Post Office Dedication

Matt Walsh, Master of Ceremonies

Guardian Angel
     Wayne McCammon is right: We will never forget Gen. Jim. 
Thanks to the efforts of Longboat Key Kiwanians Vince DeLisi, Samir Raghib, the Kiwanis board of directors and Congresswoman Katherine Harris, we will have this lasting reminder of this great countryman, great hero, great leader and great friend.
     When you talk to Longboat Kiwanians, their recollections of Gen. Edmundson are all quite similar and very simple.
Col. C.H. Kemp is typical. He described him in three words: “An outstanding gentleman,” he said.
     Kiwanian Richard Baum: “He was the most kind, considerate, generous, hospitable, friendly guy you could ever meet.”
As the club’s greeter for 20 years, Gen. Jim offered a sincere, friendly hello and firm handshake to every Kiwanian every Thursday morning.
     When you first met Gen. Edmundson, not knowing who he was, you sensed something about him. Bernie Pasler, a Kiwanian, said: “You knew instantly there was something behind the guy.”
     The flat-top haircut was a pretty good giveaway. Col. Al Bagot, another Kiwanian, said even as a civilian, “the general had a military bearing. He was always erect, always polite. He carried himself as if there was this inborn thing about loyalty to country and flag.” 
     I used to watch Gen. Edmundson when we said the “Pledge of Allegiance” at Kiwanis, and he always stood ramrod straight, then when, inside, he was aching with the pains of cancer … Loyalty to country and flag to the end.
Claire Hunter, a former owner of The Longboat Observer, described the general as “friendly but presidential.” Yet Chief McCammon says  — accurately: “There was absolutely no pretention about that man.” 
     When Ralph Hunter first asked Gen. Edmundson to consider writing a weekly column for The Longboat Observer, Ralph, the lieutenant, laid out three stipulations for the general: 1. Writing the column had to be fun, Ralph said, “because you’re not going to get paid.”  2.  Ralph expected the General to turn in three columns in advance. Ralph didn’t want the General to write a few and then quit. 3. Ralph said, “You have to let the editor edit your copy.”   
     “Great,” said the General.
     After the first column came in, Ralph sent it back with all kinds of editing marks and a note that said it was too long, overwritten and repetitive. 
      Three weeks went by with no response from the general. And then he called.
“Ralph,” he said, “You’re right. It was overwritten, too long and repetitive. Any time you want to edit me, you go ahead.”
In spite of his rank and Eagle Scout that he was, Gen. Edmundson was courteous, kind and obedient. As Ralph Hunter said, he epitomized the Boy Scout Law.
     I am convinced James Valentine Edmundson was one of God’s angels.
Angels have wings. And angels fly.
      Gen. Edmundson once wrote that when he was 21 years old and strapped into the cockpit of a Boeing PT-13 for the first time, “I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
He flew for his country for 36 years, through three wars, to every point of the globe and through 181 combat missions.
Having wings was always a part of him. When he was a boy, he and his brothers rescued an injured bird. From then on, and throughout his retirement from the military, Gen. Jim stayed connected to the sky through the wings of his pet birds.
Visitors to the Edmundson home on Marbury Lane marveled at the birds and the family cockatiels — Sugar and Sassafras.
Col. Bagot told me last week: “I was fascinated by all the birds flying around the house, sitting on his damn head while we were talking.”
     Danell Falato, the Edmundson’s housekeeper for 10 years, says: “He spoiled those birds rotten. They were the most spoiled birds you ever saw in your life. He would let them do whatever they wanted.”
Danell would tattle on the birds. “General,” she’d say, “Sugar is chewing your desk, and he’d say, ‘That’s OK.’” Danell swears the birds would give her dirty looks when she tattled.
 Imagine this, says Danell: “Here was this general to thousands of men who obeyed him, but these birds just wrapped their little wings around him and did whatever they wanted.”
     Danell remembers that some of Gen. Edmundson’s closest friends were the birds outside his bayfront home. The birds would walk up to the General, and he would feed them from his hand.  “It was like he was St. Francis of Assisi,” she said.
... Jim Edmundson, indeed, was one of God’s angels...
     He was devoted to the love of his life, his diminutive bride, his one and only bride, Lee Turner Edmundson.
On the military battlefield, the General’s heroics were those of a guardian angel. My favorite story:
At 3 a.m. in the Pacific Islands, Edmundson's superior, Col. L.G. “Blondie” Saunders and Adm. John McCain — the father of Sen. McCain — awakened Edmundson and his crew as they slept in netting under the wing of Edmundson’s bomber. A Japanese cruiser off the coast of Guadalcanal was decimating U.S. Marines. McCain and Saunders needed volunteers to go after the ship. Edmundson’s bomber was the only one ready to go — even though he had only a half of a load of bombs.
Capt. Edmundson and his crew flew three hours from their jungle air strip in the New Hebrides Islands to the Japanese ship. Under heavy artillery fire from the ship, Edmundson and his team destroyed the cruiser.
When the victory was certain, Edmundson circled around, dropped his altitude and flew along the shore of the island. Marines rushed to the beach, waving and cheering at Edmundson and his crew and their miraculous feat. As Edmundson flew passed them, he tipped his wings at his fellow countrymen.
When he returned to his air strip, Adm. McCain hugged Edmundson and cried at the bravery and success of his young captain.
… Jim Edmundson, the guardian angel …Gen. Jim remained a guardian angel long after he left the military.
Danell tells stories about how, every time she was at the Edmundsons’ home, the general received telephone calls and letters from his war colleagues, many of them seeking the general’s guidance on how to deal with their life’s problems.
With Sugar and Sassafras sitting on his shoulders in his office full of amazing memorabilia, he would write letters, listen and talk to his old buddies. “It was phenomenal,” Danell says. “He was a mentor to so many people.” Woody Wolverton, who is here today sought the general’s advice many times. “If he told you something,” Woody says, “you could bank on it.”
     James Valentine Edmundson was an important part of so many lives. Those who knew him will never forget that mischievous, angelic twinkle in his eyes. As Bernie Pasler said, there was much more behind Jim Edmundson than what you saw.
“Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue,” goes the last stanza of one of Jim’s favorite poems …
“I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew,
And, while with silent, lifting mind
I've trod the high untrespassed sanctity of space
Put out my hand,
And touched the face of God.”

