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Dwight Eisenhower and Responsibility Virtue in Action

  • I can describe the importance of taking responsibility for decisions, regardless of the consequences.
Directions: Virtuous leadership requires that a leader take responsibility when things go wrong and share credit when things go well. However, it is not only leaders that must act responsibly.  For each of the following scenarios, write down what would be the responsible course of action in each instance.

 

  1. You are the captain of the sports team, and you lost a very close game to your biggest rival.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Your friends want you to go out with them, and you have a big math test tomorrow morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.  You have an important meeting for a school club, and you are scheduled to make up a chemistry exam at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.   You have a group project due in two weeks. You were assigned your group members by your teacher, and you do not know them well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.   Create your own example:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reflection Questions:

  1. What are some challenges to acting responsibly?
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. How can you remind yourself to act with responsibility whenever possible?
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Other than the example of General Eisenhower, who do you personally identify with the virtue of responsibility? Why? How can you learn from their example?
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Dwight Eisenhower’s D-Day Statement | Primary Source Close Reads Explained

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How can we understand Eisenhower’s leadership through his D-Day statement? In this episode of Primary Source Close Reads Explained, Kirk explores the statement given by General Dwight D. Eisenhower 79 years ago to a group of citizen-soldiers as they prepared for the great undertaking that would be known as ‘D-Day.’ Eisenhower also prepared a statement in case of failure that was never needed but exists for us to examine today as another example of how he demonstrated leadership in the face of hardship. How do these statements show Eisenhower’s commitment to taking full responsibility as a leader?