Myth of America's rags-to-riches presidents

Almost all grew up wealthy. That doesn't mean they couldn't serve the less fortunate.

from the July 18, 2007 edition

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So there's nothing new in the personal wealth of today's presidential aspirants. Even the humblest of the major candidates, Barack Obama, scraped by on a $1 million income last year.

What is new, however, is the cynical idea that wealth will somehow infect a leader's political positions. If you come from serious money, the argument goes, you can't really represent people who don't.

Wrong again. Think of Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, who both inherited vast sums. They felt that their riches gave them a special responsibility to aid others.

As a sophomore at Harvard, Roosevelt wrote a history thesis about his own family's "democratic spirit" in the face of enormous wealth. "They have felt ... that being in a good position, there is no excuse for them if they did not do their duty by the community," he asserted.

As president, Roosevelt would face charges of class treason – and, even, of communism – from his fellow patricians, who worried that his New Deal policies would cut into their affluence. "They are unanimous in their hatred for me," Roosevelt declared in 1936, "and I welcome their hatred."

So it's fair to say that plenty of rich Americans didn't give a hoot about the poor. As Roosevelt's example shows, however, it hardly follows that a vast personal fortune prevents you from identifying with people less fortunate. Sometimes it works in reverse: Your wealth makes you more sensitive to the plight of the infirm, the homeless, and the unemployed.

So why do Americans continue to believe that their leaders come from the salt of the earth? At its root, the log-cabin legend expresses a basic myth about America itself: that anyone can make it here. Work hard, and you can become whatever you want. Even president.

That's obviously false. But it's equally false to think that the economic status of a leader will determine his or her attitudes toward wealth, poverty, and everything else. Come primary time, then, let's look less at our candidates' homes and haircuts and more at their platforms and policies. And let's beware confusing one with the other.

• Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history and education at New York University. He is the author of "Innocents Abroad: American Teachers in the American Century."

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