For the first time notice is taken of him, and people think they can see the germs of the virtues and vices of his maturity taking shape. That, if I am not mistaken, is a great error. Only then will you understand the origin of his prejudices, habits and passions which are to dominate his life. The whole man is there, if one may put it so, in the cradle. Something analogous happens with nations.
People always bear some marks of their origin.
Circumstances of birth and growth affect all the rest of their careers. America is the only country in which we can watch the natural quiet growth of society and where it is possible to be exact about the influence of the point of departure on the future of a state. Both leaders have chafed under traditional sexual mores, uncomfortable with the restrictions all citizens must follow. Unlike Henry VIII, the President has not actively tried to break once and for all with his constraints. Yet, the spirit of the English king seems to have been reborn within him.