| Description |
Abraham Lincoln is widely considered the greatest President in U.S. history and among the most effective leaders of all time. Given his stature and general popularity, Lincoln has been coopted by varied groups and professions as a model of leadership. In this dissertation, I argue that President Lincoln was a public institutional leader, a conservator singularly interested in preserving the integrity of the Union. To do this, Lincoln had to manage subordinate cabinet members and Army generals with an eye towards conserving the mission, values, and support of the Union. In doing so successfully, Abraham Lincoln is a model for modern public managers, following the conservatorship framework. An examination of consequential interactions between Lincoln and often challenging subordinates, as well as Lincoln's private and public words, reveals his conservatorship and leadership greatness. I further explain that much of Lincoln's success as a conservator was due to his embodiment of Aristotelian phronesis, or practical wisdom. Lincoln possessed admirable virtues like patience and magnanimity, but these attributes were usually employed by Lincoln towards subordinates with a higher purpose: Lincoln utilized these intrinsic attributes instrumentally, after assessing the "law of the situation," and determining that they best aided his purpose of preserving the integrity of the Union. |
