Two Of The Best And Brightest

It has taken me several days to reflect on the passing of David Halberstam. Few historians and journalists - few people, really - have been as insightful, inspirational and dignified as this good man. I can't claim to have known him, although meeting him, exchanging small talk and hearing him speak over the years served as reminder that eloquence, wisdom and dignity can and must remain part of speaking truth to power. Some people talk tough and perform weakly. Halberstam was a gentlemen whose journalism, analysis and bravery was authentically tough.

I read most everything he wrote, be it well-known, majestic works such as The Best and The Brightest, The Powers That Be, War In a Time of Peace, and The Fifties or the great sportswriting of Summer of '49, October 1964, and The Amateurs. Halberstam joined with Neil Sheehan, Peter Arnett, Malcolm Brown and others to expose the many deceptions and hypocrisies that were the hallmark of the War in Vietnam. Where are their likes today? Perhaps only the good folks at Knight-Ridder/McLatchey who, over the years, have been a powerful voice of real journalism in a media chorus that hardly questioned the basis for War in Iraq and, as was the case with The New York Times' Judith Miller, actually became complicit in its mindless run-up. What lessons there are to learn from the likes of David Halberstam.

One must also note the passing of the extraordinary cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. "Slava" fought relentlessly for human rights, freedom of speech and artistic expression at home in the Soviet Union and Russia and from his many outposts around the world. In the week that Boris Yeltsin also died, it's important to remember that Rostropovich rushed to his aid to resist the 1991 communist coup in Moscow. Those were perilous moments and Slava put his personal capital to work at time of great personal risk.

In his new book, Where Have All The Leaders Gone?, Lee Iaccoca excoriates the Bush Administration, Congress and scandal-plagued CEOs. That's pretty easy pickings, however. Yes, leadership in those circles is at some level perilously below abysmal. Yet, we must continue to remind ourselves of the greatness found in people like Halberstam and Rostropovich and, with some recent posts here, General Zinni, Dr. Liviu Librescu, the MacArthur Foundation winners and even good-old Kurt Vonnegut. Great leaders are living and dying among us. You just have to look in the right places.