Lt. Gen. James Valentine Edmundson was one of God’s guardian angels. With the memory of his life etched on this post office, we will have a constant reminder that Gen. Jim … Gentle Jim … will watch over us on Longboat Key forever.
Thank you. 

 1996 Interview with Lt. General James V. Edmundson conducted by Celia Lee

EdmundsonIntroduction and Background
In his 36 years of military service Lt. General James V. Edmundson has had extensive experience in combat operations and command at every level in the Air Force.  He is both highly respected and decorated.  He had over 10,000 hours of pilot time in 137 types of airplanes with 107 combat missions in World War II, 32 in Korea and 42 in Vietnam. 
    From the beginning of his career as a second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps in 1938, General Edmundson has been and continues to be in a position of leadership.  His assignments have taken him to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East and included diverse commands
    Since his retirement to Longboat Key, Florida in 1973, General Edmundson has continued to be involved and active in both world and community events.  In local politics, he has served on the city council and as mayor.  He currently writes a weekly column, entitled, Generally Speaking, for The Longboat Key Observer, which deals with a wide rang of issues, including military matters or world politics.  He also writes periodically for The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, The Tampa Tribune and The Military Order of the World Wars and the Klaxton.
    It is because of these extensive experiences in leadership and out of a deep respect for this man that the author has chosen to interview James V. Edmundson.

