by DanielHaase 30 Replies latest jw friends
Larc it wasn't a poll for historians. It was on "Fox and Friends" this morning. They were talking about a phone poll that was done.
"Brother, you better get down on your knees and pay...a thousand more fools are being born every f***ing day" -Bad Religion
Well, that's nice to take a poll of what the public thinks. I was just showing what the experts think that's all.
The problem with ranking the US presidents is that the ones of recent memory often do not yet have enough post-office historical analysis and are instead judged on popularity. That being said, here is my list:
1. Abraham Lincoln: If you've read his biographies, you'll see that he was possibly the most moral person to serve in the office inspite of mutiple personal difficulties like manic depression and Murfan's (sp?) syndrome. His Emancipation Proclimation and his inspiring delegation of authority to the Union generals during the hardest phase on US history are the great things of like may never happen again.
2. George Washington: His two terms in office helped keep the country together even though there was a great deal of dissent among those who helped in the battle of independence. Perhaps Washington's greatest exploits came in the fourteen years (1775-1789) before he took office; it was that long before the US constitution was adopted and it may never have come about without old George.
3. Harry Truman: Undoubtably the best president who first took office unelected. He was an honest, straight talking man who had no concern for his own glory, wealth, or popularity. He showed great courage in his used of atomic weapons to end the war with Imperial Japan and perhaps greater courage in firing Douglas MacArthur (extremely popular at the time) for insubordination.
4. Ronald Reagan: He was exactly what the country and the world needed in 1981. The US was suffering from a very poor economy, federal intervention was nearly out of control, no real let-up from the malaise declared by his predecessor, and a general lack of respect from allies and adversaries abroad. Congress had been improperly using its power over the country due to the weakened state of the executive branch since Watergate seven years earlier. The first six years of his presidency were outstanding in what he achieved; alas, the last two years were not so bright as he then had failures due to overconfidence in some of his underlings: not just North and Poindexter, but VP George Bush as well as the head of the National Security Council.
5. Franklin Roosevelt: He was great, but not for his plethora of depression era programs that barely passed constitutional muster (some didn't), but rather for his leadership in World War II.
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And second from last:
41: Bill Clinton: Perhaps the sleaziest character to hold the office based on his personal conduct. Books and books have been written about his misconduct (and his wife's) before and during his administration. The only elected president ever to be impeached, his pardons from his last day in office would, in a just world, be enough to put him in jail for the rest of his life.
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And the worst:
42: Richard Nixon: His arrogance and his subversion of the constitution were so extensive that neither is matched by any other president.
Gough Whitlam
It's an impossible question to answer.
Some presidents did little, some did more. What each was able to do depended on what was happening nationally or globally while they held the reigns. Still...
One of the highlights of my life over the last ten years was a pre-1865 American History class I took. My professor loved... you hear me?... LOVED history, and it came across in his teaching. I got teary when the class was over, and shook his hand for a long time as I left the classroom for the last time. Every American should sit at this man's feet and learn American History, but I digress...
To make a long story short, I'll say the greatest prez was Millard Fillmore.
Considered a nobody among Presidents by virtually every historian, Fillmore replaced Zachary Taylor, a veteran of the Mexican Wars. Taylor was a hawk and amidst all the deep and bitter contention between the North and the South over slavery, wanted to go to war, before the North was ready. Fortunately he died of an upset stomach.
When the class time came to discuss this period of time, prior to the start of the class I told Mr. Henry that Taylor was assassinated, something our text didn't alledge and almost no historian believes (although his body was exhumed years later to search for poison). Mr. Henry looked at me in shock... wondered what I'd read.
I hadn't read anything.. just put two and two together...
As President, Fillmore lent the weight of the White House to push through the Compromise of 1850. This political maneuver allowed the North to get their war machine together and ultimately defeat the South a decade and a half later. Led by some of the most ingenious, valiant, and brilliant military commanders ever known, the South would surely have won if war had broken out sooner than it did.
Thanks in large part to Fillmore, it didn't. What's happened since then is all caboose after the engine... icing on the cake... proof in the pudding...
.... you get my drift.
.......my vote is for Bill (now were did I leave that cigar) Clinton
...............................Jedd
Thomas Jefferson
Believe in yourself, not mythology.
<x ><
Theodore Roosevelt
Damn Teejay, good one. Sometimes it's easy to overlook the ones from so far back!
"Brother, you better get down on your knees and pay...a thousand more fools are being born every f***ing day" -Bad Religion
teejay,
My Gawd, your taking to this college stuff. Aint't it great! This vast smorgabord of ideas, and experts teaching it.
