King Of The Mountain

2 Pages 548 Words

Would-be Rulers and Their Humble Beginnings

“The dominance drive to gain superior social status is little in evidence during the early months of life, becomes common during childhood, and is conspicuous and highly important chimpanzee characteristic during adolescence and maturity.” (R.M. Yerkes, Chimpanzees: A Laboratory Colony) The evidence contained in this study of chimpanzee potential rulers is what Arnold Ludwig is trying to relate to human would-be leaders in chapter 5 in King of the Mountain. Ludwig gives several examples of rulers (especially those in office with the most power) of having very humble and simple beginnings in life. He tries to link this with the basic premise that chimpanzees and other primates do not show any significant characteristics of future alpha-male status. While Ludwig does a superb job of displaying countless examples of probable leaders and their humble early stages, he still does not convince the reader how this evidence is as strongly linked to his thesis as previous chapters.
Ludwig gives great examples of future rulers having very ordinary childhoods. He also states some of the extreme ways rulers with great power go to vast extents to protect these childhood ordinaries from becoming widely known. Ludwig states the will of leaders is to not be shown as ordinary are the motives for an immense cover-up of their childhoods. “… [Stalin and Hitler] likewise were so touchy about their childhoods that they gagged, imprisoned, or eliminated anyone who had access to this information.” Using the basic premise ‘where there is smoke, there is fire’, Ludwig investigated ruler’s childhoods and found them to be very ordinary in general. Most leaders strive to have a Jesus type ascent to power, or a Lincolnesque account with a ‘rags to riches’ back drop. Why don’t future leaders display leadership or special characteristics of their future ascent to power? Ludwig makes the a...