versial issues. In Eyewitness to Power, he cites both Abraham Lin-
coln and Franklin Roosevelt. “Lincoln decided in the summer of
1862 to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, but kept it locked
in his desk until Union forces could win a significant victory in the
field, giving him enough political capital to hold the Union
together. Meanwhile, he dropped a series of public hints, includ-
ing a well-publicized letter to Horace Greeley, foreshadowing his
announcement. Massive Confederate casualties at Antietam gave
him the moment he had been awaiting, and he finally went pub-
lic with his decision in September. Even then, he waited until Jan-
uary 1 to sign the Proclamation, giving the country three additional
months to ready itself. A man of extraordinary insight into public
psychology, Lincoln was always patient, allowing issues to ripen
and events to move in his direction before he moved.”
Garry Wills, writing in the Atlantic, makes a similar point. “In
order to know just how far he could go at any moment, Lincoln
had to understand the mixture of motives in his fellow citizens,
the counter-balancing intensities with which they held different
positions, and in what directions those positions were changing
moment by moment. The leader needs to understand followers....
This is the time-consuming aspect of leadership.”
Roosevelt too prepared the American people. Gergen writes,
“Franklin Roosevelt foresaw as early as 1937 that the United
States would very likely be drawn into war with Europe. But he
didn’t issue a series of presidential decrees or seek bold initiatives
because he knew the country was sleeping under a blanket of iso-
lationist sentiment and would resist being jerked out of bed.
Instead, he slowly awakened the public mind to the dangers out-
side and prepared it for eventual sacrifice.... Most historians
rightly believe that one of FDR’s greatest achievements was to
arouse the country out of isolationism gradually, preparing it psy-
chologically and militarily.”
These macroexamples illustrate what leaders on every level
face: it often takes time and patience to communicate tough and
controversial necessities, yet both are needed to generate enthu-
siastic support.
Expanding the Growing Edge