After Trump's victory
Ambassador Kennedy: “Stony times ahead”
The next US president has been decided for almost two weeks now. US Ambassador Victoria Reggie Kennedy has now spoken publicly for the first time about the victory of right-wing populist Donald Trump - and has not been sparing with harsh words.
"There are rocky times ahead. We can't pretend that's not the case," warned Kennedy on Monday evening in a panel discussion with influential US historian Doris Kearns Goodwin at Webster University in Vienna.
Kearns is regarded as the doyenne of American historiography and has made a name for herself with her biographies of legendary presidents such as Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson have not only shaped their image in the US public eye. Her Lincoln portrait "Team of Rivals" is also said to have persuaded US President Barack Obama to appoint his fierce pre-election opponent Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. According to Obama, "Team of Rivals" is the kind of book he would take to a desert island.
"Since Donald Trump's clear victory, many friends in Austria have asked me what this means," said Kennedy at the start of the discussion with Kearns Goodwin in the packed auditorium of the US private university. "I can't think of anyone better to explain this historic year than you, Doris," said the ambassador, praising the US historian as an "icon" and leading expert on US presidential history.
From baseball to history icon
In the humorous conversation, Kearns Goodwin recounted how baseball game reports at the age of six sparked her interest in writing history and that it took her longer to write her biography of World War II President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt took her longer "than the war lasted". "Only with my late husband was I together longer" than with the presidents she had portrayed, she said to the amusement of the audience.
US presidents are rarely equally competent in foreign and domestic policy, and many great presidents have had to deal with strokes of fate in their lives, reported Kearns Goodwin. Theodore Roosevelt, for example, had been driven by the death of his wife and mother to put himself at the service of the public cause without calculation, while FDR's polio had taught him humility. The 81-year-old expressed doubts as to whether she would still get the opportunity to portray a female US president.
Concerns about US democracy
Kearns Goodwin takes a relaxed view of the existential concerns about US democracy voiced by both sides in the recent presidential election. There have been similar situations several times in history, "but we forget that". In 1860, for example, six southern US states seceded simply because the Republican Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election. Although the USA subsequently paid "a terrible price" in the form of the Civil War with its 600,000 deaths, ultimately not only was the unity of the state restored, but the "original sin" of the United States, slavery, was also eradicated. "We have therefore emerged stronger," emphasized the historian. The situation was similar under Roosevelt's presidency, when the whole of Europe capitulated to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler and the entire Western civilization was "in danger".
US Ambassador Kennedy and historian Goodwin at Webster University in Vienna:
Trump advised Kearns Goodwin to take an example from Lincoln. "I hope he will not punish his enemies," she said, referring to the future president. Instead, he should make room in his cabinet "for people who disagree with him". Lincoln was rather inexperienced politically when he was elected and then made "the huge decision" to take his three much more experienced intra-party rivals into government, even though they all thought they were the better president.
"Don't know how it will all turn out"
Kennedy thanked the historian for giving people "hope" with her findings. "We don't know how it will all turn out, but perhaps we can play a part in it by taking action," the ambassador called on citizens to get involved. The great strength of the transatlantic relationship gave her hope. This is based on shared values such as standing up for free trade or media freedom: "No matter what challenges lie ahead, we don't have to face them alone. That gives me comfort and encourages me to look to the future with optimism."
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