By ©2025 Sarah Becker

Character, as defined by the Oxford American Dictionary: “the collective qualities or characteristics, especially mental or moral that distinguish a person [or country].”

A nation’s character, like that of an individual, is elusive,” World War II Navy and Marine Medal recipient John F. Kennedy professed in 1946. “It is produced partly by things we have done and partly by what has been done to us. It is the result of physical factors, intellectual factors, and spiritual factors. It is well for us to consider our American character, for in peace, as in war, we will survive or fail according to its measure.”

“Inspired by a deeply religious sense, this country, which has ever been devoted to the dignity of man, which has ever fostered the growth of the human spirit, has always met and hurled back the challenge of those deathly philosophies of hate and despair,” Kennedy continued. “We have defeated them in the past and we will always defeat them.”

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.”

Curious, I conducted a small survey, one that crossed the generations. Only one family declined my request to participate. None of the respondents referenced the Golden Rule. God, the Creator was mentioned once.

The Survey’s No. 1 character quality: honesty. The No. 2 character quality: honor. The next six character qualities in descending order: integrity, rectitude, respectful behavior, reliability, and goodness/human attention. An explanation of the latter I found in Chris Hayes book The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource [2025].

“We now stand an Independent People, and have yet to learn political Tactics,” George Washington wrote in April 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—the probability, at least I fear it is, that…we shall be guilty of many plunders in treading this boundless theatre.”

There is no greater theatre than America’s Civil War [1861-1865]. “Abraham Lincoln thought secession illegal, and was willing to use force to defend Federal law and the Union,” the National Archives agreed.

“Character is like a tree, and reputation like its shadow,” Lincoln [R-IL] explained. “The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” Lincoln became America’s 16^th President in 1861: the Civil War his to manage.

“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on,” Lincoln said in his Second Inaugural Address.

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

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] concluded. “It sustained the troops at Valley Forge. It made ratification of the Constitution possible.”

“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. 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.”

“Liberty has never come from the government,” Woodrow Wilson [D-VA] explained in 1912. “Liberty has always come from the subjects of the government. The history of liberty is a history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of governmental power, not the increase of it.”

Wilson—the dyslexic son of a Presbyterian minister; scholar, statesman and idealist—was elected President in 1913.  As President [1913-1921] he spoke in favor of lowering tariff rates, extended diplomatic recognition to the fledgling Republic of China, and opened the newly-completed Panama Canal. He signed the Federal Reserve Act and vetoed a 1915 bill requiring literacy tests for immigrants.

“We want the spirit of America to be efficient,” President Wilson said in 1916. “We want American character to be efficient. We want American character to display itself in what I may perhaps be allowed to call spiritual efficiency—clear, disinterested thinking and fearless action along the right lines of thought.”

As President, Wilson reluctantly led the country into war [WWI, 1917]; victoriously presented his Fourteen Points to Congress [1918] and formed the international League of Nations. His reward: the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize.

“America is nothing if it consists merely of each of us; it is something only if it consists of all of us,” Wilson resolved. “And it cannot consist of all of us unless our spirits are banded together in a common enterprise. That common enterprise is the enterprise of liberty and justice and right.”

President [45 & 47] and convicted felon Donald Trump began his January 2025 term of office hell-bent on change. His book, The Art of the Deal [1987] explains his Personality Ethic, his collective qualities; business and political strategies. Trump augments his many marketing schemes by leveraging “his adept use of media attention.” His Truth Social’s parent company: Trump Media & Technology Group.

On March 3 the White House and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company announced “TSMC’s historic $100 billion investment in its Arizona-based semiconductor chips manufacturing operation.” Taiwan’s reported want for U.S. security assistance a quid pro quo remains unclear. If Ukraine is an example, it now pays for its U.S. security assistance in-kind, with unearthed tech-related minerals. I ask you the reader, is Trump a character-driven leader or a study in disorder and confusion?

“It is your character, and your character alone, that will make your life happy or unhappy,” former Alexandria resident, pilot, Naval officer and prisoner-of-war; U.S. Senator and 2008 presidential candidate John McCain [R-AZ, 1936-2018] wrote in Character is Destiny. “That is all that really passes for destiny. And you choose it.”

Columnist’s Note: It is my pleasure to inform you that we have successfully secured a historic marker for Alexandria’s 1312 Wythe Street. The free-standing residence is the last of White real estate entrepreneur Virginia Fitzhugh Wheat Thomas’ [1893-1987] minimum-model, Black-owned Colored Rosemont Jim Crow-era homes. Five Crier columns later the Virginia DHR approved the final text on December 12, 2024. My thanks to DHR Highway Marker Program Manager Jennifer Loux for DHR’s repeated expressions of interest: the city for payment of the home-owner’s application fee and manufactured sign.

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