Historian
Michael Beschloss
Notes from Evan Smith
"Like “jumbo shrimp” and “virtual reality,” “presidential courage” at first sounds like an oxymoron. I mean, c’mon—how many cautious panderers do we have to elect before we begin to lower our expectations for bold leadership? Michael Beschloss, however, believes the phenomenon is real. From George Washington to Ronald Reagan, he argues, there are examples of risk-taking at the highest levels of government, on issues ranging from war and peace to civil rights, and without that admirable willingness to navigate around seemingly intractable obstacles, the present and future of our country would look a whole lot different. That’s the message of his eighth book, titled, not incidentally, Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789-1989, and it’s already hit the number-five slot on the New York Times best-seller list, so the message must be getting through. Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised. It is, after all, campaign season, when empty pronouncements of courage are so frequently on display that all of us pine for the real thing. And, of course, whenever the 51-year-old writes a book—whether the topic is FDR, JFK, or LBJ—it usually flies off the shelves. Born in Chicago, educated at the elite Phillips Andover Academy, Williams College, and Harvard Business School, Beschloss is often regarded as America’s historian despite his lack of a degree in the discipline. But he’s done a great job of bringing history to the masses, not in a shallow way, but with real depth, in his many appearances on television: as a regular on PBS programs like The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, on NBC’s Today show and Meet the Press, and as that network news division’s presidential historian—pretty much any time a talking head on the subject of the presidency is called for, Beschloss is there. This week, we’re lucky to have him here. " - Evan Smith, Texas Monthly Talks, Broadcast 06.21.07
