3. Changing styles of presidential leadership, 1945-72

American presidents have inevitably had different styles of leadership. This was evident in the years from 1945 to1972.

Harry Truman, 1945-52

Vice President Truman became president after Roosevelt’s death. Having little previous governmental experience, Truman had to learn fast. He quickly grew in confidence and proved himself a determined and decisive president who was prepared to take strong action - not least the decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. After victory in the Second World War, he committed the USA to standing firm against the USSR. To most pundits’ surprise, Truman won the 1948 election after a barnstorming tour across America. In 1950, he went to war to save South Korea from Communist aggression. At home, Truman’s efforts to end racial discrimination had only limited success.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953-61

Eisenhower had a successful career in the US army, commanding the victorious Allied armies in Europe in 1944-45. His ability to foster teamwork and confidence was particularly impressive. In 1952, he won the Republican nomination and defeated Democrat Adlai Stevenson with 55 per cent of the vote. Given that the USA was still at war in Korea, he seemed - and was - a safe (conservative) pair of hands. Re-elected president in 1956, he exuded calmness and strength. His ill health was a problem but most Americans trusted and liked ‘Ike’.

John F. Kennedy, 1961-63

Kennedy (JFK), the Democrat candidate, defeated Richard Nixon, Eisenhower’s vice president, in a closely fought election in 1960. Handsome and charismatic, Kennedy was in many ways the first television-generated president. Determined to stand up to the USSR, he took the world to the brink of nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Kennedy was less liberal on domestic matters than many thought. Nevertheless, by 1963, he was committed to the cause of civil rights. President for only a thousand days, he was assassinated in Dallas in November 1963. His untimely death gave him something of a heroic status, which may be undeserved. With Kennedy, style often outweighed substance.

Lydon Baines Johnson, 1963-69

Vice President Johnson (LBJ) became president on Kennedy’s death. A tough, experienced liberal politician, Johnson used Kennedy’s death to push a wide-ranging Civil Rights Bill through Congress. In 1964, he decisively defeated Republican Barry Goldwater, polling 61 per cent of the total votes. In 1965 Johnson supported the Great Society programme, committing his administration to a war on poverty, racial equality, educational reform and improvement in housing. Not all his measures were successful but his civil rights legislation and Medicare helped improve many lives. After 1965 he massively escalated US involvement in the Vietnam war (despite promises in the 1964 election that he would not do so). His presidency was increasingly accompanied by anti-war and other protests. Blamed by many Americans for the tumult on the streets, Johnson was so unpopular he decided not to stand for re-election in 1968.

Richard Nixon’s first term, 1968-72

Nixon, the Republican candidate, defeated Democrat Hubert Humphrey, in 1968 - an election in which right-wing Southerner George Wallace won 13.5 per cent of the total vote as an independent candidate. Nixon was a pragmatic politician. Once associated with his party’s right wing, by 1968 he was seen - and saw himself - as a moderate. He prided himself on representing the views of Middle America. He also sought to win the support of white Southerners who no longer felt at home in the liberal Democrat party. Nixon was not generally liked or trusted. But he slowly de-escalated the Vietnam War and improved relations with the USSR and China. He was less successful in dealing with the USA’s growing economic problems. Nevertheless, in 1972, standing against liberal Democrat George McGovern, Nixon won 60.7 per cent of the vote - 520 electoral votes to only 17 for McGovern. During the course of the campaign, McGovern complained about the ‘dirty tricks’ of the Republicans, not least the fact that a group of burglars were caught breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington.