最出色的美国总统.docx

2012.10.24 谁是最出色的总统系列之一：华盛顿 WASHINGTON WAS THE BEST华盛顿是最出色的总统5天前 上传下载附件 (177.79 KB) The Big Question: Emily Bobrow argues that George Washington, Americas first president, had just enough impostor anxiety.大问题：艾米莉波布劳（Emily Bobrow）认为美国首位总统乔治华盛顿（George Washington）的自卑情结恰到好处From INTELLIGENT LIFE magazine, November/December 2012INTELLIGENT LIFE杂志，2012年11、12月刊Who was the best president? That we can even ask the question is thanks to George Washington (1st president, 178997) who shaped the role with his own battle-hewn hands. Elected unanimously, he assumed the job reluctantly and batted away efforts to make him a king. His humility ensured the institution was built to last. 谁是历史上最出色的总统？我们可以站在这里问这样一个问题还要多谢乔治华盛顿（第一位总统，178997年间在位）。因为美国总统这一角色正是靠着他那双南征北战的手才得以塑造。在宪法大会上，所有成员一致选举他为总统，于是他只好心不甘情不愿地接下这份工作，并回绝了试图立他为王的意图。他的谦逊确保了新建立的国家制度基业得以长存于世。It would have been easy for the first boss of a new government to have grown tipsy with power. Before Washington, the worlds leaders were all bejewelled monarchs or medal-encrusted generals. But after years of fighting against hunger and defeat as a revolutionary hero on the battlefield, Washington was not seduced by pomp. He rejected an array of flowery titles (His Highness, His Exalted High Mightiness), preferring the simplicity of Mr President. He accepted his inauguration wearing a simple brown suit. 一个新政权的首位领导人很容易被权力迷惑，变得头脑发热。在华盛顿之前，世界上所有的领导人不是珠光宝气的皇室，就是战功赫赫的将军。但身为一位多年来在战场上和饥饿与失利不停斗争的革命英雄，华盛顿并没有被虚华诱惑。他拒绝接受一系列花俏头衔（如“殿下”、“尊贵的阁下”等），更喜欢朴实无华的“总统先生”。他出席就职仪式时身上穿着的是一件简朴的棕色套装。Washington was tall, brave and impressive-looking (despite some lifelong angst over terrible denture-work), yet his colloquial talents were not above mediocrity, as Thomas Jefferson put it. He had sound instincts on the battlefield, but little in the way of formal education. This was ultimately a good thing, as it left him with just enough impostor anxiety to be wary of too much public attention. Not only did he not drone on at the lectern, but he swiftly appointed an ideologically balanced cabinet of advisers, including Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. Mindful of precedent, he personally ensured his executive power was checked by the legislative and judicial branches of government. 华盛顿身材高大、气势不凡、仪表堂堂（虽然糟糕的假牙困扰了他一生），但正如托马斯杰斐逊（Thomas Jefferson）所说，“他的口才只是平平”。他在战场上有着出色的直觉，但却没受过什么正式教育。现在看来这是一件好事，华盛顿由此产生的自卑焦虑感恰到好处，让他不愿意太抛头露面。他不仅不会在讲台上滔滔不绝，而且上任后也迅速地委任了一批在意识形态上基本平衡的内阁顾问，其中就包括杰斐逊和亚历山大汉密尔顿（Alexander Hamilton）。不忘前车之鉴的他亲自确保自己的行政权力会受到政府立法和司法两个分支的限制。After decades of public service, Washington pined for a quiet life at home in Virginia, and hoped to retire after one four-year term in office. He succumbed to a second in the interests of national unity, but was then glad to hand over the reins to his elected successor, John Adams. His farewell address in 1796 warned his fellow citizens against the rise of polarising party politics and the baneful spirit of faction. He died several years later, unaware of just how polarised his country would become.在担任公职几十年之后，华盛顿非常渴望能回到弗吉尼亚的老家隐居。他本想要在第一个四年任期结束后退休，但最终为了国家团结而接受了连任。在第二任期结束后，他很高兴能让位给民选的继任者约翰亚当斯（John Adams）。他在1796年的离职演说警告美国同胞们要小心两极化的政党政治崛起以及“派系斗争这一恶灵”。他在几年后过世，对于他的国家未来会变得多么分化毫无所知。Few American children are spared some malarkey about a young George Washington who cannot tell a lie (which meant he sang like a canary over chopping down a cherry tree). These tales were largely invented to explain Washingtons integrity as an adult. Americas first president was not a witty intellectual or a scintillating orator, but he was uniquely honourable at a vulnerable time for the nascent republic. It seems fitting that his purse-lipped visage graces the dollar billthe humblest and most essential note of them all.几乎所有的美国孩子都会听过某种形式的华盛顿“不说谎”故事（故事中小华盛顿毫无隐瞒地承认自己砍断了樱桃树）。这些故事基本上都是为了说明成年华盛顿的正直而杜撰出来的。美国的开国总统并不是一位机智诙谐的知识分子，也不是一位才华横溢的演说家，但身处在共和国初生的脆弱时期，他的品行高洁无人可比。这么看来，他紧抿着嘴唇的头像出现在一美元纸币上是再恰当不过了，因为一美元正是所有纸币中最谦逊却又最不可少的。Emily Bobrow is The Economists online books and arts editor艾米莉波布劳是经济学人的在线文艺版编辑2012.10.24 WHO WAS THE BEST PRESIDENT? 系列之二：小罗斯福FDR WAS THE BEST小罗斯福是最出色的总统5天前 上传下载附件 (167.4 KB) The Big Question: Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a mass of contradictions, reckons David Thomson, but he changed the landscape of American politics. 大问题：大卫汤姆森（David Thomson）认为富兰克林德拉诺罗斯福（Franklin Delano Roosevelt）是大量矛盾的集合体，但他也改变了美国政治的面貌From INTELLIGENT LIFE magazine, November/December 2012INTELLIGENT LIFE杂志，2012年11、12月刊He came to power amid economic catastrophe and he restored prosperity and hope. It wasnt perfect. There was a bad slump in 1937, and only the engine of war re-established employment and production. Of all the cards in the New Deal, none would be more potent than social security, less a step towards socialism than part of the modernisation of America. He signed an order outlawing racial discrimination in the war effort, but he allowed the internment of 120,000 people of Japanese descent, more than half of them US citizens.他受任于经济危难时期，一手重铸了美国的繁荣希望。他的经济恢复政策并非十全十美，在1937年经济就曾发生一次非常糟糕的下滑，后来就业和工业生产还是借战争的刺激才开始重新恢复。在罗斯福新政的所有措施中，影响最为深远的要数社会保障，与其说这是向社会主义迈出了一步，倒不如说这是美国社会现代化的一部份。他签署了行政命令，将战争事务中的种族歧视现象列为非法行为，但也正是他在战争时期批准拘禁12万日裔人士，其中有超过一半是美国公民。He led the country into war not out of economic expediency but because he believed it was morally necessary. He had helped Britain before December 7th 1941, and he then opposed both the cynicism of Stalin and the imperialism of Churchill. But he was dying: at the Yalta conference in February 1945, observers could not credit that FDR (32nd president, 1933-45) was only 63.他带领美国参战并不是出于经济上的利益，而是因为他相信美国在道义上必须参战。在1941年12月7日之前他就已经在对英国提供援助了，后来他又坚决反对了斯大林（Stalin）所持的犬儒主义和丘吉尔（Churchill）主张的帝国主义。但当时他已是行将就木，1945年在雅尔塔会议上，很多旁观者无法相信小罗斯福（第32任总统，193345年间在位）当时才63岁。He had sacrificed himself, yet he was always ambitious. He manipulated his victory in the election of 1940 and ended up serving as president longer than anyone else ever will. Along the way he fought with the Supreme Court. He appointed nine justices but they had the nerve to defy him, and he had the ego to fight. He was misguided in most of this, but he outlined the conflict between the presidency and the Supreme Court that still rages today.