Was John White a Good Leader?

628 Words3 Pages
Even with no governing experience, Sir Walter Raleigh appointed John White as governor of Roanoke. Being an artist for the first existing military colony, he would know the land and natives well, but there is no known record of him having any experience being a political leader. So why was he appointed governor? Was it part of a conspiracy or did they think that he would bring new unique leading techniques that would help the colony? Was he a good leader or did he crack under pressure? The answers to these questions may help solve the mystery of what happened to the colonist of Roanoke. The first thing we have to question is why he was appointed governor. Some may say it was to set the colony up for failure by giving them a terrible leader. Another point of view is that they wanted to give the colony an extremely different leader than Lane and Grenvile to see if it worked better. Whatever their reasoning, he was a completely different leader and had a completely different approach to running a colony than Lane and Grenvile which has is benefits and its disadvantages. He was more level headed and calm than Lane. He also took the colonist feelings into account more. This also could be a positive or negative thing. He was more influenced by them so he may not have made the best decisions for the colony in the long run trying to please everyone. One of the biggest factors in deciding whether or not he was a good leader is his decision to sail back to England and leave his colony behind with vengeful native surrounding them and limited resources. He left his daughter and his new born granddaughter with the promise of returning in three months, when in reality didn't come back for three years. Was leaving the colony a good idea? They clearly needed more supplies and resources, but maybe sending their only governor wasn't the best decision. They had no leadership and the
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