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Few systematic studies of U.S. uses of force treat the inherent attributes of presidents as the key causal factors; nonetheless, the fact that individual leaders matter is evident to the public, the media, and foreign policy makers in other countries. This study advances the development of first-image explanations of conflict by empirically investigating the relationship between presidential personality and the variation surrounding foreign policy decision making. The importance of this type of variance has been understudied in international relations (Braumoeller 2006), and the consistency of leaders’ policy decisions has important strategic implications for interstate conflict (Reed 2003; Clark and Nordstrom 2005; Allen 2008; Clark, Nordstrom and Reed 2008). Relying on Big Five measures of U.S. presidents’ personality traits, we find that leaders who have a high tendency towards Excitement Seeking are more likely to use force to carry out their foreign policy objectives, while those who are more Open to Action exhibit a greater variance around their foreign policy decision making. In sum, the personality traits of individual leaders not only influence the choices they make, but the consistency of their choices, which has important consequences for U.S. foreign policy.