“Cometh The Hour, Cometh The Man”

“But the hour cometh, and now is” John 4:23

As a young man learning the guitar, one of my favorite tunes was Pete Seeger's "Where have all the flowers gone." It became a cult classic in the 1960s during the Vietnam War. I played it in hopes of catching the attention of my high school sweetheart who became my wife of 50 years, proving not all quixotic pursuits are in vain. At the time, I was ironically awaiting my mother's signature to join the army, (Canadian), being well underage. Having lived through WWII she was a tough sell.

Decades later my eye caught a headline in a major US magazine entitled, "Where Have All the Leaders Gone." This takes us back to the late 1970s and early 1980s, a difficult time for the United States and the West. The parallels to today are chilling.

The Vietnam War had been lost and the US military was in shambles moving from a draftee to a professional force. Inflation was running above 10% and interest rates, including mortgages, were headed into the high teens, making it nearly impossible to buy or keep a house. OPEC oil producers had the west by the throat restricting production, driving up oil prices and creating gas lines around the block.

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and looked ready to move south into the oil rich regions of the Middle East. President Jimmy Carter addressed the nation wearing a coat sweater, advising people to turn down their thermostat and get used to being cold. He talked openly of a "national malaise." Iranian terrorists seized the US Embassy in Teheran and held American diplomatic personnel hostage and the US appeared helpless to intervene. T

he one attempt at rescue ended in fiasco. It was all humiliating. Across the ocean in the UK the once proud British Pound collapsed and the government imposed currency controls, essentially freezing the movement of people’s money. In my lifetime this was the nadir of US and western prospects and leadership.

The Rejuvenating Power of Free People

Yet the rejuvenating power of free people operating in a free society is never to be underestimated. Given free intellectual discourse and reasonably unhindered elections, a free electorate can right things, if given the chance. Even those inclined to be slow witted eventually recognize when things are not working for them. This avoids the violent overthrows witnessed in dictatorships where there is no vent for corrective action save violence. This is precisely why election tampering is so corrosive to a democracy. Once people believe they cannot right the ship with their vote, violence becomes the only option.

In the 1980s the free people of the west opted to reverse course. New leaders emerged like President Ronald Reagan, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II, a Polish bishop from Kraków who upended the tradition of Italian Popes. All have their detractors, but none can deny their extraordinary leadership qualities. They arrived just in time and moved forward, notwithstanding fierce opposition. They were demanding leaders, just ask anyone who stood in the way of Margaret Thatcher’s agenda of rebuilding Great Britain’s competitiveness and military prowess. 

Pope John Paul II Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan

Reagan was charming and less abrasive but no less single minded.  Pope John Paul II, being from Poland, understood better than anyone why the Soviet Union had to fall and eastern Europe freed. The arrival of these leaders triggered new leadership from the Soviets who produced two extraordinary, courageous men in the form of Mikhail Gorbachev and Eduard Shevardnadze. They recognized the sclerotic Soviet Union was doomed and needed reform. Remember these names because these people changed the world.

By the end of the 1980s OPEC was broken, hostages released, NATO revitalized, inflation tamed for a generation, the US economy boomed, living standards rose, and the US military reemerged as the tuned instrument that won the Iraq War in a matter of weeks. In November 1989, the Berlin Wall, the ultimate symbol of the Cold War, came tumbling down.

But always remember this period of triumph was born of a decade of despair and setbacks. As the adage holds “Cometh the Hour, cometh the man” or in this case “leaders” of all genders and stripes. This proves democracies can indeed produce the leaders needed…if allowed to operate properly.

Trump’s New Brain Trust

President Trump brings with him to Washington an incredible brain trust of talent and energy of all political stripes. This includes his new Vice President J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio, Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Junior, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, John Ratcliffe, etc. Even Trump’s secondary and tertiary circles of advisors have extraordinary resumes. This generation of leaders brings bold new ideas to the political debate. If they can pull it off, America will be infinitely better for it. But know the Trump team has inherited an unprecedented mess in immigration, deficits, military wokeness, indoctrination in schools, stifling regulations, etc. Most of all, they must wrench the corrosive fingers of the deep state from America’s collective throat, and it won’t be easy.

In Ronald Reagan’s first inaugural address he acknowledged the challenges his administration inherited, which were legion. He declared “Our problems will not go away overnight because they did not come upon us overnight…but they will go away.” He was as good as his word. That steady confidence is needed today.

Having a brilliant leadership team is no guarantee of success. David Halberstam’s acclaimed book, “The Best and The Brightest,” about the Kennedy administration and the Vietnam War, shows that intellect alone is insufficient to get things right…but it is surely a hell of a good starting point. That and prayer may yet get us through this.

An accomplished speaker and author, Mr. Sheehy‘s works have appeared along side of those of Presidents Clinton and Bush, Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin and business leaders such as Lou Gerstner, Jack Welch, and Michael Dell, Edwards Deming, Stephen R. Covey, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Gary Hamel, Peter Senge and Tom Peters. His speaking tours have taken him to Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Mexico, Canada, and the United States. He is the author of six books.