Just a peak of Truman rated on Greenstein’s Criteria Emotional Intelligence- Truman had great emotional intelligence. He was strong, and showed self-restraint while in office. He would dream of destroying the Soviet Union, and would write about it in his journal but he never hashed out the details on that matter. What he thought and wanted was not necessarily best for our country at the time and he knew that.
He did not act upon ever emotion he had at different times in the administration. He treated his staff well and they loved working for them, but he allowed them to be under par also. Some people in his administration were not the brightest but Truman allowed such people to be around even though they probably should not have been. Political Skill- Truman of course will never compare to FDR and that is where the problem lies. He is never allowed to stand on his own but is always compared to how he was not as good at passing bills as FDR. He was unsuccessful in getting his own party elected in congress and that also hurt his ability to pass his own legislation.
He did have good political persuasion, that helped to get the Marshall Plan passed. He allowed others to take credit for work also. Cognitive Style- Truman is not known for having great cognitive style, actually he is known for the complete opposite. Truman was known to be an ordinary man, and was never seen in his time as an intelligent man.
But it was known for good reasons. The saying goes “to err is to Truman.” And he did have errors. He was known to have questionable historical analogies and other mistakes that should have not been made. Public Communication- Truman was not known for his great speaking abilities either. Truman was not very great with formal or off the cuff speeches.
He would misuse terms such as “red herring,” and did not inspire passion. Overall Truman was an accident waiting to happen that the administration would have to clean up. Organizational Capacity- Truman heeded some warnings when it came to organizational capacity. Truman was not that great at team selection.
He did not sort people on where they should be in the administration too well, and he was known for allowing mediocrity. The people who were put in office were sometimes people not best for Washington, but good hearted people who Truman loved. Vision- Truman had the ability to see where things were going. Truman helped lay the groundwork for Medicare, and wanted to integrate schools.
Even though he did not integrate schools, he did integrate the military which was a great step in the right direction. Even though he had these great things he also should have seen the threat of Asia, China and North Korea. In Asia his military vision was catastrophic. He never really had a consistent plan to work from, and that was a big mistake for Truman..