Astatesman orstateswoman is a respected,skilled and experienced political leader or figure.[1] In most respects a statesman is the opposite of apolitician. Politicians are thought of as people who will say or do anything to getelected or to gain power.[2] A statesman is someone who does everything for the common good of the people he or she represents.[2] To call a person a statesman is a mark of high regard for that person'sintegrity.[3] To call someone a politician usually implies the person is worthy of very little esteem.[3] For example,George Washington is almost always called a statesman.[4] Anelder statesman is a term often defined as an older politician or advisor who is thought to be above normal politics.[a][7]
In51 BC,Cicero published his workDe re publica (On the Republic).[8] Thedialog was about what made a true statesman.[8] It was about thevirtues andideals such a leader must have.[8] Cicero wrote that a great statesman did not have to descend fromaristocrats. But he must havevirtus (virtue),iustitia (a sense ofjustice) and wisdom.[8] He must also havedignitas (roughly translated asdignity),temperance and must showgenerosity and bemagnanimous.[8]
A statesman has certain core values and will not change beliefs simply to advance apoliticalcareer.[2] If a change inpolicy is necessary for the good of the people he or she serves, the change will be made no matter how much it iscriticized.[2] According to Hans J. Morgenthau, author ofPolitics Among Nations, statesmen see things realistically; as they really are.[2] They look at how a policy will affect a nation.[2] A statesman is not the same as a monarch or king because their goals are not the same.[9] A statesman does not want to dominate or control people, he or she wants to educate them so they are fit to live in a democracy.[9] LikePlato before him,Alexis de Tocqueville believed that a statesman not only educated his or her people, he somehow shaped their character.[9]
WhenAbraham Lincoln becamePresident of the United States in 1861, most people saw an awkward, rumpledcountry bumpkin.[10] He had never traveled toEurope and was seen by the American people and foreign dignitaries alike ascrude and unsophisticated.[10] TheDutch minister reported of Lincoln: “He and his wife seem like . . . western farmers, and even in this country, where one has no right to befastidious, their common manners and their ways expose them in unfortunate fashion to ridicule.”[10] While many do not remember Lincoln as a greatforeign-policy president, he actually was.[10] Like a true statesman, Lincolnadeptly guided foreign policy at a time of greatperil during theCivil War when the United States wasvulnerable to foreignintervention.[10] According toKevin Peraino, Lincoln "should be considered one of America’s seminal foreign-policy presidents — a worthy model for students of global affairs."[10] Historians have long shown Lincoln to have been a great statesman who worked tirelessly to build his country into something greater than it was.[10] He laid the groundwork for America's later rise to become a world power.[10]
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