IN WRITING ABOUT the qualifications for the chief executive of the United States, the Founding Fathers did not seem to care much about where candidates stood on the issues, or what their position papers said, or what their talking points might be. Neither did they care much about poise, posture, eloquence or even “experience”. The word that comes up most often, starting with the Federalist Papers, is “character”. It wasn’t what a man said, or believed, but what a man was that determined his fitness for office.

The German military theorist Carl von Clausewitz wrote in his landmark book On War, that “War is a contest of character”, by which he meant that, more than skill or intellect, it is a combination of physical and moral courage allied with resolution that determine success or failure. This is true at all levels of command, from squad to army, and even the entire nation. And it is true not only in war, but in any endeavor where decision-making carries momentous consequences, which is why the Founders placed so much emphasis on it.