, Los Angeles
Kathleen Wellman, Southern Methodist University
Daniel Wickberg, University of Texas, Dallas
Craig Steven Wilder, Dartmouth College
Margaret Williams, William Patterson University
R. Hal Williams, Southern Methodist University
David W. Wills, Amherst College
Charters Wynn, University of Texas, Austin

Susan Yohn, Hofstra University

Eli Zaretsky, New School for Social Research


*Institutional affiliations are listed for identification purposes only and, of course, do not indicate an institutional endorsement.
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what are presidential qualities?

Roosevelt was called inexperienced.

Presidential Historian: Roosevelt was Called Inexperienced

i believe people call obama inexperienced when they really want to say something else or they can't think of anything else. that's the line that clinton fed them but the argument that he's inexperienced just doesn't fly.
besides, presidential historian robert dallek, on npr this morning, said "experience" isn't an indicator of how someone will perform in the oval office. whether they were governor or senator or owner of a business. no matter.
great presidents such as roosevelt and lincoln were criticized for being too inexperienced.
he said judgement and leadership is a better indicator.
"the best of our presidents have always recognized that leadership required a personal connection between the president and the people, or that the power of the Oval Office rests to a great degree on the affection of the country for its chief."

this is an excerpt from dallek's book on five things that measure a great president and might i add, obama has them all.

Presidential historian Robert Dallek maintains there are five categories by which to measure an effective president. While noting that these categories "are not intended to be the last … word on how to succeed in the White House," Dallek nevertheless points out that it is striking how each of these elements "has been present and absent in the leadership of the most and least effective chiefs." Dallek is professor of history at Boston University and author of books on Lyndon B. Johnson, Ronald Reagan, Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy.

This passage is excerpted from Dallek's book, Hail to the Chief: The Making and Unmaking of American Presidents. New York: Hyperion, 1996, ppxx-xxi. (2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, 2001.) Reprinted with permission of the author and publisher.

…Two hundred years of our country's history suggest that five qualities have been constants in the men who have most effectively fulfilled the oath of office. First, every successful president has had vision, insight, or understanding: a clear idea of where he wished to lead the nation in its quest for a better future. However illusory some of these dreams have been, whether for a harmonious nation or for America's Manifest Destiny to expand across the continent and out into the Caribbean and the Pacific, a clear and comprehensible grand design has been central to every significant presidential advance. Second, the most successful of our chiefs have also been great realists or pragmatists -- politicians who understood that politics was the art of the possible or that the road to proficient leadership was through a sensible opportunism or flexible response to changing conditions at home and abroad.

Third, presidential gains have depended on the consent of the governed: presidents without a national consensus for major policies touching people's everyday lives are politicians courting defeat. Fourth, the best of our presidents have always recognized that leadership required a personal connection between the president and the people, or that the power of the Oval Office rests to a great degree on the affection of the country for its chief. From Washington to Lincoln to the two Roosevelts and, most recently, Reagan, the force of presidential personality has been a major factor in determining a president's fate. And fifth, a corollary to conditions three and four, presidents need credibility -- presidents who are unable to earn the trust of their countrymen are governors who cannot govern and lead.

While vision, pragmatism, consensus-building, charisma, and trustworthiness may be considered discrete categories, they are in fact inextricably linked: each of these political practices connects to and builds upon the other. No president has distinguished himself simply by being a visionary, or a good practical politician, or a charming, trustworthy reflector of national views. Though the chapters that follow elaborate on how the presence and absence of each of these elements in various administrations has made a difference in advancing the national well-being, it would be reductionist to suggest that any of them stand alone. Can there be consensus without vision or political compromise? Can there be trust without popular appeal or vice versa? Like history itself the elements of presidential effectiveness form a seamless web. And like the scientist in his laboratory, we isolate each of them only for the sake of closer study. Taken as a whole, I hope they will demonstrate why and how past presidents have served the nation well and ill and how a fresh attempt at understanding them can advance the cause of enlightened leadership in the years ahead.

The White House at the end of the twentieth century is as removed from Washington's day as the jet plane is from the horse and buggy. The global responsibilities a chief executive faces today dwarf those his counterpart encountered in the 1790s, as does his impact on the economic and social life of the nation. Nuclear weapons, electronic communications, and national and international responsibilities compel presidents to think and act differently from their early predecessors in the office. But, as the examples in the following chapters demonstrate, the elements of compelling leadership have largely remained unchanged. Washington and Jefferson, Jackson and Lincoln, TR and Wilson, FDR and Reagan, are continuing models for effective performance in the White House. Future presidents will not find a formula for greatness in their actions, but they will gain some wisdom from remembering the accomplishments of their most effective antecedents. History offers no surefire solutions to current dilemmas, but it can provide guidelines that future chiefs ignore at their peril.

presidential qualities: leadership vs. management