A statesman or stateswoman is respected, skilled and experienced political leader or figure.^[1] In most respects a statesman is the opposite of a politician. Politicians are thought of as people who will say or do anything to get elected or to gain power.^[2] A statesman is someone who does everything for the common good of the people he or she represents.^[2] To call a person a statesman is a mark of high regard for that person's integrity.^[3] To call someone a politician usually implies the person is worthy of very little esteem.^[3] For example, George Washington is almost always called a statesman.^[4] An elder statesman is a term often defined as an older politician or advisor who is thought to be above normal politics.^[a][7]

Statesman principals |

In 51 BC, Cicero published his work De re publica (On the Republic).^[8] The dialog was about what made a true statesman.^[8] It was about the virtues and ideals such a leader must have.^[8] Cicero wrote that a great statesman did not have to descend from aristocrats. But he must have virtus (virtue), iustitia (a sense of justice) and wisdom.^[8] He must also have dignitas (roughly translated as dignity), temperance and must show generosity and be magnanimous.^[8]

A statesman has certain core values and will not change beliefs simply to advance a political career.^[2] If a change in policy is necessary for the good of the people he or she serves, the change will be made no matter how much it is criticized.^[2] According to Hans J. Morgenthau, author of Politics Among Nations, statesmen see things realistically; as they really are.^[2] They look at how a policy will affect a nation.^[2] A statesman is not the same as a monarch or king because their goals are not the same.^[9] A statesman does not want to dominate or control people, he or she wants to educate them so they are fit to live in in a democracy.^[9] Like Plato before him, Alexis de Tocqueville believed that a statesman not only educated his or her people, he somehow shaped their character.^[9]

When Abraham Lincoln became President of the United States in 1861, most people saw an awkward, rumpled country bumpkin.^[10] He had never traveled to Europe and was seen by the American people and foreign dignitaries alike as crude and unsophisticated.^[10] The Dutch minister reported of Lincoln: “He and his wife seem like . . . western farmers, and even in this country, where one has no right to be fastidious, their common manners and their ways expose them in unfortunate fashion to ridicule.”^[10] While many do not remember Lincoln as a great foreign-policy president, he actually was.^[10] Like a true statesman, Lincoln adeptly guided foreign policy at a time of great peril during the Civil War when the United States was vulnerable to foreign intervention.^[10] According to Kevin Peraino, Lincoln "should be considered one of America’s seminal foreign-policy presidents — a worthy model for students of global affairs."^[10] Historians have long shown Lincoln to have been a great statesman who worked tirelessly to build his country into something greater than it was.^[10] He laid the groundwork for America's later rise to become a world power.^[10]

Notable statesmen and stateswomen |

• 
  Aung San Suu Kyi^[11]


• 
  Nelson Mandela^[11]


• 
  Margaret Thatcher^[11]


• 
  Noam Chomsky^[11]


• 
  Dalai Lama^[11]


• 
  Simón Bolívar^[11]


• 
  Hans Blix^[11]


• Otto von Bismarck


• 
  Benjamin Franklin^[12]


• 
  John Marshall^[13]


• 
  Martin Luther King^[13]


• 
  Demosthenes^[14]

Related pages |

• Politician


• Diplomat


• Oath of office

Notes |

References |

Other websites |

• Statesmen v.s. Politician


• The 4 Qualities of a True Statesman