THE PRESIDENCY: The Forge of Leadership

The Presidency/Hugh Sidey

For 34 months Jimmy Carter has been in training for these hours. There is nothing else that Presidents do that depends so much on the collected wisdom and the seasoned instincts of one man. Nor is there anything so lonely.

Those feet-up gab sessions, those earnest White House breakfasts that are so much a part of domestic politics, are of no account in a dilemma like Iran. It is almost pure decision making from dawn to dawn. There are meetings constantly, but there is always something oddly uncollegial about them. When power is employed, the resolve and foresight of the...