My Favorite U.S. President

Lon · Post by **Lon** » Tue May 05, 2015 12:12 pm

THEODORE ROOSELVELT

He was not president in my life time but oh was he good in his. A thinker and doer way ahead of his time. Where are the likes of him today? Although he was a Republican his social thinking was liberal and had appeal to both parties.

AnneBoleyn · Post by **AnneBoleyn** » Tue May 05, 2015 1:47 pm

I greatly admire Teddy R. also. I think my favorite is G. Washington, for retiring in grace & not accepting a kingship. I like all the guys on Mt. Rushmore.

In my lifetime, I guess I'd say JFK, because he inspired my generation & the Space Program. I was just a kid, so I really didn't look deeply at the time, he was so affecting & filled so many with hope. War Hero, too.

tude dog · Post by **tude dog** » Tue May 05, 2015 1:56 pm

Teddy, he was a tough bird.

What I like best was as police commisioner in New York City in the middle of the night he would walk out and bust officers sleeping/drinking whatever on the job. Along the same lines served to reform the Civil Service

A great biography, Theodore Rex

Post by **LarsMac** » Tue May 05, 2015 3:31 pm

AnneBoleyn;1478696 wrote: I greatly admire Teddy R. also. I think my favorite is G. Washington, for retiring in grace & not accepting a kingship. I like all the guys on Mt. Rushmore.

In my lifetime, I guess I'd say JFK, because he inspired my generation & the Space Program. I was just a kid, so I really didn't look deeply at the time, he was so affecting & filled so many with hope. War Hero, too.

I am with you on Kennedy. He was quite the inspiring person. He was the first President I remember being elected. I was too young to vote, but we got involved in the election process as a school project. A lot of the folks where I lived were against him, because he was Catholic and a liberal. My dad did not like me getting involved in supporting JFK, but he was open-minded enough to let me run with it.

In the mock election at our school, Nixon won by 62% of the vote. On the upside, I became life-time friends with a couple of the Catholic kids in the neighborhood.

JFK is still my favorite president.

Teddy is definitely high on the list, though. and he has quite the following here in Longmont. They have a park named after him, and a Statue of him.

Roosevelt's Longmont whistlestop: Why he is remembered here - Longmont Times-Call

FourPart · Post by **FourPart** » Tue May 05, 2015 10:30 pm

Once again, although before my time, I think Nixon had a great deal to be said for him. Naturally, everyone seems to associate him with Watergate (and infuratingly had led to having the suffix 'gate' being added to any petty thing that seems slightly 'iffy'). However, compared to the levels of Political Corruption that we are all familiar with on an everyday basis these days, the Watergate Affair was nothing extraordinary.

Nixon Had Some Successes, Before His Disgrace - NYTimes.com

Credit where it's due.

Post by **LarsMac** » Wed May 06, 2015 6:40 am

FourPart;1478726 wrote: Once again, although before my time, I think Nixon had a great deal to be said for him. Naturally, everyone seems to associate him with Watergate (and infuratingly had led to having the suffix 'gate' being added to any petty thing that seems slightly 'iffy'). However, compared to the levels of Political Corruption that we are all familiar with on an everyday basis these days, the Watergate Affair was nothing extraordinary.

Nixon Had Some Successes, Before His Disgrace - NYTimes.com

Credit where it's due.

To his credit, he was fairly effective. His failure was not originally his. I doubt that he actually knew what CREEP was up to in the beginning. It was his activity in the attempt to cover it up that led to his demise.

And opening the door to normalization with China has to be one of his chief accomplishments. I mean, without that, Walmart would have never realized their full potential.

flopstock · Post by **flopstock** » Wed May 06, 2015 9:36 am

LBJ did a lot after JFK, but what the heck was he thinking with Vietnam?

tude dog · Post by **tude dog** » Wed May 06, 2015 1:37 pm

As far as favorite, of course it's George Washington. I would follow that by Abraham Lincoln.

Currently reading a biography of Calvin Coolidge

Both Coolidge and Ronald Reagan had a clue.

FourPart · Post by **FourPart** » Wed May 06, 2015 3:07 pm

On the whole though, I would definitely put Obama on a par with JFK.

