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Notes on Doris Kearns Goodwin, Leadership In Turbulent Times Week 7 – October 125, 2019 Chapter 11 – Turnaround Leadership: Franklin Roosevelt and the Hundred Days p. 274 – “’When the American people feel they are doing all right for themselves they do not give much thought to the character of the man in the White House; they are satisfied to have a President ‘who merely fits the picture frame,’ as Warren Harding did. However, ‘when adversity sets in and problems become too big for individual solution,’ then … the people start looking anxiously for guidance, calling for a leader to ‘step out of the picture frame and assert himself as vital, human need.’” … .. “The leader must be ready and able to meet the challenges presented by the times. And no leader was more prepared to diagnose the national malady correctly and assert himself as a vital human need than ‘old Doc Roosevelt,’ as he had been affectionately called at Warm Springs, where he had directly engaged with his fellow polio patients as architect, developer, program director, head counselor, therapy director, and spiritual adviser, ‘all rolled into one.’” P. 276 – “Doc Roosevelt knew at once that three lines of attack were necessary. First, the feelings of helplessness, impotence, dread and accelerating panic had to be reversed before any legitimate recovery could commence; then, without delay, the financial collapse had to be countered; and finally, over time, the economic and social structure had to be reformed. The steps Roosevelt took during the next hundred days to stem the immediate banking crisis set in motion a turnaround that would forever alter the relationship between the government and the people.” Roosevelt Leadership Lesson: Draw an immediate sharp line of demarcation between what has gone before and what is about to begin. “The Inauguration Day of Franklin Delano Roosevelt began in prayer and ended in action. His every word and deed communicated the clear vision that this day represented no mere changing of the guard from one party to another. Something vast and debilitating had come to an end; something new and hopeful was beginning.” p. 277 – “On this day of defining separation from the past, he asked the chief justice if, instead of simply saying ‘I do” after the oath was read – as thirty-one presidents had done before him – he could repeat every phrase of the presidential oath (I, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, do solemnly swear and …). He sought to invest a more personal affirmation in every syllable of the vow he was taking. In way large and small Roosevelt loved to surprise, to break precedent, to transmit an inspiriting readiness to assume responsibility before a single word of the inaugural address was delivered.” Roosevelt Leadership Lesson: Restore confidence to the spirit and morale of the people. Strike the right balance of realism and optimism. “Roosevelt began by directly facing the facts of the dire situation. ‘This is preeminently the time to speak the truth,’ he declared, to address ‘honestly’ the situation in the country. 1 ‘Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.’ But he famously asserted, ‘the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.’” p. 278 – Roosevelt’s understanding of and empathy for the ordinary man suffused every aspect of the speech. Intuitively, he fathomed that what the people needed to hear was that they were not to blame for the misery of their individual circumstances. … Failure, he insisted, was due to a lack of leadership. That void left people unprotected against ‘unscrupulous money changers.’ Then, as the downward spiral deepened, leadership refused to take sufficient remedial measures, remaining passive at the very time robust leadership was needed most. Restoration would come through ‘a leadership of frankness and vigor,’ just as such leadership had carried the people through ‘every dark hour of our national life.’ With such a renewal, he was certain that the American people would once again rise.” Roosevelt Leadership Lesson: Infuse a sense of shared purpose and direction. “At the center of his speech, he called for a new contract between the leader and the people, a contract built upon the recognition of our dependence on one another. We must move forward ‘as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice’ for the common good, displaying a ‘unity of duty hitherto evoked only in time of armed strife.’” … … “Foremost, he understood that ‘the Nation asks for action, and action now.’” p. 279 - Roosevelt Leadership Lesson: Tell people what they can expect and what is expected of them. “Franklin Roosevelt spoke in the name of the people for a resurgence of the strength of democracy, for a constitutional system capable of meeting ‘every stress’ without losing its essential form.” FDR’s First Inaugural Address: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/inaugural- address-8 p. 280 – “The day’s work was not yet done, however. By that evening, Roosevelt had reached two significant decisions. If a constitutional method could be discovered for ‘obtaining jurisdiction over the entire banking system of the Nation,’ he would, as his first act, declare a uniform shutdown of the banks, ironically called ‘a bank holiday.’ He asked the attorney general and treasury secretary to be ready the next day at the first formal cabinet meeting ‘to outline a constitutional method of closing all banks.’ With his power in hand, he would then convene a special session of Congress both to validate his action and to craft a legislative plan for reopening banks ‘in an orderly manner,’ depending on their degree of solvency.” … “… That such a man was suited for such a task at such a time informed his leadership with something ineffable, something approaching enchantment. That magic of leadership was contagious, … ‘It seemed to give the people, as well as myself hope,’ one citizen wrote, ‘a new hold on life.’ This atmospheric change, ‘the sense that life was resuming,’ was reiterated in headlines and commentary across the country.” Roosevelt Leadership Lesson: Lead by example. 2 p. 281 – “’The remarkable thing about him… was his readiness to assume responsibility and his taking that responsibility with a smile.’ If the new president had long since learned to make himself appear confident in order to become confident, might not the characteristic uplifted tilt of his head, the sparkle of his eye, his dazzling smile, and his assured, calm voice soothe and embolden the fragile nerves of the country at large? In a time of ubiquitous loss and uncertainty, such a halcyon projection was no small gift to the people of America.” Roosevelt Leadership Lesson: Forge a team aligned with action and change. p. 282 – “The family team Roosevelt needed must be open to whatever shifts and exigencies the future might bring. However various the geographic and political composition of the cabinet, they shared a common trait. Whether Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives, easterners or westerners, they manifested a decided bias for action, an allegiance to whatever might be deemed necessary to get the country out of its misery.” p. 282-3 - Roosevelt Leadership Lesson: Create a gathering pause, a window of time. “At the first formal cabinet meeting that Sunday afternoon, Perkins recalled, ‘the President outlined, more coherently than I had heard it outlined before, just what the banking crisis was and what the legal problems involved were.’ Turning to his attorney general (who had spent the entire night searching for a constitutional method that would allow the federal government to take over the banks), Roosevelt was delighted to hear that an obscure 1917 precedent had been unearthed, authorizing the president to investigate and regulate the hoarding of currency. Upon this sliver of authority, the New York Times observed, was built ‘the most drastic’ peacetime exercise of presidential power ‘ever taken.’ Without a note of dissent, the cabinet fell in line and work began at once on a presidential proclamation establishing a four-day bank holiday that would eventually stretch into a week.” Proclamation 2039: Declaring a Bank Holiday - https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/proclamation-2039-declaring-bank-holiday p. 283 - Roosevelt Leadership Lesson: Bring all stakeholders aboard. “Midway through the cabinet meeting, Roosevelt brought in congressional leaders from both parties to solicit their support for his plan to call the 73rd Congress into special session to enact emergency banking legislation.” “That same Sunday, at Roosevelt’s invitation, a group of prominent bankers from New York, Philadelphia, Richmond, and Chicago arrived in Washington to lend the administration a hand in the drafting of the bill. … But Roosevelt knew that he needed the technical expertise and support of the banking community and felt it important to include them in the process of drafting the bill.” p. 284 – “To round out his search for consensus, Roosevelt invited the nation’s governors to meet with his entire cabinet at the White House the following morning.” … “And so, layer after layer, stitch by stitch, Roosevelt gathered into his materializing contingency plans not only his executive team but congressional leaders, leading bankers, and state governors – a consensus of various levels of leadership, public and private. And all the 3 while he was planning novel ways to appeal, appease, and encourage the most important stakeholders of all – the American people.” Roosevelt Leadership Lesson: Set a deadline and drive full-bore to meet it. “The new president had promised action. Only a single week separated the proclamation of the national bank holiday on Monday morning, March 6, and the scheduled reopening of the banks on Monday, March 13. In that brief space, his team had to prepare, rehearse and produce what would amount to the staging of a national drama aimed at restoring public confidence in the nation’s failed banking system.” p.

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