Presidential Courage
Michael Beschloss is a United States Presidency specialist and the author of nine books. He has a MBA at Harvard Business School and has since dedicated his life and profession to learning of presidents.
Presidential Courage by Michael Beschloss is a book that questions the greatest and most controversial topic in a presidents presidency: what makes a president great or what makes a great president? The scope of the book is to give reasoning to the most difficult decisions made by the Presidents. The thesis of the book and overall purpose is to sum up the characteristics that presidents from 1789 through 1989 had. According to Beschloss nearly all of those presidents, which starts with President George Washington and ends with Ronald Reagan, had two specific characteristics. They all had courage and with it they had great wisdom. The combination of the two creates a great president because they must…show more content… Beschloss makes a historical points by giving examples of a presidential executive decision and then explaining the motives or reasoning behind each decision. For example, Beschloss retales the historical story of Teddy Roosevelt and his initial doings in his presidency. Teddy Roosevelt fought against corporate monopolies and robber barons; he took a great risk in fighting the most powerful men in nation in order to protect the citizens of America for the betterment of the nation. Then Beschloss makes a personal opinion, for example, Beschloss says “With his pulsing ambition, his sense of history and moral purpose, Roosevelt felt that great Presidents were those who took noble risks. The politician who cared ‘only for his own success’ was a ‘curse.’” This is a common theme throughout the book because this is the organization method of the book. Beschloss tells a historical story and then follows up with a personal statement or
