WORLD LEADER: A SHORT HISTORY OF SUCCESS

Who is the top world leader in history?

It doesn’t take a history degree from a drive-by college like Portland State to make the call, but it doesn’t hurt.

Deciding who is the world leader favorite takes a long view of the past.

Try not to throw a name on the wall and see if it sticks.

In sports we look at the greats in each league and name a personal Mr. Rushmore. Take NBA basketball for example. One big four, since there’s four on the presidential Mt. Rushmore, is Bill Russell, Kareem, Magic, and LeBron.

Prove me wrong?

The Mt. Rushmore of NFL football? Jim Brown, Jerry Rice, Ray Lewis, and Tom Brady.

Major League Baseball Mt. Rushmore? I’ll go with Babe Ruth, Pete Rose, Nolan Ryan, and Sandy Koufax.

World Leader Mr. Rushmore?

These need to be people who understand their role, and the role isn’t to punish people who disagree with them.

For more, the role also isn’t pushing a specific agenda.

Leadership is more than ideology.

Because of the tidal wave of change brought on by the world’s response during and after WWII, I’m skipping earlier leaders like Genghis Khan, and Alexander the Great, and the Roman Empire.

Based on the vitriol openly displayed today, my first member of the World Leader Mr. Rushmore is Franklin D. Roosevelt. He showed up in a pivotal time in American history, early Great Depression, with a plan that wasn’t a home run idea for both sides of the political body.

Unlike today, FDR was a rich man from New York who had a soft spot for the suffering of the common man. Instead of pitting one side against the other and watching everything burn down, he worked to uplift America through his knowledge of government.

Roosevelt came up through state offices, beginning as a New York State senator. He won an appointment as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, then became governor of NY, like his cousin Teddy had done.

The Crash of 1929 happened on his shift

FDR became president after he contracted polio AND the stock market crashed. And he started picking up the pieces and putting things back together.

This wasn’t a world leader who said, “I take no responsibility for these problems.” He was not a hack politician influenced and pressured by an undercurrent of spite and self interest.

Marshall Plan

General George Marshall was the man President Roosevelt kept in Washington during WWII. He said he needed Marshall around so he could sleep at night.

After VE Day, things could have gone sideways more than they already were. Marshall pushed for America to help rebuild a bombed out Europe. The Marshall Plan did the job.

Instead of grinding Germany into the dirt the way it happened after WWI, Marshall put an ugly time in world history behind and showed what international cooperation could accomplish.

He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his effort.

I Like Ike

President Eisenhower is my third nomination for the Mr. Rushmore of world leaders.

As a young officer he was sidelined and passed over many times, until his skills were noticed by FDR and Marshall.

With their guidance he rose from an early has-been to become one of the greatest war commanders in history.

In the job he learned how to navigate between admirals, field marshalls, bosses, and presidents. He learned when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em.

That’s the experience he brought to the Presidency in 1952.

Seasoned World Leader

My three people for World Leader Mt. Rushmore are FDR, Marshall, and Eisenhower, the men who found a way out of the darkness that fell in the forties.

WWII turned the page from German and Japanese interest in world dominion. Two of the three helped them become allies.

I’ll leave the fourth place open for comments. You can include those already on Mt. Rushmore, at least one of them, or nominate a new world leader.

Who ya got? Let’s fill out the card. Here you go:

For the fourth member of World Leader Mt. Rushmore, please include . . .