Leon Fuerth: Tutoring 'Prince Albert'.
World Policy Journal › Vol. 16 Nbr. 4, December 1999
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Leon Fuerth: Tutoring 'Prince Albert'.
The intellectual who wants to counsel a powerful leader is a familiar character in history. In most societies, intellectuals-turned-counselors have incited wars or championed peace by gaining the ear of a leader they putatively serve. For such intellectuals, the chance to become the voice behind the throne exerts a magnetic pull. The lure of influence drew Seneca to Nero and Voltaire to Frederick the Great, and now it has drawn Leon Fuerth to presidential aspirant Al Gore.
Fuerth is national security adviser to the vice president, and has been staff adviser to Gore on foreign policy since 1984. He has worked for Gore longer than anyone else--indeed, long enough to earn the privilege of addressing him as Al. But unlike other intellectuals who have counseled other leaders, Fuerth has found that his boss is not a tabula rasa upon which he can impress his ideas. Rather, Gore listens to the cautious calculations of Fuerth and then marries that analysis to his own idealistic instincts. Gore's foreign policy--call it "pragmatic meliorism"--results from their dialogue. When Gore the congressman first positioned himself to the right of the Democratic Party on issues such as arms control and aid to Nicaragua, Fuerth was there. When Gore the senator was one of ten Democrats in 1991 to break with the party and vote for Operation Desert Storm against Iraq, Fuerth was there. When Gore the vice president stood out strongly for sanctions, and then military ...See the full content of this document
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