他为了总统工作鞠躬尽瘁，但他同时也是个野心勃勃的总统。在1940年大选时他用了很多手段让自己获胜，在美国总统宝座上呆的时间前无古人，后无来者。在他任职期间他一直和最高法院争执不断。他亲手委任了九名最高法院法官，但这些法官还是有胆子违背他的意思，而他的自尊心驱使他和法官们斗争到底。在这些斗争中很多时候他都是被误导了，但他的行为开启了总统和最高法院对峙的先河，直到今天这一对峙依然愈演愈烈。Roosevelt was a media man: he inaugurated radio fireside chats and could be as good a speaker as Churchill. He exercised obsessive control of photographs or newsreel that showed him crippled. That vanity also led him into reckless love affairs, mostly with secretaries. This pained another great innovator: his First Lady, Eleanor, intelligent, outspoken, a model of what a consort might accomplish.小罗斯福是一个媒体人：他开创了炉边谈话的广播讲话形式，需要的时候他的口才甚至可以赶上丘吉尔。他对于拍下自己残疾样貌的照片和胶片控制得异常严格。正是这种虚荣心导致他多次肆无忌惮地陷于外遇丑闻，对象大多是他的秘书。这些外遇伤害到了当时的另一位改革者，那就是他的夫人埃莉诺（Eleanor）。她是一位聪明、坦率的女性，她身为第一夫人做出的成就给所有的总统配偶提供了榜样。FDR was a mass of contradictions: an aristocrat and a man of the people; one of the strong men in a dangerous world yet physically helpless; paralysed but restless. Thank God he had crises to manage. Without them, he might have been a playboy and a rogue.小罗斯福是大量矛盾的集合体：他出身高贵，却能和老百姓打成一片；他是当时遍布危险的世界里的一名勇士，自己却体弱身残；他半身瘫痪却永不安分。感谢上帝他有那么多的危机需要管理。如果没有这些危机，他很可能最终会变成一名花花公子，一个浪人。He changed the landscape of American politics, urging that in a mass society government had dutiesto strengthen the nation, but to take care of the people, too. In 2012, that impulse confronts the belief that the New Deal and the Good Society are unaffordable myths; that people must look after themselves, like pioneers on the frontier. FDR is the first president of the world, and his face at the end shows what a monstrous task that is.他改变了美国政治的面貌，主张在大众社会里政府有其义务，不但要强国，也需要安民。在2012年，他的这种主张受到了新思想的挑战。这些新思想认为所谓“新政”和“美好社会”其实是国家负担不起的海市蜃楼，人们必须自己照看自己，就如同当年边远地区的开荒者一样。小罗斯福是历史上第一位“世界总统”，他离世之前憔悴的容貌说明了这是多么艰巨的一项工作。David Thomson is a film writer who lives in San Francisco. His new book, The Big Screen, is out now大卫汤姆森是定居在旧金山的一位电影剧作家。他的新书大银幕现已上市。2012.10.24谁是最出色的总统系列之三：林肯 LINCOLN WAS THE BEST林肯是最出色的总统5天前 上传下载附件 (176.26 KB) The Big Question: Jesse Norman argues that it was the modest and witty man who built a team of rivals who made the best president.大问题：杰西诺曼（Jesse Norman）认为那位机智谦虚、组建“政敌团队”的总统最为出色From INTELLIGENT LIFE magazine, November/December 2012INTELLIGENT LIFE杂志，2012年11、12月刊Let your eye sweep across a photograph of Mount Rushmore, or better still the real thing, and you will see four men who have a strong claim to be Americas greatest president.扫视一下总统山的照片（如能到实地看看那更好），你会看到四位都有很大机会问鼎美国最伟大总统宝座的人选。There is Washington, who won the war of independence and handed over control of the army to civilian authority; who chaired the Constitutional Convention, wordlessly, in that sultry Philadelphia summer of 1787; and who gave up the presidency in 1796 and headed back to his farm rather than become a monarch.首先是华盛顿（Washington），在独立战争中打了胜仗，将军队控制权还给民政当局。他未发一言主持了1787年湿热夏天在费城举办的宪法大会。他在1796年放弃了总统一职，拒绝成王而回到自己的农场上。