The Candidate (The Heroic Posture & Compromise Choices)

The Heroic Posture: From the beginning, the presidential office has beckoned to national heroes renowned for their selfless service to their country. This affinity is especially strong for men of military fame, for the president is formally commander-in-chief as well as symbolically the steward of the national interest. The president-as-national hero exemplifies the value we all place on authenticity in governance. We explore here four personifications of this ideal, suggesting a wide-ranging reality behind an enduring standard. Compromise Choices: With the rise of political parties came the dawn of political compromise: nominees who were selected not necessarily because they were the best or most obvious candidates for the presidency, but because they were less offensive to some voters than those who might have been the most apparent choices. Their primary qualification for the office often seemed not to be their positive qualities but their relative lack of negative ones. Two of these men found the presidency beyond their powers, while two proved themselves worthy of having been called to the highest office in the land.