Presidential contender Donald Trump recently disclosed he hasn’t read a single biography of a U.S. president. Doesn’t have the time, he told the Washington Post.
Tony Schwartz, co-author of Trump’s best-selling memoir, The Art of the Deal, went so far as to suggest Trump likely hadn’t read an entire book in his adult life.
“That’s why he so prefers TV as his first news source — information comes in easily digestible sound bites,” he told the New Yorker.
The revelation raises a provocative question: how important is it that our leaders (or wannabe leaders) be well read, not only on policy matters but in literature, history and the sciences?
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Historians who have studied Canadian prime ministers say those who consistently rank favourably in surveys — John A. Macdonald, Wilfrid Laurier, Pierre Trudeau — all devoured books.
“It allows them to become better communicators. They can draw upon a reserve of quotation, insight, and experience beyond their own personal lives,” said John English, director of the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History at the University of Toronto. “It allows them to know ‘the other,’ which is an essential quality of an effective politician.”
Arthur Milnes, a former speechwriter for Stephen Harper and author of a soon-to-be-released book on Laurier’s speeches, says while he would not go so far as to say being bookish is a prerequisite for being an effective leader — Ronald Reagan was no scholar but is still considered one of the greats, he notes — intellectual curiosity does make a person become more open to ideas.
It’s unfathomable that Trump hasn’t picked up a presidential biography, Milnes said.
“You have to know the hopes, the aspirations, the fears, the failures and the history of those who’ve gone into the Oval Office before you. If you claim to have no interest in that, why would you (run for office?),” he said, noting that Harper took history seriously and enjoyed reading biographies.
Trump told the Washington Post he relies on common sense and his business acumen to make decisions. He also said he was skeptical of experts because ”they can’t see the forest for the trees.”
David Greenberg, a Rutgers University historian quoted in the story, cautioned against dismissing leaders who don’t relish reading. “We’ve had good presidents of both styles,” he said.
You have to know the hopes, the aspirations, the fears, the failures and the history of those who’ve gone into the Oval Office before you
The same article noted that critics of President Barack Obama, who is reputed to be an avid reader, complain he is prone to indecision and “dithering.”
But for Trump to say he makes decisions based on instinct troubles Robert Bothwell, a history professor at the University of Toronto.
“Briefing books are no joke,” he said. “There’s an awful lot of study that is expected to go into the job. … My impression of Trump is that, in a curious way, he doesn’t know the meaning of hard work; it’s all impulse.”
Reading, he added, allows you to appreciate the complexity of a problem and see that “an easy, simple, demagogic solution is not possible.”
Consensus among historians is that Canada’s prime ministers have generally been well read — or at least quick studies.
Laurier, a highly skilled orator, quoted from ancient Greek and Roman history and mythology, as well as poetry.
So voracious was his appetite for reading that he was criticized early in his tenure for seemingly spending more time in the parliamentary library than attending to duties in the House, said Chris Pennington, a manuscript editor for the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
Largely self-educated, Robert Borden, known for his role in championing greater autonomy for Canada, is said to have pored over the text of Oppenheim’s International Law during the post-World War I period. He also lost himself in classical poetry and literature.
In 1936, Arthur Meighen famously delivered a tribute to William Shakespeare — the “greatest Englishman of history” — before the Canadian Club of Toronto.
Mackenzie King had a steady reading diet consisting of religious literature, Bible exegeses, as well as contemporary works on political economy. He was also up on his Freud.
Harper, who wrote a book on the history of professional hockey while he was prime minister, was known to thoroughly read his briefing binders at night.
“The next day, he might challenge the author on some minor point in the middle of a 200-page brief,” said Stephen Azzi, a Carleton University expert on prime ministerial leadership.
Justin Trudeau’s office declined this week to share details of his reading habits. But in his 2014 autobiography, Common Ground, he writes how his father, Pierre Trudeau, regarded as a serious political thinker and theorist and someone who fancied classic literature, would make his children memorize verses from Jean Racine’s five-act tragedy Phedre and Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
Even today, the younger Trudeau writes, he’ll try to make time for a novel or two each month. “Facts may fuel a leader’s intellect. But literature fuels the soul.”
The need for leaders to read is a belief shared by many in the corporate world. A 2012 column in the Harvard Business Review made the case that “deep, broad reading habits are often a defining characteristic of our greatest leaders and can catalyze insight, innovation, empathy and personal effectiveness.”
The column noted Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’ affinity for the works of Romantic-period poet William Blake and Nike founder Phil Knight’s reverence for his library was such that “in it you have to take off your shoes and bow.”
Sandy Treagus, chief financial officer at Mountain Equipment Co-op and a fan of historical fiction (he is currently reading Lawrence Hill’s Book of Negroes), said reading has expanded his vocabulary and enhanced his ability to use turns of phrase in humorous or inspiring ways.
“So much of effective leadership comes down to the ability to communicate, to be able to inspire through storytelling,” he said.
Jim Gabel, president and CEO of Roots Canada, said he devotes an hour every morning to reading news and business websites. This allows him to have a “richer conversation” with his colleagues.
Whenever he mentors young people, one of the first things he’ll ask is what they’re reading, he said. If he senses they’re not reading, he’ll tell them to expect to be asked at the next meeting what’s on the cover of Businessweek and what are the top three business issues.
“They then start understanding why it’s important for them to be well read,” he said.
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