ST. JOSEPH, Minn., Dec. 17, 1998 — A psychological study of President Bill Clinton, conducted before the 1996 election, predicted that the Clinton presidency would be "troubled by ethical questions and lapses of judgment," but that the president would "retain a following and maintain his self-confidence in the face of adversity." The investigation revealed serious flaws as well as redeeming features in the president’s personality, and found his motives to be "vastly different from those that scuttled the political career of Richard Nixon."
The study, by associate professor of psychology at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, Aubrey Immelman, was published this fall in the journal Leadership Quarterly. Immelman concluded that in a second presidential term Bill Clinton would likely continue to display his "driving ambition, supreme sense of self-confidence, and personal charisma," but offered the "sobering caveat" that President Clinton’s character contained "the seeds of its own undoing."
Specifically, Immelman determined that President Clinton’s personality was an amalgam of ambitious and outgoing personality styles. According to Immelman, these patterns incorporate adaptive aspects of the narcissistic and histrionic character types described in the clinical personality literature. Ambitious personalities are assertive, self-assured, persuasive, self-centered, and have a tendency to be arrogant, acting as though entitled. Outgoing personalities are gregarious, image-conscious, easily bored, charming, seductive, glib and inventive, and believe they can readily charm and influence others.
The study was conducted before the president’s affair with Monica Lewinsky came to light. Asked what the president’s character reveals about his sexual risk taking, Immelman noted that personality theorist Theodore Millon of the University of Miami has found that a distinctive feature of the ambitious-outgoing personality composite (as in the case of Bill Clinton) is "an erotic and seductive orientation." According to Millon, such individuals may have an indifferent conscience and aloofness to the truth, which, if brought to their attention, is likely to elicit nonchalant innocence. They are driven by a need for excitement, stimulation, and challenge and tend to be undisciplined, traveling an erratic course of successes, failures, and abandoned hopes. Although they may leave a trail of broken promises and outrageous acts, their disregard for the truth and their talents for exploitation and deception are rarely hostile or malicious in intent.
With reference to the current impeachment proceedings against the president, Immelman said that failings associated with ambitious, outgoing personalities such as President Clinton are typically limited in scope, extending primarily to self-indulgent excess, including sexual intemperance.
The U.S. president is a person deemed to be the most fitting person to lead this country through thick and thin. It’s been such a successful method that it has led to 43 individual men being put in charge of running this country. However, this doesn’t mean that each one has been good or hasn’t had an issue they couldn’t resolve when in office. But no matter what, each one has left a very unique imprint on the history and evolution of this nation. However when two are compared against one another, some rather surprising similarities may be found. Even better, is what happens when two presidents are compared and they are from the same political party but separated by a large numbers of years between them. In doing this, not only do we see the difference between the two but the interesting evolution of political idea in one party.
On August 17, 1998, exactly one year after making the statement above, President Bill Clinton prepared to deliver a speech concerning a scandal that had gripped the nation for months. It is needless to say that this was an important moment during the Clinton administration. After accusations of sexual harassment, Clinton addressed the nation and admitted to having a relationship with Monica Lewinsky. In this critical speech Clinton set out to admit to wrong-doings, provide a few reasons for his action, and ultimately persuade the audience into moving on and forgetting the scandal. This essay will break down his speech into sections and examine the most and least effective strategies that Clinton employed and how well he executed those strategies. This is an interesting speech given under rare circumstances. Not since Watergate had an American president been under such harsh moral criticism from the public. By looking critically at this speech we are able to gain valuable insight into Clinton's motives.
In 1976 Jimmy Carter, a small peanut farmer from Georgia was elected the President of the United Sates. Carter had limited experience in the National Political Arena. He used his inexperience to his advantage and promised to restore honesty and morality to the government. After the corruption that the United States had seen within the previous administrations of Nixon and Ford, Carter was welcomed with open arms. During his presidency Carter was faced with a plethora of domestic and foreign issues. At home, economic problems dominated causing massive unemployment and inflation. Oil shortages also presented a challenge. Domestically, Carter’s policies were a failure, with no success in alleviating the economy or the oil crisis. In the Middle East as series of conflicts between Egypt and Israel resulted in peace talks and with the Presidents’ mediation they were successful. However, Carter was not completely successful abroad. In Iran Carter was ineffective in procuring a quick solution and as a result lost public support. While Carter was successful in dealing with the Israeli-Arab conflict, he was disastrous in his domestic economic policy and his other foreign diplomatic endeavors; ultimately his successes paled in comparison to his failures.
The presidency of the United Sates of America has been an evolving office since the term of our first president, George Washington. This evolution has occurred because of the changing times and the evolution of society itself, but also because of the actions of the men who have become president. Starting in the 20th century, most have referred to the presidency as the modern presidency due to changes in both a president's power and the way that the office itself is viewed. As the office of the president has evolved so has who can become president evolved. Yet, even today there are certain individuals who because of their gender or race have yet to hold the office of the presidency. The men that have been president in our modern era have all had faults and greatness, some having more of one than of the other. The modern presidency is an office that many aspire to, but that few hold. The evolution of the office of the presidency has been one from that of a traditional role to that of a modern role that is forever evolving.
