THE RIGHT TO RISE: Abraham Lincoln and Leadership

Lincoln talked frankly and fully to the American people about the challenges that must be faced. He wrote his own words and addressed his audience with enduring effectiveness, using quotes that are timeless in their applicability, such as the one below:

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country. (Abraham Lincoln, Annual Message to Congress, Dec. 1, 1862)

On February 12, 2009, our nation will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth, and what better time to reflect on his presidential leadership skills then today, as we transition to the 44th President of the United States Barack Obama?

"I'm glad to be here at Nichols College where you produce so many fine business leaders," began Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island Frank J. Williams, who spoke on "Lincoln and Leadership" at Nichols College on November 10th. "Lincoln represents the foremost in political leadership. Do you think he thought there would be an African-American president elected by the United States?"

Williams, a Lincoln scholar who has amassed a private Lincoln collection that ranks among the nation's largest and finest, has authored many acclaimed books, including Judging Lincoln (2002) and The Emancipation Proclamation. "Leadership requires that you stay the course even when you have to stand alone," said Williams. "It requires a commitment to mission even when presented with personal and professional obstacles."

He described Lincoln as a captain in the Black Hawk War, a lawyer who rode the circuit courts, a member of the Illinois legislature with only a short stint in Congress before he came to national prominence, a man criticized as too inexperienced for the presidency, and one whose vision of America was of optimistic reconciliation.

As a sixth-grader, Williams realized that Lincoln was a mythic figure, who exercised a strong, decisive hand and had a legacy transcending his period. "He set goals and preached a vision, not only for America, but for the world. Lincoln had a focused pursuit of justice," says Williams, "and a fire in his belly."

"You have a right to rise," Williams told students. "This is a place, Nichols College, where friendships and allies are created for a life. So that when you leave, you can understand one another and work together to make this country the best it can be for future generations."

"There is a sense of change in the air with this [Obama] election, but I can tell you from personal experience as a chief justice, people don't like change," lamented Williams. "They don't like to be told that they are wrong or that they need to sacrifice something or that they need to put-back into the culture something which ensures that our democracy will survive."

After learning that he had been elected 16th president of the United States, Lincoln said: "May God help me." The nation was already torn apart. While Lincoln had given his word that emancipation would be the policy of his administration, he was clever enough to bring his political rivals into his administration to help win the war, simply because "they were the best men for the job."

"When you think about it, this country has not been asked to sacrifice since World War II. I've heard a Stanford professor described us as an ‘affluent-intoxicated society,"' said Williams. "What is going to happen when President Obama asks you and other young people to serve a period of time in national service? Are you going to do it, or are you going to run to the bunkers and say: "This is not the change I anticipated?"'

Williams left the Nichols audience pondering its own commitment to change and wondering whether Obama's administration could effectively reverse the failing policies of privatization, corporate tax cutting, military spending, borrowing from foreign sovereigns to make up for missing revenues, and deregulation. Chief Justice Frank J. Williams, who supported McCain, sincerely hopes so.