Interview Questions and Answers
CLE:  As you know, this interview will be submitted to Dr. Michele Stimac, professor of leadership at Pepperdine University, as partial completion of the doctorate level course, Leadership of Human Endeavor. 
    At the first meeting of this class, Dr. Stimac asked each member to define leadership.  While this class is composed of a widely diverse group of people currently in positions of leadership with varied backgrounds, abilities and experiences, seventy-six percent of their definitions centered on the attainment of a common or stated goal.  Eighty-two percent included the concept of motivating, guiding, or inspiring others as a critical factor of leadership. 
    Would you comment on these results and discuss how this relates to leadership in the military structure?
JVE:  Yes.  The term "leadership" has picked up as many definitions as there are individuals who have written and talked about it.  Generally, these definitions agree with your class' results and tend to define leadership as the ability to motivate others and to guide them in the accomplishment of tasks pointed towards the achievement of a group objective. 
    I have heard the military structure described as a pyramid of human beings, each man with his feet firmly planted on the shoulders of the man beneath him, and with his own shoulders in tern supporting the man above him.  I don't believe that this monolithic structure truly portrays relationships within the military, nor do I go along entirely with the unilateral definitions of leadership which accompany this structure.  
     In actuality, as the military structure bears towards the top of the pyramid, the senior military man has responsibilities to civilian authorities, who in turn are dependent upon the American voter for their position in the structure.  These voters constitute proud and doting parents of the 18 year old basic airmen who form the base of our military pyramid.  The military structure, then, as I see it, is more circular than pyramidal and each man within that structure has a complex combination of responsibilities to the men below him and to the men all around him. True leadership, then, is the ability to adjust successfully to the environment in which any of us may find ourselves in our particular position.  Leadership, as it is normally thought of, the ability to motivate subordinates through successful relationships with those below us, cannot be extracted from the total of this complex pattern of relationships.

CLE:  So, what you are saying is that the various responsibilities that accrue to a leader and the actions that he or she takes in fulfilling them reach in every direction -- up, down, and sideways -- and that no one portion of them can be totally separated from the whole. 

JVE:  That's right.  Our American form of government makes it impossible for absolute leaders to develop.  Therefore, our studies of leadership should include studies of our relationships with those above us and all around us.
The successful leader is one who adapts himself with harmony to the various relationships within which he finds himself. 

CLE:  What, then, do you see as the primary relationships that face us as leaders?

JVE:  There are four basic relationships.  The first of these relationships is with our superior.  Elbert Hubbard said, "If you work for a man, in Heaven's name work for him.  If he pays you wages that supply you bread and butter, work for him, speak well of him, think well of him, stand by him and by the institution he represents."  I think this sums up this relationship rather nicely.  Loyalty and industry are the two factors most important in dealing with one's superior, loyalty because if we fail to loyally support the person for whom we work, we cannot rightly expect loyalty from our troops and industry because we owe our boss our best.  If our best is not good enough for him, it's his problem and he has no business leaving us in the job.
    The second major relationship that we face as leaders is with our subordinates.  Of the many factors that enter into this relationship, I consider the two most important to be complete honesty and professional knowledge.  Without the assurance that beyond all doubt we are sincere, honest and above-board with those who are under our leadership, we cannot hope to motivate them.  Likewise, since we are placed in the position of making decisions that affect the health, happiness and, the lives of our subordinates, we owe these people the assurance that these decisions are based on the most complete and encompassing professional knowledge that it has been possible for us to achieve.
    The third basic relationship is with our contemporaries.  This is the one that we are most often apt to neglect.  Because we are often called upon to work in harmony with others whose backgrounds, professional training, and missions are far different from our own, I consider the factors of understanding and tolerance as the most important. 
    The fourth basic relationship is the one that I consider the most important.  That is the relationship of a man with himself.  Shakespeare said, "This above all, to thine own self be true, and it must follow as the night the day, thou canst not be false to any man."  All of us can fool our contemporaries.  Even a few of us, for a limited period of time, can succeed in fooling those who work for us.  But no man can fool himself. 

CLE:  I am remembering a poem, that you and Mother had me memorize as a child, which says in part:  "I have to live with myself and so, I want to be fit for myself to know, I want to be able as days go by always to look myself straight in the eye.” *
JVE:  If we can look ourselves in the eye each morning and know in our own hearts that we have done our level best to be loyal to our boss and to give him or her an honest day's work, to endeavor to understand and be tolerant of those with whom we work, and to be honest and exert our utmost abilities on behalf of those who work for us then we will have made the finest adjustment that any person can make to his or her surroundings.

CLE:  You are saying that there is a highly positive relationship between leadership, adaptability and happiness.

JVE:  Yes, I think the exercise of leadership requires adaptability and person who is well adapted to his or her surroundings is a happy person.  Happiness is not the same to everyone, but, in general, a happy person is living their life as they know they should live it and is giving their best in pursuit of objectives in which they believe. 
    Success is intimately related to the ability to happily adjust.  By success I do not mean the ordinary narrow connotation.  I do not believe that the successful person is the person that makes the most money or the person that succeeds in climbing the highest on the totem pole.  I believe there are many successful bank clerks working for unsuccessful bank presidents.  I have known many master sergeants that I consider to be outstandingly successful, and I have known a few three and four-star generals whom I consider failures.

CLE:  Are you pointing here to pride in ourselves and trust in our own values?

JVE:  Yes.  I think it most important that we all recognize that personal pride, pride in ourselves, our way of life, our goals and our guiding principles, is something that no one else can give us no matter how much they may desire to do so.  It can only come from within. 

CLE:  You once told me of a training session conducted by Master Sergeant Murabito and given to his students of leadership.  As I remember he makes a comparative analysis of the leadership ability of Adolph Hitler and Jesus Christ.  I would like to conclude this interview with that story, for, I believe, it ties together much of what you have been sharing today concerning leadership today.

JVE:  As Sergeant Murabito tells the story Christ comes out second best.  He points out that Adolph Hitler, during his lifetime, placed himself at a pinnacle of leadership over a larger segment of the human race than had ever been achieved in the history of man.  He erected a monolithic structure, fanatically imbued with a singleness of purpose and personally loyal only to him.  He was the closest approach to an absolute leader the world has ever seen.  On the other hand, he points out that Christ died in pain and humiliation, a relative unknown in his time and betrayed by one of his own trusted disciples. 

CLE:  Sergeant Murabito is not presenting this as his own belief, right?

JVE:  Not necessarily.  He just drops his thoughts on the floor for those who hear him to disprove if they disagree. 
    The normal reaction to this lecture is quite violent because Sergeant Murabito steps rather heavily on some concepts that are held dear by most of us, and he requires those who hear him to do a little constructive thinking in order to disprove the logic of his presentation. 
    I would suggest to you another avenue of comparative analysis regarding the leadership capabilities of the two men in question using that information which we have covered in this interview. 
    I point out that Adolph Hitler lost the war he started.  He died by his own hand, which is the mark of an acknowledged failure.  Ten years after his death, he is remembered only for the evil he brought upon the earth.  Even those who followed him blindly during his "heyday" now remember him only with ridicule and scorn.  On the other hand, the teachings of Christ now constitute the most generally accepted code of ethics in the world today.  The Christian principles have wider acceptance as overriding rules of guidance to a larger portion of the earth's population than any other known philosophy, and the Christian faith and the principles for which it stands are gaining in strength every day.  I suggest to you that we should find no difficulty in choosing which of these men was the real leader.

   
*Myself

By Edgar Guest

I have to live with myself, and so,
I want to be fit for myself to know;
I want to be able as days go by,
Always to look myself straight in the eye;
I don't want to stand with the setting sun
And hate myself for the things I've done.
I don't want to keep on a closet shelf
A lot of secrets about myself,
And fool myself as I come and go
Into thinking that nobody else will know
The kind of man I really am;
I don't want to dress myself up in sham.

I want to go out with my head erect,
I want to deserve all men's respect;
But here in this struggle for fame and pelf,
I want to be able to like myself.
I don't want to think as I come and go
That I'm bluster and bluff and empty show.
I never can hide myself from me,
I see what others may never see,
I know what others may never know,
I never can fool myself- and so,
Whatever happens, I want to be
Self-respecting and conscience free.

       

Post Office Dedication

Matt Walsh, Master of Ceremonies

Guardian Angel
     Wayne McCammon is right: We will never forget Gen. Jim. 
Thanks to the efforts of Longboat Key Kiwanians Vince DeLisi, Samir Raghib, the Kiwanis board of directors and Congresswoman Katherine Harris, we will have this lasting reminder of this great countryman, great hero, great leader and great friend.
     When you talk to Longboat Kiwanians, their recollections of Gen. Edmundson are all quite similar and very simple.
Col. C.H. Kemp is typical. He described him in three words: “An outstanding gentleman,” he said.
     Kiwanian Richard Baum: “He was the most kind, considerate, generous, hospitable, friendly guy you could ever meet.”
As the club’s greeter for 20 years, Gen. Jim offered a sincere, friendly hello and firm handshake to every Kiwanian every Thursday morning.
     When you first met Gen. Edmundson, not knowing who he was, you sensed something about him. Bernie Pasler, a Kiwanian, said: “You knew instantly there was something behind the guy.”
     The flat-top haircut was a pretty good giveaway. Col. Al Bagot, another Kiwanian, said even as a civilian, “the general had a military bearing. He was always erect, always polite. He carried himself as if there was this inborn thing about loyalty to country and flag.” 
     I used to watch Gen. Edmundson when we said the “Pledge of Allegiance” at Kiwanis, and he always stood ramrod straight, then when, inside, he was aching with the pains of cancer … Loyalty to country and flag to the end.
Claire Hunter, a former owner of The Longboat Observer, described the general as “friendly but presidential.” Yet Chief McCammon says  — accurately: “There was absolutely no pretention about that man.” 
     When Ralph Hunter first asked Gen. Edmundson to consider writing a weekly column for The Longboat Observer, Ralph, the lieutenant, laid out three stipulations for the general: 1. Writing the column had to be fun, Ralph said, “because you’re not going to get paid.”  2.  Ralph expected the General to turn in three columns in advance. Ralph didn’t want the General to write a few and then quit. 3. Ralph said, “You have to let the editor edit your copy.”   
     “Great,” said the General.
     After the first column came in, Ralph sent it back with all kinds of editing marks and a note that said it was too long, overwritten and repetitive. 
      Three weeks went by with no response from the general. And then he called.
“Ralph,” he said, “You’re right. It was overwritten, too long and repetitive. Any time you want to edit me, you go ahead.”
In spite of his rank and Eagle Scout that he was, Gen. Edmundson was courteous, kind and obedient. As Ralph Hunter said, he epitomized the Boy Scout Law.
     I am convinced James Valentine Edmundson was one of God’s angels.
Angels have wings. And angels fly.
      Gen. Edmundson once wrote that when he was 21 years old and strapped into the cockpit of a Boeing PT-13 for the first time, “I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
He flew for his country for 36 years, through three wars, to every point of the globe and through 181 combat missions.
Having wings was always a part of him. When he was a boy, he and his brothers rescued an injured bird. From then on, and throughout his retirement from the military, Gen. Jim stayed connected to the sky through the wings of his pet birds.
Visitors to the Edmundson home on Marbury Lane marveled at the birds and the family cockatiels — Sugar and Sassafras.
Col. Bagot told me last week: “I was fascinated by all the birds flying around the house, sitting on his damn head while we were talking.”
     Danell Falato, the Edmundson’s housekeeper for 10 years, says: “He spoiled those birds rotten. They were the most spoiled birds you ever saw in your life. He would let them do whatever they wanted.”
Danell would tattle on the birds. “General,” she’d say, “Sugar is chewing your desk, and he’d say, ‘That’s OK.’” Danell swears the birds would give her dirty looks when she tattled.
 Imagine this, says Danell: “Here was this general to thousands of men who obeyed him, but these birds just wrapped their little wings around him and did whatever they wanted.”
     Danell remembers that some of Gen. Edmundson’s closest friends were the birds outside his bayfront home. The birds would walk up to the General, and he would feed them from his hand.  “It was like he was St. Francis of Assisi,” she said.
... Jim Edmundson, indeed, was one of God’s angels...
     He was devoted to the love of his life, his diminutive bride, his one and only bride, Lee Turner Edmundson.
On the military battlefield, the General’s heroics were those of a guardian angel. My favorite story:
At 3 a.m. in the Pacific Islands, Edmundson's superior, Col. L.G. “Blondie” Saunders and Adm. John McCain — the father of Sen. McCain — awakened Edmundson and his crew as they slept in netting under the wing of Edmundson’s bomber. A Japanese cruiser off the coast of Guadalcanal was decimating U.S. Marines. McCain and Saunders needed volunteers to go after the ship. Edmundson’s bomber was the only one ready to go — even though he had only a half of a load of bombs.
Capt. Edmundson and his crew flew three hours from their jungle air strip in the New Hebrides Islands to the Japanese ship. Under heavy artillery fire from the ship, Edmundson and his team destroyed the cruiser.
When the victory was certain, Edmundson circled around, dropped his altitude and flew along the shore of the island. Marines rushed to the beach, waving and cheering at Edmundson and his crew and their miraculous feat. As Edmundson flew passed them, he tipped his wings at his fellow countrymen.
When he returned to his air strip, Adm. McCain hugged Edmundson and cried at the bravery and success of his young captain.
… Jim Edmundson, the guardian angel …Gen. Jim remained a guardian angel long after he left the military.
Danell tells stories about how, every time she was at the Edmundsons’ home, the general received telephone calls and letters from his war colleagues, many of them seeking the general’s guidance on how to deal with their life’s problems.
With Sugar and Sassafras sitting on his shoulders in his office full of amazing memorabilia, he would write letters, listen and talk to his old buddies. “It was phenomenal,” Danell says. “He was a mentor to so many people.” Woody Wolverton, who is here today sought the general’s advice many times. “If he told you something,” Woody says, “you could bank on it.”
     James Valentine Edmundson was an important part of so many lives. Those who knew him will never forget that mischievous, angelic twinkle in his eyes. As Bernie Pasler said, there was much more behind Jim Edmundson than what you saw.
“Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue,” goes the last stanza of one of Jim’s favorite poems …
“I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew,
And, while with silent, lifting mind
I've trod the high untrespassed sanctity of space
Put out my hand,
And touched the face of God.”

Lt. Gen. James Valentine Edmundson was one of God’s guardian angels. With the memory of his life etched on this post office, we will have a constant reminder that Gen. Jim … Gentle Jim … will watch over us on Longboat Key forever.
Thank you. 

 1996 Interview with Lt. General James V. Edmundson conducted by Celia Lee

EdmundsonIntroduction and Background
In his 36 years of military service Lt. General James V. Edmundson has had extensive experience in combat operations and command at every level in the Air Force.  He is both highly respected and decorated.  He had over 10,000 hours of pilot time in 137 types of airplanes with 107 combat missions in World War II, 32 in Korea and 42 in Vietnam. 
    From the beginning of his career as a second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps in 1938, General Edmundson has been and continues to be in a position of leadership.  His assignments have taken him to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East and included diverse commands
    Since his retirement to Longboat Key, Florida in 1973, General Edmundson has continued to be involved and active in both world and community events.  In local politics, he has served on the city council and as mayor.  He currently writes a weekly column, entitled, Generally Speaking, for The Longboat Key Observer, which deals with a wide rang of issues, including military matters or world politics.  He also writes periodically for The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, The Tampa Tribune and The Military Order of the World Wars and the Klaxton.
    It is because of these extensive experiences in leadership and out of a deep respect for this man that the author has chosen to interview James V. Edmundson.