Then Jefferson, drafter of the Declaration of Independence and purchaser of the Louisiana Territory, which doubled the size of the United States and opened up the frontier. And Teddy Roosevelt, who led the Rough Riders charge up San Juan Hill, built the navy, busted monopolies and founded Americas national parks.然后是杰斐逊（Jefferson），他起草了独立宣言，也是将美国国土面积翻倍、并开拓了西部前沿的路易斯安那收购案的主持者。还有泰迪罗斯福（Teddy Roosevelt），他曾带领莽骑兵冲上圣胡安山，建立了美国海军，推翻了垄断企业，并建立了美国的国家公园系统。Yet Washington is an icon, not a man; Jefferson was a devious hypocrite who betrayed his president and friend John Adams, and proclaimed universal equality but never freed his own slaves; and Roosevelt, for all his peacetime genius, never faced the supreme test of leadership in war. No, for me it has to be the last of the four, Abraham Lincoln.但是华盛顿已经是神化的人物，杰斐逊则是一位狡诈的伪君子，他背叛了其总统兼好友约翰亚当斯（John Adams），而且在宣扬人人平等的同时却从未给自己的奴隶自由，老罗斯福尽管在和平时期有着卓越的才干，但他的领导能力从未接受过战争这一终极测试。他们都不是问题的答案，对我来说最出色的总统是四人中的最后一位，亚伯拉罕林肯（Abraham Lincoln）。Unlike the others, Lincoln (16th president, 1861-5) grew up in adversity. He was born in a one-room log cabin, lost his mother at the age of nine, had the barest minimum of formal education, failed as a small businessman, and taught himself the law by ploughing carefully through Blackstones Commentaries. He was tall and skinny, and not pretty: accused once of being two-faced, he said if that was so, why would he have chosen the face he had? He had served just one term, two years, as a Congressman before he ran for the presidency on the back of his national reputation as an opponent of slavery.和其他几人不同，林肯（第16任总统，18611865年间在位）是在困境中长大的。他出生在只有一个房间的小木屋里，9岁就失去了母亲，只受过一些最基本的正式教育，后来做小生意也失败了。他靠硬啃布莱克斯通（Blackstone）所著的英国法释义自学了法律。他身材高高瘦瘦，长相让人不敢恭维：曾经有人指责林肯两面派，林肯的回应是如果自己真的有两副面孔，他是绝对不会拿这副丑脸出来吓人的。他只任了一届众议员，在任两年后就凭借自己在全国反奴隶制的名声开始竞选总统。Why Lincoln? Because he was a political genius who gained the presidency by charm and stealth, reaching out across factions to win the delegates he needed. Because he famously built and managed a team of rivals from the most brilliant politicians of the day. Because he had wit, modesty and self-control, which hid his despair at personal setbacks including the premature deaths of two of his children. Because he won a civil war, the worst of all conflicts, despite blundering and pusillanimous generals, incompetent officials and a cacophony of conflicting advice and naysaying. Because he conquered external opposition, and his own doubts, and freed the slaves. Because he renewed a moral vision for America as one nation founded on freedom not on bloodlines, and on choice and self-determination not on ancient prerogative. Because of the magnanimity of his plans for Reconstruction. Because, from his House Divided speech to the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural, he spoke for America in language that remains unforgettable to this day. And finally, because he died in office, serving his country.为什么说林肯最出色呢？因为他是一个政治天才，他凭借个人魅力，隐藏自己的锋芒，并联合各大派系争取所需的代表人，最终成功赢下总统大选。因为他召集了当时最有才干的一批政治家成立并主持了著名的“政敌团队”。因为他机智、谦卑同时也有很强的自制力，在面对个人不幸，包括两个孩子的夭折时能够将自己的绝望隐藏起来。