Disease and Dysfunction among our Leaders

Any government is built, at least to some degree, upon the people’s trust that their leader can recognize the immediacy and dire importance of their decisions. The people need to know that the decisions made from their capitols are sound ones. They need to know that when it really matters, their political leaders will come through for them. However, in those critical moments, it may not be Winston Churchill or Napoleon Bonaparte making those decisions, but actually manic depression, psychotic delusions, or cerebral infarctions. When leaders are elected or assume power, their constituents rarely have knowledge of the diseases and dysfunctions that accompany them.

Commonly, world leaders are men and women who are older; usually over 50 years of age. As such, they may be more prone to medical problems that could impair their ability to perform the duties of their office. A scarier version is that some leaders do not become impaired while they are serving, but they are actually able to attain power specifically because of some kind of mental or physiological condition.

Winston Churchill is a prime example of the former case. The former Prime Minister of Britain was known as a great statesman and a hero of WWII. He served twice in fact, from 1940-1945 and again from 1951-1955. What he deigned to remain largely hidden from the public, however, was a very serious medical condition that caused him grave physical and mental harm. Beginning in 1912, Churchill recalled having severe indigestion that would cause him to wake in the middle of the night with stomach pains and acid regurgitation. He would later recall that he was “tortured by his indigestion...” (Baron). Starting in 1941, he had his first heart attack, followed by recurring episodes of pneumonia that left him needing bed rest for five weeks. By 1953, Churchill had had five strokes. The fifth one left him with a speech impediment and a limp. He even admitted to “...a decline in physical and mental vigor.” (Baron). He was barely hanging on by the end of his second term.

Albeit Churchill was not in the wrong for running for office in 1940 because it was not until days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor did he have his heart attack, but his deception with regards to the British people while he served as the Leader of the Opposition and while running again for Prime Minister in 1951 served to demonstrate not only a character flaw, but also the extent of his disabilities. With slowing cerebral function due to the brain damage he suffered as a result of his many strokes and a decrease in physical energy and mobility, Churchill’s time in power posed a serious risk to the wellbeing of his country. At times he could not perform the functions of his office, suffered episodes of mood alteration, and was always within range of death due to his chronic strokes. Always the prime minister prevented anyone close to him from speaking out about his conditions and did not allow full disclosure when he captured the British majority in 1951.

While Churchill’s case wasn’t as severe as some other historical figures and his diseases cannot be distinguished as the true source of his successes and failures (although they cannot be said to have played no part either), it does represent a common practice among leaders with compromising illnesses; an unwillingness to disclose the extent of his/her disability even to the people who are dependent upon his/her sound decision making.

Some leaders are able to attain their positions of power from more nontraditional and dangerous sources—mental illnesses. The great French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte exemplifies this reality. As a young man Bonaparte wrote, “Live has become a burden to me, for I no longer enjoy any pleasure and everything causes me pain.” (McManamy). The French leader was plagued by manic depression throughout his life, an infirmity that both lead to his rise to power and his eventual defeat. Some of the symptoms of manic depression include increased energy, activity, and restlessness, overly “high” euphoric moods, unrealistic beliefs in one’s own powers, provocative and aggressive behavior, and lasting periods of altered behavior (“Manic Depression Symptoms”). Certainly, these symptoms contributed to Bonaparte’s seizure of power and aggressive territorial expansion campaigns. However, the mania that led to his ascension would also enable his defeat. His overinflated sense of his abilities led him to believe that he would be able to both defeat the Russians in the dead of winter and capture Asia starting with a strike in Egypt, however, he was defeated both times at the expense of hundreds of thousands of his soldiers. Moreover, at his most important skirmish, the Battle of Waterloo, the emperor was paralyzed by depression and could not adequately reason and make critical battlefield decisions (McManamy). In this instance, the mental handicap of France’s emperor did clearly have an effect upon the wellbeing of the state, its resources, and its people.

Perhaps the most dangerous type of mental condition that any political leader could have is psychopathy. The mental condition is very difficult to diagnose because psychopaths have learned to model their behavior after sane individuals in order to deceive people. Psychopathy is a mental disorder in which and individual manifests amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful relationships, extreme egocentricity, and failure to learn from experience. One horrific example of psychopathy in action is the case of Emmanuel “Toto” Constant. With the help of the CIA, Constant rose to power in 1990s Haiti, through the control of his far-right paramilitary group, FRAPH. His regime targeted the backers of the recently exiled democratic president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. An example of his brutality occurred in December of 1993 when he discovered a shantytown of Aristide supporters holed up in a place called Cité Soleil. Constant ordered FRAPH to burn the entire town to the ground. When residents tried to escape, his paramilitary forced them back inside their burning homes. 50 people were killed that day (Ronson). The reason that Constant was able to watch those people burn was because he is incapable of empathy or any feeling at all. He made logical decisions that would fortify his hold on power, without regard for the human cost. While his methods were horrific and dastardly, they were effective.

What can be taken away from this realization is that the world of foreign policy may not be what it seems. Players on the international level seek to anticipate others’ moves, motivations, and strategies in order to position themselves in a place where they can respond most effectively. However, if the other actors are not rational and do not go through a processes of critical thinking before making decisions, it is impossible to predict and effectively respond to their actions. In the last example of Emmanuel Constant, the U.S. backed him upon the assumption that he was a rational actor who through his own self-interest would promote the goals of the U.S. in Haiti. What the CIA did not realize, however, was that the man does not feel anything. His hold on reality is merely a hedonistic logical one. This led to a dangerous combination of ruthlessness and ammunition. Clearly this is a mistake that the U.S. would seek to soon forget, but also one that it must recognize as a valuable, if not painful, lesson.

Perhaps more attention should be paid to how our leaders ascend to power. Was it truly political skill and expertise or was it simply the tenacity of a deluded psychopath? Once in power, it becomes especially pertinent to always analyze the rationality of the executive’s decisions and to pay attention to his/her physical health as well. If irrationality and madness are allowed to infiltrate a state’s most powerful actor, it may soon find itself waging war against Russia in the dead of winter.

Works Cited

Baron, Jeremy. “Should We Know About Our Leaders’ Health.” Standpoint, Dec. 2009. Web. 11 Dec. 2011.

“Manic Depression Symptoms.” emedtv.com. emedtv, 4 Sept. 2008. Web. 11 Dec. 2011.

McManamy, John. “History’s Terrible Troika.” McMan’s Depression and Bipolar Web, 15 Jan. 2011. Web. 11 Dec. 2011.

Ronson, John. The Psychopath Test. New York. Penguin, 2011. Print.