The Love of Fame

The Love of Fame

Peter Schultz

 

Hamilton wrote in the Federalist about “The love of fame, the ruling passion of the noblest minds….” What if Hamilton was wrong and the love of fame is not always an indication, a characteristic of a noble mind? What if the love of fame is characteristic of narcissistic minds, of those who think of themselves as great, as visionaries, ala’ Napoleon, Churchill, T. Roosevelt, W. Wilson, George W. Bush? 

 

And then what is to ensure that those “great projects” that Hamilton tells us the lovers of fame undertake will be as concerned with the common good as with satisfying their passion, the lust for fame? Recall Lincoln: the really great ones would enslave freemen or free slaves in order to satisfy their love of fame, their desire for “immortality.” And after all, the founders reconciled themselves to slavery in order to gain their fame. And as Walter Karp reminds us, Woodrow Wilson took the US into WW I, thereby helping to destroy the republic, in order to claim the fame of waging the war to end all wars. Even President McKinley succumbed to the temptation to wage war in order to make America and himself great. 

 

Isn’t this what Franklin was warning the constitutional convention about in his remarks on not paying presidents? Ambition and avarice combined are political nitro glycerin, with the result that the presidency will not attract men of peace. And certainly, the lovers of fame seem to be attracted to war and war-like politics. Absent war can presidents achieve greatness, fame? Hence, the allure of war. 

 

In the end, we end up with Trump, who confirms that the love of fame is not only consistent with narcissism but even fortifies it. Trump’s narcissism has flourished in the presidency. And of course Trump lives amidst other narcissists, who are also seeking fame. is this what Madison meant when he wrote in the Federalist that ambition should be used to check ambition because relying on virtue is never sufficient? Narcissists checking narcissists. What could go wrong?