The Presidency Of Force, Fame and Fishing

By Hugh Sidey

Never before has an American President stood so grandly astride this capricious world as George Bush does these days. Historians scratched their heads last week and looked back for something comparable. There was nothing.

"Woodrow Wilson had a dominant position in world affairs after World War I," notes former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. "But there were other players on that stage." The aging tiger Georges Clemenceau, France's Prime Minister, still prowled the premises, as did Britain's Prime Minister David Lloyd George, another heavyweight. "No nation in any historical period has had the spectacular success of the U.S. these past two years," adds Kissinger, who was a professor of history before he became a shaper of policy and then a wealthy consultant on international relations.

"There may be some similarity with the emergence of the U.S. at the end of World War II," suggests foreign affairs scholar Kenneth Thompson. But again there were other major figures shaping events: the Kremlin's Joseph Stalin, a menacing but victorious war leader; and Britain's Winston Churchill, the man of the half-century.

In June 1945, just after the German surrender, George Gallup's polling organization registered an 87% job-approval rating for Harry Truman, the highest Gallup figure for any President on record even today. But researchers acknowledge that Truman himself had little to do with that endorsement, having taken office only two months before, when Franklin Roosevelt died. The unknown Truman rode the crest of relief and joy.

A number of current polls show that Bush's rating has soared into the 80s and 90s. But Gallup, perhaps the most respected sampler, waited until the gulf victory had sunk in and then launched its canvass over the weekend. The figures will be announced this week. The Gallup experts predict that Bush will equal the Truman mark and perhaps even top it.

Bush's ascendancy is quite different from that of any other President. He had extraordinary luck in the timing of the gulf war. Kissinger points out that the collapse of the communist system and all its ripples through the client states rendered the Soviet leadership virtually helpless when Iraq invaded Kuwait. "There was no able leader comparable to Bush around," says one of the President's advisers. "Gorbachev for all his peace efforts was a sideshow. Margaret Thatcher was gone." The widespread notion that Bush would forever remain in the charismatic shadow of Ronald Reagan or be viewed as a foreign policy amateur compared with Richard Nixon has evaporated. It will probably never rise again.

But the hazards of such an exalted position in the world are obvious. War is almost always easier to run than peace, especially when you have such a + magnificent military machine. The tributes to Bush last week in the U.S. Congress will endure about as long as it takes to say "pork barrel." The instantaneous maneuvering of the diplomatic corps for Bush's favor was heard at dozens of dinner tables through the week.

Fortunately, Bush knows better than anyone else the fragility of exaltation and has warned about it since his Inauguration. Even better, Barbara plans to drag him off to a fishing vacation as soon as possible. Herbert Hoover, who never had Bush's luck or touch, nonetheless left some pertinent wisdom for Presidents. He urged them to go fishing at every opportunity. "It is discipline in the equality of men," said Hoover. "For all men are equal before fish."