The Roman senator Cincinnatus was much admired for his integrity. Here, he leaves his plough to become dictator of Rome; a duty that he twice relinquished as soon as the crisis was past.
This is a list of politicians renowned for their honesty, integrity and probity.
- Marcus Aurelius — last of the Five Good Emperors, "he gave proof of his learning not by mere words or knowledge of philosophical doctrines but by his blameless character and temperate way of life."[1]
- Rómulo Betancourt — the first Venezuelan leader to hand over power to a constitutional, democratic successor. "If moral authority and high principles counted, Rómulo Betancourt loomed as a titan in the history of Venezuela."[2]
- Cincinnatus — the Roman senator who accepted life as a farmer after his family fortune was lost. He was twice summoned to become dictator of Rome and defeated its enemies but relinquished the office immediately once his duty was done. He was seen as a model for politicians of the United States and the city of Cincinnati is named after him.[3]
- Gandhi — Indian politician who helped achieve independence with non-violent resistance.
- William Ewart Gladstone — Victorian chancellor and prime minister noted for his fiscal and moral probity.
- Václav Havel — last president of Czechoslovakia and the first of its successor, the Czech Republic. He was renowned for his moral principle of "living in truth".[2]
- Abraham Lincoln — The 16th President of the United States, Lincoln was sometimes referred to as "Honest Abe."[4]
- Ernest Vandiver — reforming Governor of Georgia from 1959 to 1963. Justice Joseph Quillian praised his integrity and fairness, "He is a person who has never learned to lie."[5]
- George Washington — one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, was compared with Cincinnatus when he resigned his commission as commander-in-chief after the independence of the United States was recognised.[6] King George III called him "the greatest character of the age".[7] The famous story of the cherry tree and "I cannot tell a lie" is thought to be apocryphal.
See also
- Celine's Third Law — "An honest politician is a national calamity."
- Political ethics
References
- ↑ Herodian translated by Edward Echols, Ab Excessu Divi Marci
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Thomas M. Magstadt (2008), "Politics by Civil Means", Understanding Politics: Ideas, Institutions, and Issues, Cengage Learning, pp. 391-472, ISBN 9780495503309
- ↑ W. Burlie Brown (1957), "The Cincinnatus Image in Presidential Politics", Agricultural History 31 (1): 23-29, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3741064
- ↑ Thornton, Brian (2011). Honest Abe: 101 Little-Known Truths about Abraham Lincoln. Adams Media. p. 8, 231. ISBN 1440512310. http://books.google.com/books?id=MyAVhnX0lM8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=honest+abe&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uFYrUejaN8K6yQHQwYDoBQ&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=honest&f=false. Retrieved February 2013.
- ↑ James F. Cook (2005), The Governors Of Georgia: 1754-2004, Mercer University Press, pp. 279-286, ISBN 9780865549548
- ↑ Thomas Nelson Winter (1975), "Cincinnatus and the Disbanding of Washington's Army", The Classical Bulletin 51 (6), http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1072&context=classicsfacpub
- ↑ Albert Marrin (2003), George Washington & the Founding of a Nation, Penguin Group USA, p. 244, ISBN 9780525470687
Further reading
- Rocío Albert, Francisco Cabrillo (2006), "Gresham's law in politics: Why are politicians not the most remarkable men for probity and punctuality?", European Journal of Law and Economics 21 (2): 99-112</ref>
- Ian Greene, David P. Shugarman (1997), Honest Politics, J. Lorimer, ISBN 9781550285352
- editors Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred Dycus Miller, Jeffrey Paul (2004), Morality and Politics, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521542210
- Niklas Luhmann (1994), "Politicians, honesty and the higher amorality of politics", Theory, Culture & Society 11 (2): 25-36, doi:10.1177/026327694011002002
Template:Politics-stub