因为尽管他手下的将军笨拙懦弱、官员无能，外加一大批互相矛盾的劝诫和否定，他还是在美国史上最可怕的冲突南北战争中战胜对手。因为他战胜了外界的反对，战胜了自己内心的怀疑，解放了奴隶。因为他重新照亮了美国的道德方向，展示了美国是建立在自由、选择和自决之上，而非血统和古老特权之上的国家。因为他订立了宽宏大量的重建计划。因为他很多为美国所说的话，从分裂之家演讲，到盖兹堡演讲及第二次就职演讲，直到今天依然让人难忘。最后，因为他以身殉职，死而后已。Jesse Norman is Conservative MP for Hereford and author of The Big Society and Compassionate Conservativism杰西诺曼是英国赫里福德的保守党议员，著有大社会和慈悲保守主义。2012.10.25 WHO WAS THE BEST PRESIDENT? 系列之四：杰斐逊 JEFFERSON WAS THE BEST杰斐逊是最出色的总统4天前 上传下载附件 (187.97 KB) The Big Question: partisan, ruthless, passionateJefferson, argues David Rennie, was an indispensable president.大问题：结党连群、不择手段、激情澎湃，这就是杰斐逊（Jefferson），大卫瑞尼（David Rennie）认为他是美国不可或缺的一位总统The spring of 1804 marked the peak of Thomas Jeffersons long career. Nearing the mid-point of his time as president (3rd president, 1801-09), he had just snapped up a vast tract of land from a cash-strapped Napoleon, doubling Americas size at a cost of some three cents an acre. A punitive campaign against the Barbary powers was proving wildly popular, as the fledgling American navy inflicted shock and awe on foes in north Africa.1804年的春天是托马斯杰斐逊（Thomas Jefferson）漫长职业生涯的顶点。当时正值他总统任期（第3任总统，18011809年间在位）将近过半的时候。他刚刚完成了一笔大买卖，从资金周转不灵的拿破仑（Napoleon）手中以每英亩三美分的低价买下了一块巨大的领地，让美国疆土面积翻倍。他之前为惩罚巴巴里海岸诸国而出军远征北非，随着刚建成不久的美国海军在北非所向披靡，让敌人闻风丧胆，当时美国民众都对这一军事行动极为支持。Then came a series of letters from Abigail Adams, wife of the man Jefferson had unseated from the presidencyletters that might have unmanned a less confident figure. Abigail accused Jefferson, who had served as vice-president to her husband, of betraying the fraternal principles of the American revolution. Not only had Jefferson sponsored muck-raking journalists to spread foulest falsehoods against her husband during the election of 1800; she also accused him of ditching the detachment proper to a national leader and of being a party man, actually campaigning for his own victory.随之而来的是阿比盖尔亚当斯（Abigail Adams）的一系列信函。阿比盖尔是他一手推下台的前任总统约翰亚当斯（John Adams）的妻子。换作是任何不如杰斐逊自信的人，一定会对这些信件紧张不已。在信中，阿比盖尔言辞谴责了曾在自己丈夫之下任职副总统的杰斐逊，批评他背叛了美国革命的兄弟原则。她提到杰斐逊不仅在1800年大选时赞助揭发丑闻的记者，让他们传播关于她丈夫的“恶毒之极的谎言”，还痛斥杰斐逊抛弃了一国领导人所应持的超然态度，变成一个“党派人士”，居然为了自己获胜去拉票竞选。Jefferson denied it all, but the charges were true. His predecessors Washington and Adams aspired to be virtuous magistrates, wielding power in the public interest. Jefferson was Americas first politician-president: partisan, ruthless, passionate, and capable of outrageous hypocrisies. He served not some abstract republic but the people, in all their raucous, distrustful, disputatious individuality. While safely ensconced in Paris as his countrys envoy, he had cheered a bloody anti-tax revolt at home, observing: I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere.杰斐逊自然否认所有这些指控，但它们都没有说错。他的前任华盛顿（Washington ）和亚当斯都致力于成为品行高尚的治理官员，为了公众利益动用权力。杰斐逊则是美国历史上第一位政客总统：结党连群、不择手段、激情澎湃，而且在需要时可以虚伪得令人发指。他并不是在为抽象的共和国尽忠，他效力的对象是人民，一个个喧闹、多疑、不和的个体。他作为美国使节在巴黎受到舒适接待的同时美国正在爆发一场反税收暴动。远离暴动的他居然为其叫好，并提到：“时不时发生一点暴乱很合我意，就好像暴雨一样。”His suspicion of centralised power had consequences for ill as well as