Time USA - 06.04.2020

100 Time April 6–13, 2020

6 Questions

‘

HISTORY

CAN PROVIDE

PERSPECTIVE

AND SOLACE

’

Having studied presidential leader-

ship duri ng cri ses, how do you think

our leaders are doing during this

one? Forgetting what we don’t know,

which is what would have happened if

they’d responded earlier, the big dif-

fe rence between the situation in World

War II and now is that when Roosevelt

spoke to the nation, it was really a single

voice, it was a trusted voice. We don’t

have that single voice in the government

right now that can command the facts.

Are there lessons from that time that

people who aren’t the President can

keep in mind? I think people [should]

realize how important their role is in

withstanding this sacrifice. Right now,

we’re just hoping [social distancing] is

going to make a difference, but it will.

When your book Leade rship came

out, you told TIME that you liked to

think it would reassure people “to

know that if you think we’re in the

worst of times right now, it isn’t the

worst.” Do you still feel that way?

I do. If you go back to the Civil War,

they thought even after Fort Sum-

ter that it would be over in 90 days.

They couldn’t have imagined what

they’d have to endure. That was worse.

But the crisis is going to come after

[COVID-19], if hopefully this comes to

an e nd. The government’s going to have

to step in in a much bigger way than

just sending a fe w paychecks. There

may need to be real social and eco-

nomic reform that comes out of this,

as it did out of the Depression.

And FDR will be the person to look

to on that? Yes, exactly right. When he

comes in, people were feeling like the

whole country collapsed. That feeling

was similar to what we’re feeling now.

But there were actions taken that al-

lowed us to get through it. That’s the

key. There have been crises. We’ve had

really hard times before—it’s just that

we know how they ended up.

—LiLy RoThman

T

his moment feels unprece-

dented. As a historian, do

you think it actually is? What

makes it so hard to absorb is that the

overwhelming majority have never

seen a situation that so severely dis-

rupts our daily routines. Maybe that’s

where history can provide perspective

and solace. There are two points when

we’ve weathered this in the 20th cen-

tury. When the Great Depression hit

rock bottom in March of ’33, the vital

organs of the economy were closing

down. That was the situation that FDR

faced. Eventually, government jobs car-

ried the people through until the De-

pression comes to a full end with the

mobilization for [World War II]. Which

brings you to the second big time that

reminds me of this.

You’ve written o f how F DR prepared

for World War II by asking the U.S.

to produce more t han 10 t imes its

prewar capacity for planes, a nd how

what s eemed l ike an impossible

demand e nded up motivating

producers ... Fifty thousand planes

in o ne fell swoop, which would mean

we would h ave a n a rmada n ext to

none. And h e gets it. All sorts of other

companies a re transforming themselves

as well. They n eeded p arachutes b adly,

so manufacturers of silk ribbons make

parachutes. Toy companies make

compasses. Typewriter c ompanies

produce rifles. Piano factories produce

airplane motors.

What should we learn from that

WW II mobilization? The main thing

is that the government had to under-

lay the beginning of the process. When

government and business get together

in a positive way, which they did during

World War II, that’s what has to happen

now. More than just words, we need to

fe el that sense of activity. If these things

start, we’ll feel that yes, the American

energy and our business know-how and

our technological strength will come to

the fore, but they’ve got to start.

Doris Kearns Goodwin The historia n on

mobilizing business for good, the lack of leadership

today and FDR’s lessons for facing coronavirus

NOAM GALAI—GETTY IMAGES

10Q.indd 100 3/25/20 2:49 PM