The Psychological Assessment of Political Leaderswould masterfully demolish the questions he had raised. In the last
one-third of the speech, "he [swept] from exhortation, promise, ded-
ication to the rhapsodic finale." In the last eight to ten minutes,
Hitler's oratory "resemble[d] an orgasm of words. It is like the
throbbing fulfillment of a love drama.... Liebestod."
Comment
Much of this material is quite interesting, particularly Hitler's pre-
occupation with himself as political actor, with meticulous concern
for his self-presentation, and his increasing Messiah complex, his
identification with himself as the savior of the German people. And
while the policymaker reading this assessment may feel that he bet-
ter understands Hitler after this account, how to translate these
understandings into policy prescriptions is not at all clear, which was
perhaps the reason for commissioning the Langer study.Langer's Study: The Mind of Adolf Hitler
What has generally been considered the pioneering effort of at-a-dis-
tance leader personality assessment in support of U.S. government
policy was the assessment of Adolf Hitler prepared by the psychoan-
alyst Walter Langer. Intrigued by psychoanalysis,"Wild Bill" Dono-
van of the OSS had asked Langer to set up a Psychoanalytic Field
Unit to help in understanding the morale of the American people
and the psychology of the German people.
The dramatic nature of Hitler's leadership compelled attention to
his personality, and in the spring of 1943 Donovan informed Langer
that they needed "a realistic appraisal of the German situation."
Donovan asked, "If Hitler is running the show, what kind of a man
is he? What are his ambitions? How does he appear to the German
people? What is he like with his associates? What is his background?
And most of all, we want to know as much as possible about his psy-
chological make-up—the things that make him tick. In addition we
ought to know what he might do if things begin to go against him"
(Langer 1972).
It was clear to Langer at the onset that Hitler was more than the
crazy paperhanger depicted in popular media. How, he puzzled,
could this shiftless ne'er-do-well, who had never been promoted
above the rank of lance corporal, "in the course of a relatively few