Today was very interesting. For 1, it's Rosh Hashannah, the Jewish new year, so...
HAPPY NEW YEAR !
Our case study this week is Leadership in times of crisis.
We started off the day by going to the Holocaust Museum. It was my 2nd time going but nonetheless, just as moving. It's definitely hard going there and seeing everything but it is so worth it and it gives me a stronger sense of pride of being a Jew. It makes me feel united with other Jews around the world.
After the Holocaust Museum, we went to the Center for the Presidency and Congress where we met the President, Ambassador Abshire, and met with Bud Krogh. Bud Krogh worked in President Nixon's administration when he was a very young guy, but with an important job. He had many tasks at the White House. One task, was taking care of the Pentagon Papers situation, and being co-director of "the plumbers." He was told by the President to take care of the Pentagon Papers situation. After talking with others, he decided to run a covert operation and hire people to go into Dan Elsburg's psychiatrist's office and find papers that would discredit Elsburg, who was the one who released the Pentagon Papers. Not only did the spies not find anything, but they also were not so "covert" and left a trace. That trace led back to Nixon and Bud, which Bud says was the beginning of the end of the Nixon administration. After being caught, Bud was the only one who confessed to being guilty. He also wanted to go to court without a Lawyer so he would get the punishment he deserved, not one that was bargained. He went to prison for about 6 months, 4 and a half of them working on a farm in Central PA. Now he's a senior fellow on Leadership, Ethics, and integrity at the Center for the Presidency and Congress. He also wrote a book called "Integrity: good people, bad choices, and life lessons from the white house." He is an awesome guy! He has definitely made some not-so-great choices but he is ethical by nature and is using his experience to help shape other ethical leaders. He is inspirational and sincere. He had cookies for us and everything! He also told us some really really cool stories about Elvis Presley! He gave us about 2 and half hours of his time and he's coming to our school tomorrow too! Meeting with him was awesome!
NEXT DAY (FRIDAY):
Today we had our normal schedule except for the last class of the day, Ethics and Leadership, Bud came to our school and we had an ethical dilemma case study which he dealt at the White House. Our case study was about 1,000 Native American protesters that stayed in the BIA and wouldn't leave and were ready for violence. We debated what to do and I was very firm on my belief to negotiate and not use violence, the Native Americans are PEOPLE who had not eaten in a few days, in the cold, and had no place to go. All they wanted was to voice their frustrations to the Government which was hurting them. Bud was in charge of this dilemma and he made the same decision that our class agreed would be the best, but he didn't tell us what he did until after we decided. He was SO cool and we had this inside joke about texting, so when he left I texted him and he sent me back a really nice message :) I consider him a mentor to me. When we came home, I had my afternoon subway snack and then we had dinner. Then, we watched "Ghosts of Rwanda." It's a documentary about the Rwandan Genocide, it was very intense and emotional, and I felt extremely angry at the U.S. government after watching it. It disgusts me the type of people that run this country and make decisions for the U.S. We talked about it for a little while, and as you might guess, I had alot to say. One of the guys interviewed in the documentary was Carl Wilkens, the last American to stay in Rwanda. He would not leave, unlike every other American in Rwanda, and he helped to save far more people than the U.S. government did. He is a hero, and he'll be coming to talk to us tomorrow.
BUD'S BOOK:
ME IN CENTER FOR THE PRESIDENCY BATHROOM:
ME IN CENTER FOR THE PRESIDENCY BATHROOM AGAIN!
