USA: Best President?

[RYP]

So who really was the best Pres? I have always thought the two Roosevelts and Washington were the best.

Basis on question. Which did the best to deliver on their promise, shape the American culture and do positive things with the money and power that America has.

[Dim]

Shit. Is it me - or has the quality of presidents gone down hill since FDR died?

[Aegis]

Well, if you can't think back more than 50 years, that poll works....


My Best ever list:
1. Washington

the rest are in no particular order:

Eisenhower
Lincoln
Polk
Jefferson
Jackson
Theodore Roosevelt
Harry "Give 'em Hell" Truman

Honorable mention goes to FDR.

[Dim]

Polk?

[RYP]

Seems the American ideal model is the Captain of the football team concept. Charismatic, confident and able to make the rest of the team look good. There doesn't seem to be a finite way to judge the success of an elected official in effecting his original platform.

How about paying them a million dollars for every campaign promise they make happen?

[Aegis]

Polk?

Yes, Polk. James K. Polk.

Although he was essentially a place-holder for the Democrats (who weren't about to run Van Buren again), he managed to spread American hegemony across the continent. He annexed Texas, got most of the Oregon country, and almost the entire American Southwest (by kicking Mexico's ass!). Whats more, he accomplished all his goals in one term. Gotta love that in a president.

[Kurt]

In spite of his spinelessness with HUAC...I like unobtrusiveness.

My favorites have always been the ones you never think about...or the ones who got us out of dumb situations, like Warren G. Harding...He laid off Wilson's red scare, backed out of Occupying Turkey for England's sake (which we would have had to fight Attaturk).

I also Like Chester Arthur...just because no one knows what the hell he did, so he must have done something right.

Washington was probably the best..a man who could have been "King" or Dictator but saw the dangers in doing so and was even reluctant to be president. When you compare the power grabs that happend after other countries Revolutions like with Cromwell, the French Revolution and the Haitian one..we were pretty damn lucky to not be saddled with a fanatic and owe alot to the precedent that he set.

[RYP]

A strange similar period in American history... the west was almost settled and exploited and America needed a new enemy...thankfully Spain came along...and the Idea of Manifest Destiny was born...

McKinley:

 “Let England take care of herself.  Let France look after her own interests. Let France look after her own interests.  Let Germany take care of her own people; but in God’s name let America look after America.”

of course he was shot....

Roosevelt got stuck with the Colonies we inherited during the Spanish American War (Haiti, Cuba, Philippines etc) I can't imagine Frederick Remington doing a statue of Bush riding a bike...



"not only the extension of liberty and order, and the bringing nearer by gigantic strides of the day when peace shall come to the whole earth."

The original Neocons..(oxymoron) Roosevelt: "McKinley is bent on peace, I fear."

sound familar??

We of course ended up with a bargain sale collection of third world real estate...Philippines and Puerto Rica the chief colonies with Cuba being an interesting parallel to Iraq:

"The court said that the first duty of the United States under its pledge to secure for the Cubans the freedom to which they are entitled is to protect them by every just and legal method. When the United States postal code superseded that of Cuba and Neely became an officer under that code it was the duty of the United States to protect the citizens of Cuba against the citizens of its own government." 1899

[DawnC71]

Yeah I voted for Eisenhower but I really think the "Best" president overall has to have been Washington....To take the reigns after the Revolutionary War, and actually attempt to be a democratic president shows a sign of humility NOT seen in my generation (I was born in 1971.)
Most of the presidents so far in my lifetime have been schmucky in some way or another...Including the Great Communicator....My attitude has changed with him because of all this CRAP I have been hearing the last two days about how he "saved the world" and "never made america any enemies"....what a load of crapola...Just because the guy passed away does not mean citizens have to be stupid and try to make "nice-nice"...especially not in this overtly niave manner I have witnessed since the guy just passed away....
It is one thing to say that he was a decent president and did the best he could with what cards he had dealt to him...but let us PLEASE cut through all the propaganda about this guy being some kind of Great American Hero...because he is not....he was a nice man who was a decent president and that is about it.
Cheers,
DawnC

[Dim]

Agreed - more memories of the Reagan Whitehouse.

$640 Pentagon toilets seats; ketchup as a vegetable; union busting; firing striking air traffic controllers; Iran-Contra; selling arms to terrorist nations; trading arms for hostages; retreating from terrorists in Beirut; lying to Congress; financing an illegal war in Nicaragua; visiting Bitburg cemetery; a cozy relationship with Saddam Hussein; shredding documents; Ed Meese; Fawn Hall; Oliver North; James Watt; apartheid apologia; the savings and loan scandal; voodoo economics; record budget deficits; double digit unemployment; farm bankruptcies; trade deficits; astrologers in the White House; Star Wars; and influence peddling."

[Marco_Benoit]

Hey, shouldnt Reagan take some of the blame for all the terrorists we have now? Didnt it all start with the CIA funding the wackos in Afghanistan?

[Dim]

yeah - although that did speed up the demise of the Soviet Union and bring about the end of the cold war. In the long run, it's better that NY was attacked by Osama and the rest of the boyz-in-the-cavez instead of the Soviet air force.

[DawnC71]

He should take all the blame...the dissolution of the Soviet Union, while seen as necessary, also is widely understood to have destabilized a huge portion of the world....The Balkans are a glaring example of why this idea that communism was somehow toppled and order restored to the world is a BIG FARCE. So if he wants to take responsibility for driving the SOviets to change, then he can take the blame for alot of the mess we face now.....Oh and I actually still like the guy as president but i am sick of hearing all the goofy fru-fru love stories the media wants to have with the man's memory....I am a bit of a realist so I am sorry if this tirade ofends anyone's idea of funeral etiquette...BUT
Dont Believe The HYPE.
Cheers,
DawnC

[nick]

Hey, shouldnt Reagan take some of the blame for all the terrorists we have now? Didnt it all start with the CIA funding the wackos in Afghanistan?

It actually started in 1979 before he was in office, he merely continued it. I also think that it is a little more complex then simply calling them whackos too.

[DawnC71]

I agree...the Mujahideen are a different issue entirely....I only wish we had stayed and helped them a bit more instead of sort of abandoning them like we did...which of course is why they dont (and probably shouldn't) trust us now.