How Faith Refines Leaders

Mayhem, strikes, tragedies, wars, upheavals, terrorism, and calamities of all sorts — manmade and natural — make or break men and women who would emerge as important political leaders.
There are numerous examples. During the now-forgotten Boston Police Strike of 1919, a failed attempt by that city’s mayor at reconciliation with officers resulted in lawlessness and a profound sense of unease. The Massachusetts State Guard had to be called in. It became a national story overnight. Civil unrest led to nine deaths.
The governor of the state, little-known Calvin Coolidge, who was by nature prudent and calm as a spring day, famously admonished the police that they had no right to strike against the public’s safety, ever. Law and order amid chaos and disorder became the Coolidge calling card, but something even more important: personal attributes that came to define Coolidge were incarnated in that tumultuous New England moment. It was the burnishing of the man known as Silent Cal.
Coolidge’s steadfastness and stoutheartedness became an overnight sensation, and in 1920, plucked from near-obscurity, Coolidge became Warren Harding’s running mate on the successful GOP presidential ticket. As fate would have it, Harding died before the end of his term, and Coolidge became the President, sworn in by his justice-of-the-peace father while visiting his hometown, a small village in Vermont.
It wasn’t that Coolidge stormed into the middle of Boston mayhem; it was that his preternatural coolness, accompanied by welcome prudence and wisdom, showed the American people that leadership can be defined by the three attributes Coolidge would later highlight in his own reelection campaign of 1924: that he was ”safe, sane, and steady.”
The Coolidge paradigm is not unlike what our nation has witnessed in Vice President Mike Pence the last few weeks as the presidentially appointed Coronavirus Task Force leader. With self-assuredness and calm, he comes to the daily White House press room briefing podium well-informed and prepared. He’s comfortable deferring to the bevy of health and medical experts around him, and never feels rushed or hurried. There is no braggadocio about him, and his combination of clarity and good counsel has a way of defining the briefings as clear-eyed and affirming.
In multiple ways across the last two weeks, there were ample opportunities for him to have gotten flustered or beaten-down; instead, his candor and goodwill has the effect of evoking national unity, and the Vice President regularly finds ways to concretize areas of agreement instead of flagging bitterness or partisanship.
Even normally left of center journalists who cover the White House have had good things to say about the Vice President’s leadership during the crisis. The New York Times, for instance, said “Mr. Pence … gets good marks for how he [has] handled the White House response …”
He is certainly not above pointing out or engaging areas of disagreement; rather it is that he doesn’t dwell on those areas or become angry or mean-spirited or disconsolate. He has the gift of distinguishing mole hills from mountains, which in this era of the American public square is a refreshing oasis.
This has been a burnishing moment for Vice President Pence, and as with an athlete of great skill and understated ability finding his métier, fair-minded people of both political parties, and everyone from progressives to libertarians, have witnessed in him the kind of equanimity and objectivity that comprise the virtues of not only a model public servant but also great leadership in a time of crisis and a war against a lethal, invisible pathogen.
One gets the sense that Pence’s confidence and equipoise under pressure is rooted in the grace and goodwill of his faith. If there is ever a time we have needed the second most powerful man in our country to telegraph that assuredness and calm, it is now. We’ve watched, it seems to me, the burnishing of Mike Pence, and it is the pathway of talented leadership defined by humility and an understated elan.
It is a sensibility that echoes Coolidge who, like Pence, believed religion played a central role in American governance, and that personal faith on the part of leaders and citizens directly impacted the tone and tempo in the public square. Coolidge said: “Our government rests upon religion. It is from that source that we derive our reverence for truth and justice, for quality and liberality, and for the rights of mankind. Unless people believe in these principles they cannot believe in our government.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tim Goeglein champions God’s welcomed role in the public square. His years of public service and private initiative have been devoted to faith, freedom, and family. Tim is the Vice President for External and Government Relations at Focus on the Family in Washington DC. He served in high-level government posts for two decades. He worked as Special Assistant to President George W. Bush, where he was the Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison from 2001 to 2008. He was the President’s principal outreach contact for conservatives, think tanks, veteran’s groups, faith-based groups, and some of America’s leading cultural organizations. He was a member of the President’s original 2000 campaign and White House staff, serving for nearly 8 years. Also, he has served as a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a professor of government at Liberty University. Goeglein is the author of the political memoir THE MAN IN THE MIDDLE: FAITH AND POLITICS IN THE GEORGE W. BUSH ERA (B and H Books) which was published in September, 2011. His second book is AMERICAN RESTORATION: HOW FAITH, FAMILY, AND PERSONAL SACRIFICE CAN HEAL OUR NATION (Regnery, 2019), in which he offers a roadmap to national and spiritual renewal by examining American culture. His new book is TOWARD A MORE PERFECT UNION: THE MORAL AND CULTURAL CASE FOR TEACHING THE GREAT AMERICAN STORY (Fidelis Books, 2023). From 1988 through 1998, Tim was the Deputy Press Secretary, and then Press Secretary and Communications Director, for U.S. Senator Dan Coats of Indiana (who was in the Senate for a decade). Between his time with the Senate and Bush campaign, Tim served as Communications Director for Gary Bauer in his presidential bid. Tim was an intern for then-U.S. Senator Dan Quayle in 1985, and for then-Representative Dan Coats and for NBC News in 1986, during his college years at Indiana University’s Ernie Pyle School of Journalism. When he graduated in 1986, he was the Richard Gray Fellow in his senior year. Tim’s first job upon graduation was as a television news producer for the NBC affiliate in his hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana. During high school and college, he produced a show for WOWO Radio, then owned by the Westinghouse Broadcasting Corporation. The program was heard in 28 states. Tim holds Honorary Doctorate degrees from Concordia University, New York City; and from Faith Evangelical College and Seminary, Tacoma, Washington. Tim is the secretary of the Coalitions for America board, a member of the board for the National Civic Art Society, a member of the board of Family Policy Alliance, and a member of the board of governors of the Young America’s Foundation which owns and operates the Ronald Reagan Ranch in Santa Barbara, California. Tim also serves on the Institute for American Universities Advisory Board. Goeglein served as Board Secretary of the American Conservative Union Foundation. Also, he is a member of the Council for National Policy, the Philadelphia Society, and the Capitol Hill Club. Tim serves on the Sanctity of Life Commission for his church body, the 2.5 million-member Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod; is a board member of The Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty; and has served as a deacon in his church in northern Virginia for 30 years. His hobbies include reading, tennis, swimming, biking, and the fine arts. The most important thing to know about Tim is that he is married to the love of his life, Jenny, of 31 years, and they have two sons Tim and Paul -- one in public policy and one in the fine arts and music.
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