Dignity

This video at Cultural Offering of President Obama and Vice President Biden sparks some thoughts about leaders, dignity, and the need for an inner voice that says, "Wait a minute." 

Consider President Kennedy, on the last day of his life, politely declining to put on a Stetson hat. Aside from a general aversion to hats, Kennedy was aware of how other presidents had been embarrassed by such pictures. There was also a sensitivity to the image of the office.

Journalist and historian Richard Reeves notes that President Kennedy endorsed his wife's views on presidential image which she once set forth in a memo: "I was passing by Mrs. Lincoln's office today and I saw a man [Congressman Wayne Aspinall] being photographed in the Rose Garden with an enormous bunch of celery. I think it is most undignified for any picture of this nature to be taken on the steps leading up to the President's office or on the South grounds. If they want their pictures taken they can pose by the West Lobby. This also includes pictures of bathing beauties, etc."

Despite JFK's reckless behind-the-scenes womanizing, the Kennedy White House maintained a public image of style and dignity, facilitated by a favorable press corps, which had the effect of preserving the stature of the presidency. You can imagine what Jacqueline Kennedy would have said if a White House aide had proposed filming her husband and Lyndon Johnson jogging out of the Oval Office. You can imagine what JFK and LBJ would have said.

Or what the country would have said. Those days did not see presidents on late night comedy shows.

It is not news that Kennedy's successors sometimes suffered in comparison to the carefully crafted charisma. Much of the early criticism of LBJ involved his Texas swagger and the failure of barbecues and beagles to duplicate Camelot's glamour. There was much snorting when President Johnson hiked up his pajama top to show his gall bladder surgery scar.  Everyone knew that level of exposure was something Kennedy would have never done. The Georgetown bunch dined on that story for months.

There is a hidden lesson here: Style often depends more on what you don't do than on what you do.

Our society has become much more casual and presidencies have reflected the change. Nowadays we're supposed to let it all hang out, get in touch with our inner selves, and not repress. This elevation of the casual was not reached overnight and much of it has been attractive. President Carter made a point of occasionally carrying his own luggage. President Ford was photographed toasting and buttering his breakfast English muffins. With the exception of Ronald Reagan, who was able to blend amiability with distance in a way JFK would have recognized, presidents have become more accessible, at least on the personal front. There is the idea that the president should be "one of us"; a notion of dubious desirability. [FDR would have been amused. He was rich, used a cigarette holder, and wore a cape. Those hindered neither his effectiveness nor his appeal.] 

Where will we be in 15 or 20 years if the casual trend continues with our presidents? 

I'm not calling for the reserve of George Washington but am wondering whether a president with a Kennedyesque style will appeal to the electorate of the future.

I think so. I hope so.

Let's dust off that Jackie Kennedy memo.