Fathers Of Our Country: How U.S. Presidents Exercised Moral Leadership In Crisis
NPR's Audie Cornish talks to Barbara Perry, a presidential historian at the University of Virginia, about how presidents have exercised moral leadership in critical moments.
by Samantha Raphelson
Aug 18, 2017
4 minutes
On Tuesday afternoon, three days after violent clashes between white nationalists and counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Va., President Trump insisted that both sides were to blame.
A reporter asked the president if he meant to put what he called the "alt-left" and white supremacists on the same moral plane.
"I'm not putting anybody on a moral plane," Trump said. "What I'm saying is this: You had a group on one side and you had a group on the other, and they came at each other with clubs, and it was vicious, and it was horrible."
It was a departure from the traditional remarks typically heard from presidents — and it has sparked a conversation about President Trump and the moral authority of
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