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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IX. Leadership and Concerted Action - 33. The American Pattern of Individual Leadership and Mass Passivity - 1. “Intelligent Leadership”
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710 An American Dilemma
understandable that Americans regularly show a marked reluctance to
admit the fact even when it is pointed out by the observer.
What Americans display in their demand for leadership are primarily
the general traits of their culture which may be referred to as individual-
ism and romanticism. The ordinary American has a liking for the personal
and the dynamic in collective activity, a longing for the uniquely human,
the unexpected, the adventurous. He wants changes, and he likes to asso-
ciate them with new faces. He hopes for individuals to step out of the mass,
to find the formulas for directing the course of events, to take the lead.
And he is prepared to create room for the exceptional individuaPs initiative.
He is willing to gamble quite a bit on his choice. Not least important in his
attitude toward the “outstanding” person is the inclination to be hopefully
experimental. James Bryce observed:
I doubt if there be any country [except the United States] where a really brilliant
man, confident in his own strength, and adding the charm of a striking personality
to the gift of popular eloquence, would find an easier path to fame and power, and
would exert more influence over the minds and emotions of the multitude. Such a
man, speaking to the people with the independence of conscious strength, would find
himself appreciated and respected.^
In retrospect the American becomes rather pronouncedly a hero-wor-
shiper. He usually conceives of the American Revolution as the deed of a
group of outstanding, courageous and resourceful individuals. The Repub-
lic has its “Founding Fathers,” such as few other democratic nations have.
In fact, the American dramatizes and personifies the entire history of his
country and of the world. Social changes are rarely looked upon as the
outcome of broad trends and deep forces. The long toils and seemingly
blind moves of anonymous masses are pushed into the background of his
world view.^
Like no other people, Americans have continually succeeded in creating
popular heroes—national, local and professional. Outstanding individuals
may become heroes while they are still living. In no other part of Western
culture is it less true that “no one is a prophet in his own country and his
own time ” A rising leader in America has quite commonly the backing of
his home town and his own group: the American ideas ot “favorite son”
and “local boy who made good” are significant indications of this trait
of American oilture.
American individualism and romanticisni have, in this particular respect,
a personality basis to operate upon, which, for want of a better term, we
shall call “personal generosity.” On the average, Americans show a greater
kindness and patience with others than Europeans do. This attitude is a
natural product of the opportunities on the frontier and, more generally,
in a rapidly expanding economy. Americans worship success. This peculiar-
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