Psychoanalytic Assessments of Character and Performanceers anxious to discover who they are. Almost every major modern
presidential candidate has generated at least one major biography
and often more.
Moreover, in spite of laments about campaign coverage, at least
two of the nation's national newspapers (the Washington Post and the
New York Times} have produced major series tracing the biographies
and careers of the major presidential candidates, and excellent bio-
graphical material is often available in local papers from a candi-
date's home state (e.g., Baker 1999 or the reporting on John
McCain's temper in the Arizona Republic}.
Candidate autobiographies are also becoming a staple of political
campaigns. Sometimes these are written by the candidate and a cho-
sen "helper," as in the case of George W. Bush's (1999) and B>ob
Dole's (1988) autobiographies. Sometimes the autobiographies are
written (for the most part) by the candidates themselves, as appears
to be the case with 2000 Democratic presidential candidate EJill
Bradley. These documents must be treated like any other element of
information used to assemble an understanding of a leader; and,
though often criticized as idealized, they can provide information
and descriptions that can be used to develop an understanding of the
person. While George W. Bush's autobiography has been character-
ized as little more than a campaign vehicle (which, of course, it is),
in it his real love of flying jets as an Air National Guard pilot and his
real attachment to his wife are clearly evident.
A second use of such information is to convey the leader's under-
standing of the events and people that shaped him. Clearly, cam-
paign autobiographies are written for a purpose and often reflect
strategy as well as candor, nonsense as well as insight. It is only in
relation to other sources that particular elements can be judged.
What other sources might these be? Surprisingly, books and inter-
views by close family members provide a range of useful information.
No one who wants to explore the family circumstances in which
Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush grew up can
afford not to read his mother's memoir (Bush 1994). That can be
supplemented with interviews given to major news shows by his
mother and wife (Bush and Bush 1999). Similarly, anyone who
wants to understand the circumstances that gave rise to President