Interview Questions and Answers
CLE:  As you know, this interview will be submitted to Dr. Michele Stimac, professor of leadership at Pepperdine University, as partial completion of the doctorate level course, Leadership of Human Endeavor. 
    At the first meeting of this class, Dr. Stimac asked each member to define leadership.  While this class is composed of a widely diverse group of people currently in positions of leadership with varied backgrounds, abilities and experiences, seventy-six percent of their definitions centered on the attainment of a common or stated goal.  Eighty-two percent included the concept of motivating, guiding, or inspiring others as a critical factor of leadership. 
    Would you comment on these results and discuss how this relates to leadership in the military structure?
JVE:  Yes.  The term "leadership" has picked up as many definitions as there are individuals who have written and talked about it.  Generally, these definitions agree with your class' results and tend to define leadership as the ability to motivate others and to guide them in the accomplishment of tasks pointed towards the achievement of a group objective. 
    I have heard the military structure described as a pyramid of human beings, each man with his feet firmly planted on the shoulders of the man beneath him, and with his own shoulders in tern supporting the man above him.  I don't believe that this monolithic structure truly portrays relationships within the military, nor do I go along entirely with the unilateral definitions of leadership which accompany this structure.  
     In actuality, as the military structure bears towards the top of the pyramid, the senior military man has responsibilities to civilian authorities, who in turn are dependent upon the American voter for their position in the structure.  These voters constitute proud and doting parents of the 18 year old basic airmen who form the base of our military pyramid.  The military structure, then, as I see it, is more circular than pyramidal and each man within that structure has a complex combination of responsibilities to the men below him and to the men all around him. True leadership, then, is the ability to adjust successfully to the environment in which any of us may find ourselves in our particular position.  Leadership, as it is normally thought of, the ability to motivate subordinates through successful relationships with those below us, cannot be extracted from the total of this complex pattern of relationships.

CLE:  So, what you are saying is that the various responsibilities that accrue to a leader and the actions that he or she takes in fulfilling them reach in every direction -- up, down, and sideways -- and that no one portion of them can be totally separated from the whole. 

JVE:  That's right.  Our American form of government makes it impossible for absolute leaders to develop.  Therefore, our studies of leadership should include studies of our relationships with those above us and all around us.
The successful leader is one who adapts himself with harmony to the various relationships within which he finds himself. 

CLE:  What, then, do you see as the primary relationships that face us as leaders?

JVE:  There are four basic relationships.  The first of these relationships is with our superior.  Elbert Hubbard said, "If you work for a man, in Heaven's name work for him.  If he pays you wages that supply you bread and butter, work for him, speak well of him, think well of him, stand by him and by the institution he represents."  I think this sums up this relationship rather nicely.  Loyalty and industry are the two factors most important in dealing with one's superior, loyalty because if we fail to loyally support the person for whom we work, we cannot rightly expect loyalty from our troops and industry because we owe our boss our best.  If our best is not good enough for him, it's his problem and he has no business leaving us in the job.
    The second major relationship that we face as leaders is with our subordinates.  Of the many factors that enter into this relationship, I consider the two most important to be complete honesty and professional knowledge.  Without the assurance that beyond all doubt we are sincere, honest and above-board with those who are under our leadership, we cannot hope to motivate them.  Likewise, since we are placed in the position of making decisions that affect the health, happiness and, the lives of our subordinates, we owe these people the assurance that these decisions are based on the most complete and encompassing professional knowledge that it has been possible for us to achieve.
    The third basic relationship is with our contemporaries.  This is the one that we are most often apt to neglect.  Because we are often called upon to work in harmony with others whose backgrounds, professional training, and missions are far different from our own, I consider the factors of understanding and tolerance as the most important. 
    The fourth basic relationship is the one that I consider the most important.  That is the relationship of a man with himself.  Shakespeare said, "This above all, to thine own self be true, and it must follow as the night the day, thou canst not be false to any man."  All of us can fool our contemporaries.  Even a few of us, for a limited period of time, can succeed in fooling those who work for us.  But no man can fool himself. 

CLE:  I am remembering a poem, that you and Mother had me memorize as a child, which says in part:  "I have to live with myself and so, I want to be fit for myself to know, I want to be able as days go by always to look myself straight in the eye.” *
JVE:  If we can look ourselves in the eye each morning and know in our own hearts that we have done our level best to be loyal to our boss and to give him or her an honest day's work, to endeavor to understand and be tolerant of those with whom we work, and to be honest and exert our utmost abilities on behalf of those who work for us then we will have made the finest adjustment that any person can make to his or her surroundings.

