Presidential Courage

In the book Presidential Courage by Michael Beschloss, the presidents who deserve to be revered in American History are Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The actions of these presidents impacted American History dramatically and shaped The United States into what it is today. Abraham Lincoln was committed to freeing the slaves in the south and was devoted to restoring the Union. Theodore Roosevelt took risks by challenging the citadels of wealth and power and quickly reacting to a potential civil war.

Franklin Roosevelt attempted to stop Hitler at any cost even if it meant breaking laws. These presidents made choices that could have changed America for the better or the worse, but always chose the decisions that would benefit the United States.

A man who risked his presidency by trying to free slaves was Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln did not become president demanding to free the slaves, but rather entice the seceded states back into the Union by pledging to keep slavery intact where it existed.

Soon enough Lincoln summoned a Cabinet and read them a draft of a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, mentioning “all persons held as slaves within any state would become forever free.” The proclamation was a “military measure” to prevent hundreds of thousands of slaves from helping the Confederacy instead of coming to the Union side. The proclamation got postponed until the Union won a major new victory or else it would seem like a public confession of weakness. When the Emancipation Proclamation was announced many people of the Union didn’t like the fact of how slaves would be coming to the north but instead have a Union victory that would have the South “laid waste and made a desert.

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” Throughout his presidency, he was given a lot of backlash about his decisions, but he always stood by the decisions. When Lincoln surely thought he was going to lose the reelection, but then a victory was won at Atlanta which secured Lincoln’s reelection to be certain. On November 8, 1862, soldiers lined up to vote for Lincoln and won the vote by close to eighty percent. Lincoln still clung to his belief that Emancipation was a military necessity. Abraham Lincoln’s decisions that he stook by, even through criticism from the Union, is why he deserves to be revered in American History.

Theodore Roosevelt took risks by challenging the citadels of wealth and power and quickly reacting to a potential civil war. William McKinley was murdered and two weeks following his death Theodore Roosevelt would face the voters. Even though T.R. had a fearless reputation, he was nervous knowing that no President-by-succession won the election on their own. T.R. was elected president and he wrote Congress that the Constitution’s framers have not foreseen the “startling” rise and “grave evils” of corporate monopolies and that the U.S. government should oversee them, specifically the railroads. He ordered his Attorney General to sue the Northern Securities Company, created and controlled by the most powerful capitalist J. Pierpont Morgan and the railway barons Edward Harriman and James J. Hill. T.R. knew that fighting Morgan would please the masses of people who blamed him and his kind for their troubles, although taking a risk on how the Republican establishment felt about him. T.R. was taking a large risk by denouncing the citadels of wealth and power. T.R. attempted to stop a coal strike which made the country vulnerable to a division. There were over a hundred thousand striking workers, and T.R. feared a national “revolution” and called the anthracite and coal-road barons and John Mitchell of the United States Mine Workers to knock some sense into them. There was a choice between an arbitration board or sending the Army into the coalfields, and when Morgan reported that the coal barons would accept aboard as long as they can name five out of the seven members. Theodore Roosevelt fought against the most wealthy and most powerful people in the country regardless of what they thought of him and prevented another civil war against the coal miners due to quick decisions like Lincoln, which is why he deserves to be revered in American History

Franklin Roosevelt opposed isolationists and attempted everything in his power in stopping Hitler. FDR had a chance at seeking a third term as a President and received news that Nazi agents are slipping money to Senators and others to push Winston Churchill to make a peace with Hitler. FDR consulted with Churchill through a secret line and could have wanted to have Churchill as Prime Minister, and then join the British war. In Kennedy’s Embassy, there was a young code clerk named Tyler Kent who saw the secret messages between Churchill and Roosevelt, which could have meant the end for FDR, but detectives found many documents including a message Churchill had asked Kennedy to send to Roosevelt. FDR was protective of his country and warned Americans by saying, “spies, saboteurs, and traitors with clever schemes would try to foment political paralysis and eventually, a state of panic”(166) Another example would be when Roosevelt thought it was best to keep America out of the war.

In conclusion, each president made choices that could have changed America for the better or the worse, but always chose the decisions that would benefit the United States. Abraham Lincoln wanted to free all the slaves and bring them to the Union, but even though Lincoln was criticized he kept his intention and freed them when the time was right. Theodore Roosevelt denounced the wealthy and most powerful men and ignored their views about him, and cared about how the majority of Americans viewed him. T.R. prevented a civil war based on quick actions he made of making a board the coalminers can agree with or sending in the army. FDR opposed the isolationists and broke laws to stop Hitler from invading the rest of Europe. The actions of these presidents benefited the United States and this is why they deserve to be revered in American History.