coolage wrote words that resonate with any parent in the room. he wrote, wh might have happened to him under other circumstances we do not know. but if i had not been president . and then he continued. in his suffering he was asking me to make him well, and i could not. and when he went, the power and the glory of the presidency went with him. a sensibility like this, and not power, is the source of presidential dignity. and it must be restored. it depends entirely upon character, self-discipline, and an understanding of the fundamental principles that underline not only the republic but life itself. it communicates that the president feels the gravity of his office and is willing to sacrifice himself, that his eye is not upon his own prospects, but upon the storm of history through which it is his responsibility to navigate with the specific powers accorded to him and the limitations placed upon them, not merely by man, but by god. in the capitol rotunda are heroic paintings of the sign of the decla ration, the victory at saratoga, the victory a