CLE:  You are saying that there is a highly positive relationship between leadership, adaptability and happiness.

JVE:  Yes, I think the exercise of leadership requires adaptability and person who is well adapted to his or her surroundings is a happy person.  Happiness is not the same to everyone, but, in general, a happy person is living their life as they know they should live it and is giving their best in pursuit of objectives in which they believe. 
    Success is intimately related to the ability to happily adjust.  By success I do not mean the ordinary narrow connotation.  I do not believe that the successful person is the person that makes the most money or the person that succeeds in climbing the highest on the totem pole.  I believe there are many successful bank clerks working for unsuccessful bank presidents.  I have known many master sergeants that I consider to be outstandingly successful, and I have known a few three and four-star generals whom I consider failures.

CLE:  Are you pointing here to pride in ourselves and trust in our own values?

JVE:  Yes.  I think it most important that we all recognize that personal pride, pride in ourselves, our way of life, our goals and our guiding principles, is something that no one else can give us no matter how much they may desire to do so.  It can only come from within. 

CLE:  You once told me of a training session conducted by Master Sergeant Murabito and given to his students of leadership.  As I remember he makes a comparative analysis of the leadership ability of Adolph Hitler and Jesus Christ.  I would like to conclude this interview with that story, for, I believe, it ties together much of what you have been sharing today concerning leadership today.

JVE:  As Sergeant Murabito tells the story Christ comes out second best.  He points out that Adolph Hitler, during his lifetime, placed himself at a pinnacle of leadership over a larger segment of the human race than had ever been achieved in the history of man.  He erected a monolithic structure, fanatically imbued with a singleness of purpose and personally loyal only to him.  He was the closest approach to an absolute leader the world has ever seen.  On the other hand, he points out that Christ died in pain and humiliation, a relative unknown in his time and betrayed by one of his own trusted disciples. 

CLE:  Sergeant Murabito is not presenting this as his own belief, right?

JVE:  Not necessarily.  He just drops his thoughts on the floor for those who hear him to disprove if they disagree. 
    The normal reaction to this lecture is quite violent because Sergeant Murabito steps rather heavily on some concepts that are held dear by most of us, and he requires those who hear him to do a little constructive thinking in order to disprove the logic of his presentation. 
    I would suggest to you another avenue of comparative analysis regarding the leadership capabilities of the two men in question using that information which we have covered in this interview. 
    I point out that Adolph Hitler lost the war he started.  He died by his own hand, which is the mark of an acknowledged failure.  Ten years after his death, he is remembered only for the evil he brought upon the earth.  Even those who followed him blindly during his "heyday" now remember him only with ridicule and scorn.  On the other hand, the teachings of Christ now constitute the most generally accepted code of ethics in the world today.  The Christian principles have wider acceptance as overriding rules of guidance to a larger portion of the earth's population than any other known philosophy, and the Christian faith and the principles for which it stands are gaining in strength every day.  I suggest to you that we should find no difficulty in choosing which of these men was the real leader.

   
*Myself

By Edgar Guest

I have to live with myself, and so,
I want to be fit for myself to know;
I want to be able as days go by,
Always to look myself straight in the eye;
I don't want to stand with the setting sun
And hate myself for the things I've done.
I don't want to keep on a closet shelf
A lot of secrets about myself,
And fool myself as I come and go
Into thinking that nobody else will know
The kind of man I really am;
I don't want to dress myself up in sham.

I want to go out with my head erect,
I want to deserve all men's respect;
But here in this struggle for fame and pelf,
I want to be able to like myself.
I don't want to think as I come and go
That I'm bluster and bluff and empty show.
I never can hide myself from me,
I see what others may never see,
I know what others may never know,
I never can fool myself- and so,
Whatever happens, I want to be
Self-respecting and conscience free.