Newspaper Page Text
How cool would it have been to have one of these former U.S. presidents
as your teacher? Here are some of our favorites along with the classes
they would have taught best.
A lesson in leadership
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USA WEEKEND • Sept. 7-9,2007
ATTENTION, CLASS: School is now in session.
This year, Topic A will be the 2008 presiden
tial election, so let’s start with a history lesson
on our chief executives. Did you ever consider
how well their skills would have served them
in a classroom? When Theodore Roosevelt stepped up to his
“bully pulpit,” for example, he showed how presidents serve
as educators as well as administrators. For some, this came
more naturally than for others. Case in point: Early in the last
century, a young man from the Texas Hill Country borrowed
$75 to enroll at what was called Southwest Texas State Teachers’
College. Later, he taught Mexican-American children in Cotulla,
Texas, where he pushed them to succeed in debating contests
and spelling bees. And, like most teachers, Lyndon B. Johnson
learned as much from his students as he taught them; what he
took from that experience helped him shape the Great Society
programs that made education a basic American right.
This story's author,
Richard Norton Smith,
directed libraries
associated with Lincoln,
Hoover, Eisenhower, Ford
and Reagan. This fall,
Smith co-hosts a three
month C-SPAN series.
Presidential Libraries:
History Uncovered.
dential Libraries: History Uncovered, showcasing rarely (or
never) seen films and other historical treasures newly unearthed
at all 12 of the nation’s federally operated presidential libraries.
Exclusively for USA WEEKEND Magazine, Smith selected the
following presidential dream team for a modern-day high school:
World history teacher: James Madison
Smith: “Long before the Constitutional Convention of 1787,
Madison immersed himself in the study of foreign govern
ments not only ancient Rome and Greece, but other civili
zations and confederations, too. His contemporaries assumed
that no republican form of government could succeed over so
large a geographical area as the United States even the
fairly compact, Atlantic-hugging nation known to the founders.
Madison disagreed, and his erudition had a profound impact on
the miracle workers of Philadelphia.”
Cover, Roosevelt and Carter illustrations by Robert Meganck for USA WEEKEND
LB J wasn’t the only president
who had the makings of a great
instructor. To find out more, we
enlisted Richard Norton Smith,
who is a presidential historian at
Virginia’s George Mason Univer
sity. He also has directed the lib
raries associated with presidents
Lincoln, Hoover, Eisenhower, Ford
and Reagan. This fall, he’ll co-host
a three-month C-SPAN series, Presi-