In Your Opinion Who Is The WORST President In USA History? (page 7)

minimus

I remember hearing that Eisenhower was not considered a great President but I think he was!

PSacramento

As an outside looking in, I would have to say GWB, thought it wasn't certainly ALL his fault.

keyser soze

2. Lyndon B. Johnson, who eliminated Jim Crow, literally, with the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

LBJ gets props for civil rights. But how many black men did he send to their deaths in Vietnam? Or men in general?

james_woods

LBJ gets props for civil rights. But how many black men did he send to their deaths in Vietnam? Or men in general?

Exactly. LBJ also was the only president I can recall who chose not to seek a second elected term - because he knew how badly he had screwed Vietnam up in the eyes of the American public.

I happen to believe that civil rights would have happened anyway, under just about any other president.

JeffT

How can you have an 'opinion' on Jefferson? Adams? Taft? Were you alive? Did you see how things went down and what changed?

Actually we're in a better position to judge now than the people alive then. We can see the long term consequences of their actions, which are not at all obvious to those living through it. Lincoln and Truman are good examples of this effect.

AGuest

how many black men did he send to their deaths in Vietnam

I don't believe any were sent BECAUSE they were black, dear Keyser (peace to you!). The draft didn't really discriminate on those grounds. It did, however, on such grounds as gender, education, and incarceration. Otherwise, so long as you were able-bodied, you went. (By the way, I shake my head over this but many a black man WANTED to go to war. From the Revolution forward. Not being able to enlist... or advance up the ranks once in... was a MAJOR issue with them! I'm a Navy brat - my dad was in for 24 years, did Korea and three tours to Vietnam - so I heard a LOT about these things when I was a wee tot).

I happen to believe that civil rights would have happened anyway, under just about any other president.

Possibly, dear JWoods (peace to you!), but none of the ones who came before him and after Grant had the desire... or cahones... to get it done. Regardless of what others after him may have done, he got it done. So, I have to give him his props. And "we" never should've been IN the Vietnam War to begin with. Our [unfounded] fear and domestic paranoia about communism crossing the oceans prompted that.

Peace to you all!

A slave of Christ,

SA

keyser soze

I don't believe any were sent BECAUSE they were black, dear Keyser (peace to you!).

Nor do I. That wasn't really the point of my statement. My point was that, whether directly or not, blacks were affected negatively by his policy in Vietnam.

james_woods

but none of the ones who came before him and after Grant had the desire... or cahones... to get it done.

I contend that JFK would almost certainly have "got it done" had he lived.

On the other hand, JFK would almost certainly also have pretty much followed the same course in Vietnam - after all, both of them pretty much followed whatever McNamara and the "whiz kids" wanted to do about SE Asia.

JFK, I fear, is viewed as a great president today simply because he was killed early in office.

snowbird

This here is a book about Black veterans of the Vietnam war.

During 1967-68, I used to listen to the radio as the announcer would list the names of soldiers from Alabama who were killed in combat.

I know a widow who started a business with the money she received from her husband's death.

I also know some veterans who went to school on the GI Bill and made a good living for themselves.

So, it wasn't all bad.

Syl

Nickolas

Fascinating conversation. Can a Canadian chime in? I'm gonna anyway.

I clearly remember and can comment on Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and the new guy.

Eisenhower was a great war general but a mediocre president. Kennedy was the first Roman Catholic president and that will be his greatest legacy. I remember when he got popped in Dallas and how TV was ruined for four days. Johnson ("Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?") once held up his hound dog by its ears, just for fun. Viet Nam is his legacy, and that was just plain ugly. Nixon was a foul mouthed crook. Ford was ineffectual and completely out of his league and Ford's first name might just have well been Edsel, because he was a flop, too, particularly for pardoning his predecessor. Carter should have stuck to what he was really good at - growing peanuts - but the man had heart, too much for the job he was elected to do. Reagan was at his best when co-starring with Bonzo and was a bit of a religious kook. Bush 1 ("Read my lips") had the balls to do the job but let his personal pet peeves get in the way. Clinton lied through his teeth, and that is what he will be remembered for. Bush 2 ... c'mon, how did you guys ever elect this man to be your leader? Twice. The new guy has a lot stacked against him and a good chunk of the population hate his guts for whatever reason. Jury's still out on him, though.

Worst in my estimation? Dubya.

In Your Opinion Who Is The WORST President In USA History?

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