US Politics

Leadership & The Measure

Post War Success

After viewing It’s a Wonderful Life, President Harry S. Truman concluded, “If Bess and I had a son, we’d want him to be just like Jimmy Stewart.”

Although the film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Stewart’s third Best Actor nomination, it received mixed reviews and only moderate success at the box office, possibly due to its dark nature. However, in the decades since the film’s release, it grew to define Stewart’s film persona and is widely considered as a sentimental Christmas film classic and, according to the American Film Institute, one of the best movies ever made.

After World War II, Stewart settled down, at age 41, marrying former model Gloria Hatrick McLean (1918-1994) on 9 August 1949. As Stewart loved to recount in self-mockery, “I, I, I pitched the big question to her last night and to my surprise she, she, she said yes!”.[49] Stewart adopted her two sons, Michael and Ronald, and together they had twin daughters, Judy and Kelly, on 7 May 1951. They remained devotedly married until her death on 16 February 1994, due to lung cancer. Ronald McLean was killed in action on 8 June 1969, at the age of 24, while serving as a Marine Corps Lieutenant in Vietnam.[50][51] Dr. Kelly Stewart is an anthropologist at the University of California, Davis.James Stewart was almost universally described by his collaborators as a kind, soft spoken man and a true professional.

Joan Crawford, Stewart’s co-star in early period, praised him as an “endearing perfectionist” with “a droll sense of humor and a shy way of watching you to see if you react to that humor. “America lost a national treasure today,” President Bill Clinton said on the day Stewart died. “Jimmy Stewart was a great actor, a gentleman and a patriot.”

Brig. Gen. James Maitland StewartUnited States Air Force
Col. James M. Stewart
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Air Force Reserve United States Army Air Corps
Years of service	1941–1968
Rank	Brigadier General
Battles/wars	World War II Vietnam War
Awards	Distinguished Service Medal Distinguished Flying Cross (2) Air Medal (4) Army Commendation Medal Armed Forces Reserve Medal Presidential Medal of Freedom French Croix de Guerre with Palm

A Telling Thoughts Comment..

I wonder if you agree that Jimmy Stewart and Barack Obama in their own time, exuded and example the qualities of a true leader and a man one could trust. John McCain for all his claims, is no Jimmy Stewart. America and indeed the free world today, needs a man like Barack Obama.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5

© 2008 Telling Thoughts . Webmaster . RSS Feed . Admin