Leadership in Crisis

This is the time of year when Hollywood releases the serious movies the studios believe will be in the running for the Academy Awards. Two of them, “The Darkest Hour” and “The Post” resonate vividly today when we could all use a reminder of what political and journalistic courage really looks and feels like. The movies examine critical weeks when the free world was on the brink of a catastrophic defeat, and one of the pillars of American democracy was threatened by the very people we elected to defend our most basic freedoms. They tell the stories of individuals who found themselves at a place and time when they had to make decisions under tremedous pressure that would change the course of history.

“The Darkest Hour” tells the story of Winston Churchill becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain in May, 1940 as the Nazi armies marched across Europe seemingly unstoppable. The British army, along with French and Belgian troops, were trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk, France with their backs to the sea, sitting ducks for German planes. Unless they could be evacuated, the British army would be wiped out leading to certain defeat that would have changed history. Churchill faced down demands from his own party to give in, and negotiate peace with Hitler. He rallied the country with rousing speeches declaring, “We will never surrender”. He took the action of organizing hundreds of civilian boats to cross the English Channel to help the British navy evacuate over 300,000 British troops. Churchill knew how to rally ordinary people by explaining what was at stake, and inspiring them to follow him against all odds. It was one of finest examples of political leadership in the 20th century which showed the power of bringing people together for the common good. A lesson lost on the current leadership that continues to lead us through our own darkest hour.

“The Post” tells the story of the Washington Post publishing the Pentagon Papers in 1971. The papers were a Defense Department study commissioned by Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson to record the history of US involve in Vietnam. The seven thousand page study showed how several administrations deceived and lied to the American people about why we were there, what our real goals were, and the fact they never believed we could really win a war there. Despite all of this, we continued to send troops there to die in a lost cause.

The New York Times first obtained a leaked copy of the papers from Daniel Ellsburg who had worked on the papers. The Times was stopped from publishing after two days when the Justise Department got a court injunction saying the publication was a threat to national security. The Washington Post, having been scooped on the story, picked up the ball, and got its own copy of the papers. Post Publisher Katherine Graham and Executive Editor Ben Bradlee were faced with the decision to publish despite the injunction against the Times. Graham was in the middle of taking the paper public, when bankers handling the public offering could pull out and potentially doom the paper. Bradlee was pushing to publish, knowing the threat of government intervention against freedom of the press could shake the foundation of the Constitution. Most of Graham’s lawyers were arguing she could not risk publishing, potentially losing the paper, and possibility go to prison.

Graham’s father had published the paper for years. Her husband, Phil Graham took over from her father. Graham was rich. She had never had a job. She was raising two kids when in 1963 Phil Graham, suffering from depression, committed suicide. She became publisher at a time when women were viewed as incapable of running a big company. She faced enormous pressure from board members and lawyers who thought she was in over her head and would make the disasterous decision to publish. Graham went with her gut, and the journalistic prodding of Bradlee to put it all on the line and publish.

The Post refused to stop publishing when threatened by the Justice Department. The Post and Times went all the way to US Supreme in a matter of days. The court ruled 6-3 in favor of the two papers right to publish. There is a scene in the movie when Meryl Streep, who plays Graham, is walking down the steps of the Supreme Court after the arguments. There is a crush of reporters. But, there are young women who seemed to be making a path for Graham while looking up to her as she walked down the path of history.

These are stories we all should see and read about. Leadership and courage can be seen in the most experienced of statesman like Churchill. But it can also be seen in people like Katherine Graham. She was thrust into a position she didn’t want, and was unprepared for.  But she had the inner strength to overcome her doubts, listen to the arguments, and realize she was making a decision for much more then her own personal future. As our leadership vacuum seems to grow wider and more dangerous by the day, we should look at these two giants for inspiration and demand it of ourselves and our leaders.