Power & Influence

The Presidents of the United States

 

Megan Wright:

In honor of President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday this week, I decided to focus on President Lincoln’s power and influence as a leader during his presidency. President Lincoln is considered one of the greatest presidents of all time, this recognition coming from his use of speech. As the 16^th president, Abraham Lincoln came into presidency at a very volatile time. A time when war broke out within the nation, and when a true leader was needed. President Lincoln used his speech to gain the respect and admiration from his followers, but it was in a very different way than what had been seen during this time. This is what brought popularity to his ways of leadership during his presidency. He was a very powerful speaker, but he spoke in a very basic and rather simple manor. He wrote his speeches for the masses to understand, therefore there was no miscommunication, and no words that were not received due to a lack of understanding of them. As it says in LCP, “The key is to adopt the appropriate style for the situation” (p. 145). President Lincoln aimed to do just that, he knew what he wanted to say and how to effectively say it that would influence a widespread amount of people in any given situation.  The style in which he spoke is what made him a powerful and influential leader. It was shown that along with having legitimate power, in the position of President of the United States, President Lincoln didn’t rest on that as President. He used his leadership skills, channeled them through his speeches to gain even more power throughout his Presidency.