A Comparison of George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush Using LTA: A Study in Their Belief in Ability to Control Events.

The first three post Cold War presidents, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush occupied the Oval Office during times of international transformation. All faced dangers and sometimes used force to achieve their objectives and this paper investigates the relationship between personality characteristics, especially conceptual complexity, and willingness to choice force instead of other policy options. The project relies on Margaret Hermann’s leadership trait analysis and at-a-distance measures. The paper compares scores of seven explanatory variables, e.g., conceptual complexity, distrust of others, etc., on leadership and world orientation for George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush against the scores for every American president since Harry Truman. The comparative analysis helps demonstrate the role of individual of individual level traits in creating and implementing foreign policy. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]