The Presidency: The Courage of Restraint

The Courage of Restraint

He cut short a cross-country speaking tour in Chicago, grunting to his staff, "I just know it is the right thing to do," and hurried home to Washington to confront his first hostage crisis as President. He jumped off his helicopter Marine One onto the South Lawn of the White House. Walking in the fetid summer air toward the Oval Office, he kicked an acorn lying on the drive, a small sign of George Bush's frustration at finding himself caught in the terrorist web that humiliated his predecessors. That was about his only display of raw anger.

He was facing the...

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