Hubristic presidents contemplating Churchill’s bust in their office are prone to believe that they have been called upon to be “war presidents” – that they, like Churchill in 1940, must oppose the next Hitler. This siren song drew the US into Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
正如我们所知，过度的权力会带来腐败。面对办公室中丘吉尔半身像的傲慢的总统更愿意相信他们就像1940年的丘吉尔那样，正肩负着“战时总统”抵抗未来希特勒的使命。这种难以抗拒的诱惑致使美国卷入到越南，阿富汗和伊拉克的冲突。