Calvin Coolidge's stance at the Boston Police Strike of 1919 catapulted him to national prominence, to his party's vice presidential nomination a year later, and eventually to the presidency. Herbert Hoover's achievement in feeding starving Europeans after World War I gave him the heroic status that led to the White House.
Wars, strikes, natural disasters, horrific spikes in deaths: They provide political leaders with immense challenges even as they display inherent character. So, too, has the COVID-19 virus that has become the greatest political challenge and revealer of political character of our time.
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