Team of Rivals
As the new Presidential administration begins to fill out cabinet positions, the term “Team of Rivals” seems to have been used in every media account of the decision-making process. Doris Kearns Goodwin’s 2005 book of the same name describes President Lincoln’s essential “political genius” as he balanced the competing egos of the 19th century political titans he assembled to advise him.
Goodwin’s lengthy but rewarding work provides informative biographies of Lincoln’s key cabinet members, each of whom had sought the Presidency for himself and no doubt believed he could do a better job than the Illinios lawyer and former one-term Congressman. Goodwin argues that while Lincoln’s team may have been more politically accomplished than the President they served, Lincoln himself possessed a capacity for empathy and psychological insight that tamed the internal rivalries and ultimately preserved a unified nation.
Lincoln described his cabinet as “the very strongest men . . . . I had no right to deprive the country of their services.” As Goodwin notes, “(I)n the end it was the prairie lawyer from Springfield who would emerge as the strongest of them all.”
Goodwin is a fascinating character in her own right, having served as an aide to Lyndon Johnson in the last year of his Presidency and an assistant in the writing of his memoirs. Her first book, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, contains rare insights on Johnson’s complex political and personal life and his ruthless pursuit of power.
Like Team of Rivals, Goodwin’s Pulitzer Prize-winning No Ordinary Time portrays the inner workings of a White House engaged in a titanic war while riven by internal struggles. Its intimate portraits of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt reveal the humanity of these iconic figures and the deeply troubled marriage that barely survived a crucible of ambition, infidelity, and wartime tragedies.
Looking beyond her slightly dotty public persona as a frequent guest on political talk shows, as well as the allegations of plagiarism that once tarnished her writing career, Goodwin’s books are rich with psychological insight and valuable research. Her writing has consistently illuminated the inner lives of legendary figures whose human characteristics are so often obscured by mythologized history.
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On 60 minutes this weekend Obama said he was “reading Lincoln” and the reporter asked if he was building a “team of rivals” like Lincoln did for his cabinet. Obama basically said LIncoln was a smart man and knew what he was doing to include his enemies as well as his friends (I’m paraphrasing).
I like listening to Goodwin talk about Presidential history because it’s always low key, a nice break from political pundits shouting at each other.
It will be interesting to see if Obama builds a “Team of Rivals”, and it’s always nice to know a President-elect reads.