"Gerald F. Linderman, the John F. Morrison Professor of Military History, 1988-89, presented this talk to Command and General Staff Officer Course students on 4 October 1988."--P. v.

Military leadership in this society in wartime presents, and has always presented, a problem of special severity. At the root of the problem is the relationship between the individual American and that larger society of Americans. Despite complaints in every generation that individualism is on the decline, by any comparative measurement-simply setting this society against others-we have not sought to express ourselves through the social group. Nor do we often accept that the success of the group represents, in some equivalent and satisfying measure, the success of the individual. Nor are we often willing to subordinate to the group our own interests and perceptions. It is not the American way. The United States has never possessed an unquestioning soldiery. The absence of such forces has not previously constituted much of a problem for us; it has, however, become a problem-as yet unsolved-in those situations of limited war that have confronted us since 1950. The author concludes that true military leadership in America will rest in accepting the tension in our society to balance the requirements of the mission and the social peculiarities of the American citizen-soldier.