Dr. Jeremi Suri鈥檚 message to students Thursday was part history lesson, part call to action.
Suri, who traveled to 海外吃瓜 from the University of Texas at Austin, where he is a history professor and global affairs scholar, gave the Minds@Work keynote Thursday. Using his most recent book, The Impossible Presidency, as the framework for his talk, Suri argues that the successful presidents of the past created unrealistic expectations for every president since JFK. And, the resulting problems for American politics are huge.
鈥淭he problem is, we talk the presidency and presidents but we don鈥檛 know the history of the office,鈥 said Suri.
The image on the cover of The Impossible Presidency depicts JFK in the Oval Office, standing by a window, head bowed. Suri said the photo conveys the idea of 鈥渂earing the burdens of the office.鈥 Additional images of a statue of George Washington (the father figure president), Abraham Lincoln (the opportunity creator president), as well and FDR (the national healer president), capture 鈥渉ow the office, even as big as it is, is still small,鈥 Suri said.
In a way, it鈥檚 a Catch-22. The Founding Fathers envisioned a more limited role of the presidency and now, it鈥檚 a victim of its own success; its vastness has created limitations that make it nearly impossible to fulfill expectations. The most powerful office in the world is set up to fail.
鈥淭his institution,鈥 Suri said, 鈥渉as become so big that we鈥檝e forgotten who we are.鈥
But it鈥檚 not about big or small, Republican or Democrat. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about priorities,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about what you care about.鈥 Today鈥檚 presidents, he suggested, are too busy to do what really matters: to serve the values of our society.
鈥淲e are less divided today than we were in the 18th century. We are. But it鈥檚 not about division. It鈥檚 about leadership and it鈥檚 about the office,鈥 Suri said. 鈥淟eadership is about bringing people together and then helping them to find solutions.鈥
That鈥檚 where his 鈥済enerational call鈥 to the students comes in.
鈥淕et involved and make institutional reforms to better serve the needs of our time,鈥 he charged. 鈥淕o into them, learn about them, reform them to serve the values we care about. 鈥 It鈥檚 time for us to do this today!鈥
He encouraged students to let history inspire them to make a difference.