In the past half-century, the question of character has loomed large in discussions of the American presidency. Does a person lacking integrity also lack the moral capital true leadership requires? Must the president be someone we can hold up as a model to our children? Why has presidential character become a major public concern?

MICHAEL BESCHLOSS
Michael Beschloss is an award-winning historian of the Presidency who has written extensively about American presidents at times of crisis.

DAVID KENNEDY
David Kennedy is the Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History at Stanford and the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945.

MICHAEL KRASNY (moderator) is the host of Forum on KQED Public Radio.