Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush: Faith, Foreign Policy, and an Evangelical Presidential Style

Headnote

In this article, we argue that Presidents Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush share a distinctive approach to politics and governing: an "evangelical" style of presidential leadership. Though they differed in terms of party and ideology, we claim, using examples from their foreign policies, that the evangelical faith of Carter and Bush provided them with a particular vision of the presidency and the global role of the United States. Richard Neustadt argued that aptitude for politics is the most essential attribute for contemporary presidential success and that the evangelical approach will inevitably lead to political failure. From our analysis of the Carter and Bush approaches to foreign policy, we conclude, however, that in certain circumstances, the evangelical style can contribute to successful presidential leadership and is worthy of further serious study by presidential scholars.

"I had a different way of governing ... I was a Southerner, a born-again Christian, a Baptist, a newcomer." (Hargrove 1988, 15)

-Jimmy Carter

"My style, my focus, and many of the issues that I talk about . . . are reinforced by my religion." (Bush 2000b)

-George W. Bush

This article seeks to address a gap in presidential studies by exploring the role of personal religious faith and the style and direction of presidential leadership. Presidential scholarship has focused on political skill (Neustadt 1990), psychology (Barber 1992), intellectual and moral leadership (Hargrove 1998), management ability (Burke 2000), a combination of all of these factors (Greenstein 2004), and even chronological position in a political "regime" (Skowronek 1997) in interpreting presidents and presidencies. Beyond some biographical works, however, individual case and comparative studies on the religious faith of presidents are relatively few.

We argue that the presidential style and foreign policies of Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush cannot be fully understood unless the personal religious dimension has been taken into account. Specifically, we argue that Carter and Bush exhibit a similar style of leadership, one that draws heavily from their evangelical faith. Although they pursued different means to fulfill their missions, they share what has been termed an evangelical "family resemblance" (Johnston 1991, 254).

All too often, the religion of President Carter is ignored in the scholarly literature on his presidency. Much of the Carter scholarship either entirely ignores Carter's...