Term Paper on "Great Leaders and Leadership Lessons From History"

>Not surprisingly, Sir Winston Churchill played a very vital role in this meeting at Yalta, for he convinced not only Stalin but also President Roosevelt that "certain conditions would have to be met in order to bring Nazi Germany to its knees and therefore make all of Europe free from the tyranny of Nazism" (Lamb, 1993, 256). Obviously, Churchill was a great leader as a result of his talent for compromise and detente. As to his leadership style, Churchill clearly practiced two forms, namely, charismatic and transformational. According to Florence Littauer, the first type of leadership "creates and fosters large amounts of enthusiasm and helps to encourage all team members to be energetic and to believe in themselves and their own leadership abilities" (1989, 256).

The second type "constantly inspires all team members to have positive visions of the future and makes it possible for communications between all team members to be clear and to the point" (Littauer, 1989, 245). Thus, Churchill used his charisma, charm and enthusiasm as tools in order to bring about the numerous agreements by himself, Stalin and Roosevelt at their conference at Yalta in 1945, a very pivotal year for the Allies and one of defeat for Nazi Germany and Japan.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER:

In the summer of 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower met with Nikita Khrushchev, the Communist leader of the Soviet Union, to discuss the on-going yet relatively new problems linked with the Cold War, a period when "America and the Soviet Union fought a war of words and threats related to the use of nuclear weapons" (Blakesley, 1995, 178). On September 15, 1959, Khrushchev arrived in Washington, D.C. And three days later addressed the United Nations

Assembly in New York City to "advocate total disarmament by all nations that possessed nuclear weapons" (Mooney, 2004, 216). Not long after, Khrushchev met with President Eisenhower at his retreat at Camp David, Maryland, where the President announced that he had accepted an invitation to visit Moscow and that Khrushchev had "agreed not to set a new deadline for the final settlement of the Berlin question," a reference to dissolving the separation between East and West Germany (Blakesley, 1995, 241). A reporter who attended this historical meeting later remarked that "the two men seemed so relaxed and amiable and it was clear that Khrushchev had been greatly influenced by Eisenhower's innate ability for compromise" (Littauer, 1989, 284).

Much like Sir Winston Churchill, President Eisenhower, perhaps best-known for his role in defeating Nazi Germany in Europe as the Supreme Commander of all American forces, utilized his gift for compromise as a tool to manipulate the feelings and opinions of Khrushchev at this meeting in 1959. Also like Churchill, Eisenhower's style was a combination of charisma and transformational leadership. In addition, Eisenhower's leadership style is certainly still in use today, due to influencing an entire generation of politicians, government officials and future Presidents, such as Harry Truman and Richard Nixon.

ULYSSES S. GRANT:

Although Ulysses S. Grant is most identified as the leader of all Union forces during the American Civil War, his Presidency, which began in 1868, also brought about some major changes in the United States as a direct result of his inborn leadership abilities. The one major triumph of the Grant Administration, as related by James G. Barber, was the Treaty of Washington which "was signed in May of 1871 and provided for the settlement of outstanding issues between the United States and Great Britain," some dating back as far as the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 (1985, 167). The two most serious questions were the claim of the U.S. For reparation for damages inflicted upon American shipping by Confederate vessels during the Civil War and the disputed boundary between Washington and British Columbia in the Gulf of Georgia. And as a result of President Grant's leadership traits, the United States was "virtually assured of success in relation to the Gulf of Georgia dispute" which was made even more important when Great Britain "admitted past guilts" and accepted Grant's conditions without protest (Barber, 1985, 271).

Thus, the styles of Ulysses S. Grant, much like Churchill and Eisenhower, were based on charisma and transformational leadership. However, all of these leaders also utilized what is known as task-oriented leadership which Florence Littauer defines as the ability to "get the job done by incorporating specific roles and plans into all decisions that ultimately will effect the outcome of particular problems and disagreements" among participating team members," in this case President Grant and the representatives of the British government and Crown (Barber, 1985, 281).

LITERATURE REVIEW:

Obviously, the topic of great leaders and the historical lessons learned from them is one of high interest for scholars of American history, due to the fact that by illustrating the leadership abilities of such men as Winston Churchill, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ulysses S. Grant, the overall picture of history becomes more clear and understandable. For our purposes, the following sources have yielded a vast amount of information concerning leadership and how it affects and influences a nation's history and future:

Presidential Leadership: From Eisenhower to Clinton (IL: Nelson-Hall Publishers, 1995) by Lance Blakesley. This work is so brilliantly conceived that many critics have over the years praised its readability, accuracy and ability to show how leadership skills can positively affect the outcome of many historical events and situations. Blakesley himself points out that his book "fills in many gaps in American history by providing insights into the leadership traits of some of our greatest leaders" (1995, 11).

U.S. Grant: The Man and the Image (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1985) by James G. Barber. This excellent biography demonstrates to a high degree the leadership abilities of Grant as military commander and as President. Barber mentions in his introduction that Grant "may possibly be the only American figure who came from obscurity to conquer not only Washington D.C. But also the Southern Confederacy, due to his amazing leadership style and forceful, transformational abilities" (1985, 15).

Churchill as War Leader (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1993) by Richard Lamb. In this highly-entertaining work, Lamb takes the reader on a great journey through the military and political career… READ MORE