A Presidential Scholar on Presidents' Day

Ted Widmer, a presidential scholar, history professor at Brown University, and former speechwriter for Bill Clinton, delivered an all-School lecture on Monday—Presidents’ Day—about the American presidency and how past presidents are perceived.

“Groton is a fitting place to remember the presidents,” Widmer told the audience in the Campbell Performing Arts Center (CPAC). “It would be difficult to find a school that has contributed more to the service of the executive branch of our country.”

Widmer went on to discuss President Franklin D. Roosevelt (Groton Form of 1900) and numerous public servants who attended Groton, including Francis Biddle, who served as attorney general under FDR; Dean Acheson, who was undersecretary of the Treasury under FDR and secretary of state under President Truman; and numerous senators, congressmen, FBI agents, presidential advisors, and other Grotonians.

Groton, especially “Groton’s culture of service to others,” shaped FDR profoundly, the speaker said. In fact, the 32^nd president mentioned the Rev. Endicott Peabody, the School’s founder, in his fourth inaugural address, which Widmer said was highly unusual.

While President Theodore Roosevelt did not attend Groton (his four sons did), he was close friends with Peabody, who asked him to teach at Groton, according to Widmer. He declined, but did visit the School during his presidency.

Groton’s Presidents’ Day lecture began with a history lesson about the holiday itself, which stems from a George Washington birthday celebration originally designated for government employees. Congress deemed Washington’s birthday a national holiday in 1968, and in 1971 stipulated that the holiday be on the third Monday in February, between the 15^th and the 21^st. The irony of that law, said Widmer, is that the calendar constraints mean “we celebrate Washington’s birthday on a day that can never be Washington’s birthday.” George Washington was born on February 22.

Widmer explained that several states have their own Presidents’ Days, including eight states that celebrate Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. Massachusetts celebrates a presidential holiday on May 29 in honor of four presidents from Massachusetts—John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Calvin Coolidge, and John F. Kennedy. Widmer pointed out that the state has not included George H.W. Bush, who was born in Massachusetts. Globally, just one other country—Botswana—celebrates a presidents’ holiday.

Widmer explained that both the public’s assessment of the presidency and of individual presidents changes considerably as time passes. Since Kennedy, he said, “it seems that every president was an attempt to cleanse the memory of the president before him.” Obama, for example, he said, is “the opposite of George W. Bush in nearly every way imaginable.”

During the lecture, Widmer shared a more personal perspective on President Clinton, reflecting on the speechwriting he did for that administration. Widmer said that he and his fellow speechwriters avidly read Lincoln, Jefferson, both Roosevelts, and Kennedy for inspiration. “We poured energy into writing speeches worthy of that tradition,” said Widmer, who also advised Hillary Clinton during her last year as secretary of state and is currently helping with her memoirs. After the lecture, about 25 students attended a reception at the Headmaster’s House, where Widmer explained the workings of the White House in greater detail.

Widmer told the audience in the CPAC that, toward the end of the Clinton presidency, staffers were not permitted to use the word “legacy,” lest they focus on the future rather than on America’s immediate needs. But presidents do think ahead to their legacies, he said, and predicted that Barack Obama already is considering his. Widmer suggested the current president would enhance his reputation by demonstrating leadership on Mideast peace efforts and the crisis in Syria. And while he faces monumental problems, such as climate change, he could “do a great deal of good by teaching well about what the next generation needs to do.”

While Obama’s presidency will always be “deeply historic,” he said, “…his final reputation is up for grabs.”

Back