In conclusion, President Clinton’s apologia was a successful speech considering its overall effectiveness on the general public. The speech repaired his image and turned the public sentiment tilted more strongly toward his side by emphasizing that he mislead people only because of his embarrassment and his desire to protect his family. While there are still weaknesses in the speech, the public opinion polls conducted later suggested that the majority of Americans were fairly satisfied with his debate, and again proving that his apologia speech accomplished his aim and purpose.
Introduction Reagan, Ronald Wilson (1911- ),the 40th president of the United States (1981-1989), enforced the policies that reversed a general direction of movement toward greater government involvement in economic and social regulation. Reagan as the younger of two sons, was born in Tampico, Illinois and spent most of his childhood in Dixon, Illinois. After studying at Eureka College,a small Disciples of Christ college near Peoria, Illinois, he majored in economics, and became the president of the student body, a member of the football team, and captain of the swimming team. He had special drawings toward acting, but after the graduation in 1932 the only job available related to show business was as a local radio sportscaster. In 1936 he became a sportscaster for station WHO in Des Moines, Iowa. A year latter, Reagan went to Hollywood and began an acting career that spanned more than 25 years. He played in more than 50 films, including "Knute Rockne"-All American (1940), "King's Row" (1942), and "Bedtime for Bonzo" (1951). Early political career Reagan's first political activities were associated with his responsibilities as a union leader. As union president, Reagan tried to remove suspected Communists from the movie industry. When the U.S. House Committee. Began an investigation in 1947 on the influence of Communists in the film industry, Reagan took a strong anti-Communist stand testifying before the committee. Reagan emerged on the national political scene in 1964 when he made fervent television speech supports for the Republican presidential candidate, United States Senator Barry Goldwater from Arizona. Although the election was lost, Reagan's speech brought in money and admiration from Republicans around the country. After the speech a group of Republicans in California persuaded Reagan to run for governor of California in 1966. Reagan appealed to traditional Republican voters. He defeated Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, Sr., Democrat, by almost a million votes. The election of 1980 Reagan spent years making political friends at party fund-raising dinners around the country. In the election of 1980 for the president, the candidates were Carter and Reagan. The contrast between the television personalities of two candidates was very important to people. Carter’s nervous manner had never been popular to people, while Reagan’s charm and happy face was a call for return to patriotism, which appealed to the public. Many voters believed that Reagan was forceful leader who could get their lives in shape and who could restore prosperity at home.
The turn of the 20th century sparked change throughout the United States. Theodore Roosevelt’s life was among those drastically changed. Following the assassination of President William Mckinley, Roosevelt was forced to take his position under unsavory conditions, to say the least (“Theodore Roosevelt”). Roosevelt inherited an unfinished job and a country in an uproar over Mckinley’s death. Despite the odds, Roosevelt emerged from his two terms a successful and favored president. While presidents like Abraham Lincoln, a man known for his actions, Roosevelt established a legacy through his personality and likeness. Roosevelt found success through his popularity,
Examining Trump’s rhetoric and past actions, it becomes clear that Trump’s ability to be the leader of America, especially in today’s already heated world climate, becomes questionable. When even the members of his own party refuse to endorse him and claim that he is not qualified to run a country, the general public needs to sit back and question his integrity. In Trump’s past, he has proven to be an insensitive, racist, greedy business man. Why would he prove to be any different once elected to office?
Cervone, D., Pervin, L. A. (2008). Personality: Theory and research (10th Ed.). New York: Wiley.
On September 11, 1998, former president Bill Clinton delivered the infamously self-proclaimed speech entitled “I Have Sinned.” In an attempt to convert the public suspicion and hatred back to trust and loyalty, Clinton finally confessed to the inappropriate relations with Monica Lewinsky. By deeply expressing his sorrow through his foreboding and apologetic tone, Clinton constructs various examples of ethos, uses stiff body language and blank facial expressions, direct eye contact, and crafts the majority of his speech on short and choppy sentences. The overall purpose of this speech was for Clinton to ultimately express his remorse for the regretful acts he committed, and also to ensure the American people that he will remain trustworthy throughout
In the book The Presidential Character, by James David Barber, Barber talks about the different personalities of previous presidents and how their personalities had a negative or positive influence on their election and term as president. A person's character shows a lot about who they are as a person.
Richard E. Neustadt, the author of Presidential Power, addresses the politics of leadership and how the citizens of the United States rate the performance of the president's term. We measure his leadership by saying that he is either "weak or "strong" and Neustadt argues that we have the right to do so, because his office has become the focal point of politics and policy in our political system.
A person’s personality has been the subject of psychological scrutiny for many years. Psychologists have drawn up several theories in an attempt to accurately predict and determine one’s personality. Foremost amongst these, is the “Big Five Trait Theory” which stemmed from Raymond B. Cattell’s theory.
Matthews, G., Deary, I. J., & Whiteman, M. C. (2009). Personality traits. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Friedman, H. S., & Schustack, M. W. (2012). Personality: Classic theories and modern research (5th ed). Boston , MA, USA: Pearson