Comparing the Roles of National Leaders During in the 60’s to 2017
In many given situations, leaders act as the examples to their followers. They have a very important role to play in the society since they are able to mobilize and influence people easily which means that they can either influence people to the negative or to the positive.
In the 60s, there were very many occurrences of wars and the leaders had a very rough time leading movements which were either supporting the governments or those that were opposing. In the present USA, there has been dramatic growth in the US just like in all other nations of the world. For quite a while, peace has prevailed and intra-national wars have reduced. There have been cases of international wars although in very few cases. The aim of this essay is to compare and contrast the roles of leaders in the modern USA with those of the 60s.
Firstly, the leaders in the present and those in the past performed similar duties of being in charge of the welfare of their followers. In the 60s, the leaders were taking care of the welfare of their followers through fighting for their rights in most cases. In this era, there were very many wars within the US boundaries between the blacks and the whites.
For instance, there was a movement called Freedom Riders who fought for the rights of the blacks whereby the blacks and the whites were not allowed to mix when accessing different amenities like transport (In Turner, 2015).
Similarly, in the present, the American leaders put the rights and freedoms of the American people as a priority since their role is to ensure the people who elected them. As such, the roles of the leaders in both eras are similar (Nelson et al., 2011).
Secondly, there are differences in the modes of leadership applied in the 60s with those applied in the present. In most cases, the governments practiced dictatorship rather than democracy which led to very many wars. In the Freedom Fighters, the blacks were considered to be slaves and thereby did not deserve to be treated well and the governments in place did not consider their rights.
The leaders of the Freedom Fighters movement had to use a lot of force even influencing their followers to kill if necessary and in turn the government would fight back killing more of the movement’s members (In Turner, 2015). On the contrary, the modern day leaders in the USA are able to allow peaceful demonstrations for people who are seeking to air their opinion. This could have been triggered by the history of the country and the losses that came with fighting the people (Nelson et al., 2011).
More so, in the 60s, the leaders used minimal technology in their leadership positions compared to the present. In the 60s, the modes of communication were limited to gazettes and magazines and the leaders found it a bit challenging to communicate with their followers. There were also means of transport which were prioritized for the whites like in the Freedom Fighters and this was the reason behind most wars where the blacks felt discriminated and had to fight for the rights to access these amenities (In Turner, 2015).
In the present day USA, technology has greatly influenced the roles of leaders whereby it has enabled the growth of the country and as a result influenced equal distribution of resources. As such there has been reduced controversies and increased communication (Nelson et al., 2011).
In nutshell, the roles of the leaders in all situations and eras are for these leaders to serve their followers with integrity and lead by examples. The leaders are responsible for taking care of the welfare of their followers even if it means sacrificing their lives for them. In the Freedom Fighters, the leaders would help their followers advocate for their rights despite the fightback by the government in place.
On the contrary, the differences in the leaders of the 60s and those of the modern day were like the modes of leadership where in the 60s, leaders practiced dictatorship while those of the present uphold democracy. More so, the leaders in the 60s used technology for personal interest while in the present, the leaders advocate for equal distribution of resources especially through the use of technology.
References
In Turner, H. A. (2015). Politics in the United States. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Nelson, S., Arsenault, R., Phillips, T., Grant, L., PBS Distribution (Firm), WGBH (Television station: Boston, Mass.), & WGBH Educational Foundation. (2011). Freedom riders. Australia: SBS Corporation.
