As September 11th has come and gone we looked back to that fateful day and remembered a day like no other. During this time of uncertainty, and fears of the unknown, we looked for someone to guide us. We looked for a leader that would make us feel safe again, and right the wrongs. At this time our president was George W. Bush. He led an uncertain country through one of the worst terror attacks on US soil since Pearl Harbor. How was a man that barely won the presidency able to do that? He exemplified the major leadership traits of intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability.
A presidency that almost did not happen. In 2000, after a long-disputed re-count battle of Florida’s votes, “Bush narrowly won the electoral vote over Gore by 271 to 266—only 1 more than the required 270” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2019). George W. Bush did win the presidency, but not the popular vote. With most people left wondering how this happened, George W. Bush took office. It was on September 11, 2001 at about 8:50 am that would change his legacy. A legacy of one of the strongest leaders of the 21st century.
In a paper titled The Political Personality of Texas Governor George W. Bush it was revealed what leadership traits he had. This paper was from an indirect assessment of George W. Bush from the perspective of Theodore Millon (USPP, 2016). “Information concerning George W. Bush was collected from published biographical accounts and political profiles in the print media, and synthesized into a personality profile using the 2nd edition of the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with Axis II of DSM-IV” (USPP, 2016). The MIDC found George W. Bush to be “outgoing/gregarious, dauntless/adventurous, with secondary dominant/asserting and accommodating/cooperative features” (USPP, 2016).
Northouse lists the five major leadership traits as “intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability” (p.23). As we can see from Northouse list of major leadership traits and the list compiled by the MIDC, George W. Bush had most of these quality leadership traits. Of theses traits George W. Bush exhibited dauntless, dominant, assertiveness, determination, and intelligence to get the U.S. through the September attacks. Bush said we would find the person or persons responsible for the attacks, and on “October 7th, U.S.-led forces quickly toppled the Taliban government” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2019). His leadership allowed a country to start to heal, and to feel safe again. For a presidency that started with controversy, Bush had a 90 percent approval rating near the end of 2001 (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2019).
George W. Bush may not have been the popular vote for president but he ended up being the best president for the time. By Bush using his leadership traits of intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability, he was able to direct the U.S. through this traumatic time in U.S. history.
References
Encyclopedia Britannica. (2019). George W. Bush President of United States. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-W-Bush/Governor-of-Texas
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
USPP. (2016, July 22). Texas Governor George W. Bush’s Political Personality | USPP. Retrieved from http://personality-politics.org/the-political-personality-of-texas-governor-george-w-bush
Fonda Garcia says
As a New Yorker, I was drawn to your post about leadership during the events of September 11, 2001. I was too young to remember President Bush’s actions or speeches during this time – I only remember the devastation and fear that followed. It’s surprising to learn that President George W. Bush had the highest rating of a president directly after the attack on that day and still maintains that title (Eichenberg & Stoll, 2006). President Bush not only exhibited the leadership traits you’ve mentioned but also exhibited an increased amount of charisma (Bligh, Kohles, & Meindl, 2004). To analyze President Bush’s leadership through the trait approach may not be accurate, however, as Bligh et al. (2004) have noted the necessity of a crisis situation for a leadership trait like charisma to emerge. The people I initially thought of as leaders on this day are the first responders, who probably exhibit Jung’s hero/warrior archetype (PSU WC, 2019, L. 3). However, their leadership may also have emerged due to the situation. This may require the situational approach we have yet to learn in this class.
References
Bligh, M. C., Kohles, J. C., & Meindl, J. R. (2004). Charisma under crisis: Presidential leadership, rhetoric, and media responses before and after the September 11th terrorist attacks. The Leadership Quarterly, vol. 15 (iss. 2) 211-239.
Eichenberg, R. C., & Stoll, R. J. (2006). War President: THE APPROVAL RATINGS OF GEORGE W. BUSH. The Journal of Conflict Resolution, vol. 50 (iss. 6) 783-808.
Williams, Jason (2019). Lesson 3: Psychodynamic Approach. PSYCH 485: Leadership in Work Settings. Online: Penn State World Campus.
Brianna Strohmeyer says
I have never thought of 9/11 in this context. Sometimes, it is important to focus on the positive aspects of a tragedy, rather than all of the negative things that came out of it. I particularly like that you acknowledged that maybe Bush was not the most popular leader of modern time, nor the preferred presidential candidate, but he had all of the qualities and personality characteristics that would make him the ideal individual to help the nation recover from such a monstrosity. While I was reading this post, it led me to compare our current president in terms of how effective he might be in helping an entire nation cope with an event such as this. I could be biased, but I struggle to see President Trump doing this in an effective manner, as he has many of the dark-side personality traits discussed in the lesson commentary.
ckr5359 says
I commend you for taking the anniversary of something that was so horrific and bringing out some of the positives. One of those positives you mentioned was President Bush. He stepped up to the plate like he knew he would and delivered. No matter if a President wins by a land slide or a little margin they still have to take on any responsibilities that gets thrown their way. With the help of President Bush September 12, 2001 was an amazing day to be an American. Everyone came together united as one. No worries about race, sex, or religion. That day we were Americans and that’s what everyone saw.
mrp5540 says
I find your entry to be very interesting because I also think of George W. Bush when I think of the great man theory, or trait approach. However, I think of it from a very different perspective. While I do agree that Bush undoubtedly displays leadership traits that allowed him to be president for two terms, I believe that this particular case shows the weakness of trait theory in that it does not fully take followers and situations into account (PSU WC L2). In the Bush’s case, this is very evident considering the great degree of variability in approval ratings throughout his presidency.
As you mentioned, following the attacks on September 11, 2001, Bush saw one of the highest presidential approval ratings of 90% (Gallup, 2019). His favorable numbers continued rather consistently through the start of the Iraq conflict in 2003; however, as the conflict dragged on his approval ratings began to fall. Compounded with the start of the Great Recession, his approval rating fell to just 25% in 2008 (Gallup, 2019). Interestingly, since having left office, his favorability has greatly increased in all demographics except liberals, and is now positioned at 61% as compared to 33% when he left office (Stryk, 2018).
This variability in his perceived effectiveness as a leader suggests that his traits, including his dauntlessness and assertiveness, were well adapted to inspire leadership and direction in the face of the panic and confusion following the attacks. However, he was not perceived as an effective leader in the handling of the economic crisis and in handling fallout regarding intelligence information justifying our intervention in Iraq.
Therefore, while I agree that Bush has leadership traits, analyzing those traits in light of the context surrounding them would provide the most holistic and accurate analysis of Bush’s effectiveness as a leader.
References
Gallup, Inc. (2019, May 15). Presidential Approval Ratings — George W. Bush. Retrieved from https://news.gallup.com/poll/116500/presidential-approval-ratings-george-bush.aspx
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2019). PSYCH 485 Lesson 2: Trait approach. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2008237/modules/items/27074604
Struyk, R. (2018, January 23). George W. Bush’s favorable rating has pulled a complete 180. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/22/politics/george-w-bush-favorable-poll/index.html