By ©2023 Sarah Becker

“We now stand an Independent People, and have yet to learn political Tactics,” General George Washington wrote in 1783. “We are placed among the Nations of the Earth, and have a character to establish; but how we shall acquit ourselves time must discover.”

Character, as defined by the Oxford American Dictionary: “the collective qualities or characteristics, especially mental or moral that distinguish a person [or country].” A quality associated not only with moral and ethical strength, but also governance.

Perhaps no one has investigated contemporary character more completely than Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People [2004]. Reviewing the early success literature Covey found that “almost all the literature focused on the Character Ethic—things like integrity, humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, patience, industry, simplicity, modesty, and the Golden Rule.”

“In contrast,” Covey said, “the success literature of the past 50 years was filled with social image consciousness, techniques and quick fixes.”

Professed Nik Gowing and Chris Langdon authors of Thinking the Unthinkable, the New Imperative for Leadership in the Digital Age [2016]: “The challenge from [such] fits a new and threatening pattern for leaders at the highest levels.”

Shortly after World War I the basic view of success shifted from the Character Ethic to the Personality Ethic. “Success became more a function of personality, of public image, of attitudes and behaviors, skills and techniques,” Covey continued.

“Only basic goodness gives life to technique,” Covey concluded. “The Personality Ethic—personality growth, communication skill training, and education in the field of influence strategies and positive thinking—is secondary.”

“[I]t may be proper to observe that a good moral character is the first essential in a man,” President George Washington wrote his nephew in 1790. “It is…highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned but virtuous.”

“The moral leader strives for great results,” former Mount Vernon Executive Director James C. Rees wrote in George Washington’s Leadership Lessons [2007]. “The amoral leader works for personal gain, regardless of the results.”

“The heart of Washington’s leadership was pure character,” David Abshire Vice Chairman and Counselor of the Center for the Study of the Presidency & Congress [CSPC] explained. “It sustained the troops at Valley Forge. It made ratification of the Constitution possible.”

One of the best examples of early success literature is Benjamin Franklin’s The Art of Virtue. “Acquiring the qualities of virtue requires consistent effort,” Franklin wrote. “Pleasure, position, popularity, wealth and appearance are among the whistles in life…for which many people pay too much.” Franklin considered character and integrity to be one.

“It is your character, and your character alone, that will make your life happy or unhappy,” former Alexandria resident John S. McCain III wrote in Character is Destiny [2005]. “That is all that really passes for destiny.  And you choose it.” McCain [1936-2018], a Navy flier and maltreated prisoner of war [1967-1973], spent 5 ½ years in North Vietnamese prison camps including the infamous Hanoi Hilton.

“A North Vietnamese film, a grainy newsreel like silent movie of American prisoners of war…was shown to newsmen today,” The New York Times reported in 1970. “The National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia was given a copy of the original film U.S. Representative Roger H. Zion [R-IN8] was handed in Paris…[Zion] presented a letter signed by 406 Representatives in which they protested treatment of American Prisoners of War.” It was the first time U.S. officials knew that McCain and others were still alive.

“It’s not just that John McCain survived being hung by ropes from two broken arms and beaten senseless,” TIME reported in 1999, “it’s that when his captors learned of his famous father and offered to let him go home, he refused unless they let the rest of the prisoners go as well.” TIME’s story was written coincident with Senator McCain’s [AZ, 1987-2018] first Presidential run, his 2000 run for the Republican nomination.

“Character is the foundation of WIN/WIN,” Covey said, “and everything else builds on that foundation.” The three character traits essential to Covey’s WIN/WIN paradigm: 1. Integrity. 2. Maturity, the balance between courage and consideration, and 3. Abundance Mentality. The Abundance Mentality “flows out of a deep inner sense of personal worth and security…[the] sharing of prestige, of recognition, of profits, of decision making.”

George Washington’s character was “defined by maturity and a capacity for growth” Abshire concluded.

For former Governor Chris Christie [R-NJ, 2010-2018] character is the single most important element of a Presidential candidate. “People understand that folks need to take responsibility for what they do,” Christie a 2024 Presidential candidate said on This Week. “What you need to know is: what is the character of that person.”

“One of the most admirable aspects of George Washington’s character was his sense of humility, his self-effacement, his respectful deference to others,” Rees said. “He was quick to decline credit and quicker to assign credit to others. He was often vocal about his personally perceived shortcomings and genuinely modest when receiving praise for efforts that even he had to acknowledge, often reluctantly were meritorious.” Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick literally stopped the clock when George Washington died.

“This is not to say that Washington lacked confidence—nothing could be further from the truth,” Rees continued. “But he was seldom cocky or arrogant like so many leaders and high profile people today.”

“One of Washington’s greatest legacies came during a critical moment of his military career Rees noted in 2006. “Unlike Julius Caesar, Oliver Cromwell, Napoleon and many other victorious military leaders, Washington willfully and unconditionally surrendered his power just when it reached its apex. When the world expected him to assume his rightful place as the ruler of a new nation, he laid down his sword and took up the plow.”

Former Prisoner of War “John McCain was one of the bravest, most decent and honorable political leaders of our time,” Forbes Margie Warrell wrote. “As a Republican Senator for over four decades many disagreed with McCain’s politics, but few ever doubted his values or questioned his integrity.”

On September 28, 2023, President and former U.S. Senator Joe Biden [D-DE] announced a major federal grant to help design and build a new McCain National Library at Arizona State University. “We argued like hell,” Biden recalled, “and then we’d go to lunch together. America misses John right now: we need his foresight and courage…[H]istory has brought us to a new time of testing.”

According to Covey, the most recent “success literature tends to compartmentalize [character] rather than recognize it as foundational and catalytic.”

“We have lost our inner compass,” Gowing and Langdon acceded. “Today almost all agree that mindsets, behavior, and systems are rarely adequately configured to handle the ‘new normal.’”

“In prison, I fell in love with my country,” McCain revealed in Faith of My Fathers [1999]. “I had loved her before then, but like most young people, my affection was little more than a simple appreciation for the comforts and privileges…It wasn’t until I had lost America for a time that I realized how much I loved her. ” McCain graduated from Alexandria’ Episcopal High School in 1954; the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958.

As we enter the New Year, the 2024 presidential election year remember: it was U.S. Senator John McCain who first championed campaign finance reform, the now shredded McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. That said 2024 will likely be a wild if not sordid election year.

The good news: three Republican Presidential hopefuls have allegedly “reached consensus on one thing: the president of the country sets an example for the nation’s character.”

About the Author: Sarah Becker started writing for The Economist while a graduate student in England. Similar publications followed. She joined the Crier in 1996 while serving on the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association Board. Her interest in antiquities began as a World Bank hire, with Indonesia’s need to generate hard currency. Balinese history, i.e. tourism provided the means. The New York Times describes Becker’s book, Off Your Duffs & Up the Assets, as “a blueprint for thousands of nonprofit managers.” A former museum director, SLAM’s saving grace Sarah received Alexandria’s Salute to Women Award in 2007.  Email: abitofhistory53@gmail.com