Assessing Leaders' Personalitiestation.^3 Like the Georges, Freud and Bullitt focused on the promi-
nent role of Wilson's father. Woodrow, they argued, "never solved
the major dilemma of the Oedipus complex" (306). As a result, he
both identified strongly with his father (resulting in a harsh super-
ego) and yet had repressed aggression toward his father, which he
typically displaced onto associates who were symbolic "younger
brothers." More latent was his passivity, the result of a latent
identification with his mother.
Interpretation by WeinsteinWeinstein (1970, 1981, 1983) and his colleagues (Weinstein,
Anderson, and Link 1978—79) were very clear about the underlying
cause of Wilson's foreign policy behavior: he was, they argue, suffer-
ing from cerebral vascular disease, manifested in periodic strokes and
culminating in the final, massive stroke of 1919. These medical con-
ditions, Weinstein (1981, esp. chaps. 10, 20, and 21) argues, precip-
itated a series of personality changes that contributed to Wilson's
self-defeating pattern: euphoric overconfidence, stubbornness and
irritability, suspiciousness, and delusions.
From the available biographical evidence it is clear that Wilson
suffered from a variety of vaguely described physical complaints
throughout his life. However, as Post (1983^ observed, we lack the
kind of detailed medical records that could definitively prove many
of the details of Weinstein's hypotheses—hypotheses that Weinstein
treated as established facts. On the basis of an independent review of
the available evidence, a number of medical experts doubted Wein-
stein's diagnosis (e.g., Marmor 1982, 1983; Monroe n.d., cited by
George and George 1998, 5-6, see also 10—n; Post 1983^. Others
have argued that even if Weinstein was correct, the medical condi-
tions he attributed to Wilson do not adequately explain what Wein-
stein thought they explained (see George and George 1981-82,
1983; Post 1983^ Ross 1982).
Summary Characterization of Single Case Study
Psychobiographies
Like all psychobiographies, the George and George analysis of
Woodrow Wilson relies on a sensitive understanding of the available