The reason I was drawn to finding out about Churchill's writings was that he has always been my favorite politician. I had heard he had written books before, but never had known what genre and how many. So I figured now was a good of a time as ever to find out.
I think after experiencing the cruelty of war and the chaos it brings first hand really helped Winston as a leader. He was able to analyze not only the surface of war, but the underlying elements and the first hand experiences. After his involvement in war he could make better judgments as a leader. He could determine the seriousness of the situation, the general simulation of what could possibly happen, and decide if involving the United Kingdom would help more than it would hurt.
I would rather have a level headed leader that had experienced war. I say level headed simply because you cannot elect someone that is still emotionally devastated after war. And also, you cannot have a leader that is out simply for revenge for previous wars.
However, someone with knowledge of other countries tactics, and a clean slate that holds no grudges could be a good thing for a powerful country, like the US.
I do believe being a good writer is a powerful trait for a leader to have. They are then able to communicate their views to their country without just getting up and making a three hour speech that no one truly understands the point of. A book, however, has the availability for other leaders that will come after their time to study and analyze. It permanently imprints specific facts and views of the country into history. It also connects the leader to his people. It shows that he can take the time out of his "busy schedule" to create something that the entire nation can benefit from, other than tax returns, and creates a bridge from the mind of the leader to the mind of the entire population.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Follow up to Star One.
Posted by Megahertz at 5:58:00 PM
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1 comments:
I could not agree more with nearly every point you made.
The "seriousness of the situation" is something every commander-in-chief needs to be aware of when sending people into a conflict, but also "level-headedness" is important in any governmental leader, and that level-headedness can often take time to develop after a traumatic experience in war.
I also agree that Churchill was an incredible communicator and unifier in a very difficult time, and this would not have been possible to do with out his skill at articulating his ideas.
Speaking of "skill at articulating (her) ideas, this is an excellent post. I hope that everyone will post their thoughts on the subjects they research as well as you have here.
Next time you do star work, try to incorporate this kind of reflection into your original post. We'd all benefit from hearing what interests you about the research topic you've chosen.
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