Colin Powell Discusses Past Presidents, New Book at NYPL
By Scout MacEachron
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell visited the New York Public Library recently to discuss his new book, “It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership,” as a part of the library’s spring 2012 lecture series. Though Powell may have come to discuss his book, he addressed a wide range of topics during the 50-minute interview, ranging from presidential personalities and political parties to Powell’s temper and TV habits to weapons of mass destruction and the current situation in Syria.
Powell was interviewed by David Remnick, editor-in-chief of The New Yorker, in front of an audience of patrons, donors, staff and guests.
The former Secretary of State was charismatic and well spoken, and shared insights and interesting stories from his years in government and the military.
Remnick began the interview by asking Powell about politician’s temperaments, including his own. Powell mused that a good politician stays within a range of control. Powell himself does boil over from time to time but said he is usually quite calm, even in the most stressful situations when it really counts.
Remnick prompted Powell to tell about the time he shattered a glass table top. Powell said that once when he was disciplining a young cadet and the cadet talked back inappropriately and out of turn, Powell smashed his fist down on his desk with such force the glass top shattered, silencing the cadet.
The conversation on temperaments segued into those of the various presidents Powell has worked under or advised, a long list that includes Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
“You adjust to their personality, they don’t adjust to you,” Powell said, referring to working with presidents.
Powell recalled Reagan was an “abstract thinker” who was always a level above everyone else in his thought. While Bush Sr., or 41 as Powell called him (referring to his presidential order), was detail-oriented, comfortable and confident.
Powell said that it took him some time to adjust to Clinton’s style of meetings, which were “like a college bull session,” where everyone freely contributed ideas and then debated them.
Bush Jr., or 43, tended to make instinctive decisions rather than hold meetings to consult his advisors. Powell recalled that Bush simply pulled him aside one day and told him “we were going to war with Iraq” without there having been a meeting to explicitly discuss and decide.
Finally Powell said that he could tell Obama was trained as a constitutional lawyer. While staying deliberate and emotionless, Obama approaches everything methodically and wants to hear every detail before making a decision.
After discussing presidential styles, Remnick questioned Powell on his opinion of today’s political parties, which seem to increasingly occupy opposite ends of the spectrum.
Powell proposed an interesting theory, noting that in the past it was impossible to ignore one side. If you were a Democrat and you turned on the TV, there were only one or two news stations, so you had to eventually watch a Republican debate or speech. Whereas today, through the multitude of media available, Americans can ignore one side, leaving them less open-minded and sometimes blindly dedicated to a party’s ideology.
“I don’t watch American TV shows anymore,” Powell said. “I’m not interested in the celebrification of American culture. I only watch foreign news channels such as the BBC, Aljazeera, even Korean and Ethiopian new stations. You actually learn something watching those.”
Remnick concluded the interview by asking, “Who would you sleep more easily under — Obama or Romney?”
Powell smiled, “Now you know I can’t answer a question like that.”
“That’s why I asked,” said Remnick. #
To watch Powell’s full interview, which also includes segments on his infamous 2003 speech to the UN regarding weapons of mass destruction, his opinion on the situation in Syria and an audience Q&A, visit www.nypl.org/audiovideo/spring-2012-lecture-luncheon-colin-powell.