Post by **LarsMac** » Wed May 06, 2015 4:59 pm

FourPart;1478754 wrote: On the whole though, I would definitely put Obama on a par with JFK.

I don't quite see that.

Mark Aspam · Post by **Mark Aspam** » Thu May 07, 2015 10:23 am

For XXth century presidents, number one would have to be FDR.

My choice for #2, with which many will no doubt disagree, would be Clinton. He goosed the lagging economy into high gear.

My #3 would be Truman.

P.S. Teddy was certainly one of the most colorful, but he had a superiority complex that often served him ill while in office.

tude dog · Post by **tude dog** » Thu May 07, 2015 1:58 pm

FourPart;1478754 wrote: On the whole though, I would definitely put Obama on a par with JFK.

Yea, there as the BAY OF PIGS INVASION and 2012 Benghazi attack.

I realize that comparison is really unfair to Pres. Kennedy.

AnneBoleyn · Post by **AnneBoleyn** » Thu May 07, 2015 3:26 pm

Mark Aspam;1478792 wrote: For XXth century presidents, number one would have to be FDR.

Agreed.

tude dog · Post by **tude dog** » Thu May 07, 2015 4:36 pm

FDR

Wins an award for prolonging the Great Depression.

Mark Aspam · Post by **Mark Aspam** » Thu May 07, 2015 7:47 pm

tude dog;1478816 wrote: FDR

Wins an award for prolonging the Great Depression.Probably one of the silliest statements - on ANY subject - that I have ever read on this website! Perhaps the poster thinks that we should have re-elected Hoover.

Or maybe it was intended as a joke.

Still, I gotta admit, the guy did make great vacuum cleaners!

AnneBoleyn · Post by **AnneBoleyn** » Fri May 08, 2015 8:11 am

Mark Aspam;1478826 wrote: Probably one of the silliest statements - on ANY subject - that I have ever read on this website! Perhaps the poster thinks that we should have re-elected Hoover.

Or maybe it was intended as a joke.

Still, I gotta admit, the guy did make great vacuum cleaners!

Outstanding review Mark.

Snowfire · Post by **Snowfire** » Fri May 08, 2015 11:57 am

tude dog;1478751 wrote: As far as favorite, of course it's George Washington. I would follow that by Abraham Lincoln.

Currently reading a biography of Calvin Coolidge

Both Coolidge and Ronald Reagan had a clue.

I apologise for my lack of knowledge on American politics but I have to ask. Did you have a different Ronald Reagan over there than the one we saw on our TV ?

The one we remember certainly didnt have a clue

Post by **LarsMac** » Fri May 08, 2015 12:02 pm

Snowfire;1478874 wrote: I apologise for my lack of knowledge on American politics but I have to ask. Did you have a different Ronald Reagan over there than the one we saw on our TV ?

The one we remember certainly didnt have a clue

Nope. Same guy.

tude dog · Post by **tude dog** » Fri May 08, 2015 4:20 pm

Mark Aspam;1478826 wrote: Probably one of the silliest statements - on ANY subject - that I have ever read on this website! Perhaps the poster thinks that we should have re-elected Hoover.

Or maybe it was intended as a joke.

Still, I gotta admit, the guy did make great vacuum cleaners!

So what did FDR do that was so great?

Oh yea, he saddled us with the ultimate Ponzi Scheme, The Social Security Act of 1935

Court Packing The Court-Packing Plan

Not a lot different than that lump which currently occupies the White House with his executive orders specifically to bypass congress.

Oh and as far as re-electing Hoover, certainly would have done no worse.

tude dog · Post by **tude dog** » Fri May 08, 2015 4:29 pm

Snowfire;1478874 wrote: I apologise for my lack of knowledge on American politics but I have to ask. Did you have a different Ronald Reagan over there than the one we saw on our TV ?

The one we remember certainly didnt have a clue

I donno who we is.

Anyway, what was the clue he missed?

Mark Aspam · Post by **Mark Aspam** » Fri May 08, 2015 8:32 pm

tude dog;1478889 wrote: So what did FDR do that was so great?Ask any of the voters who elected him one, two, three, or four times.

Reagan was so senile in his second term that it's unlikely that he even knew what planet he was living on.

Snowfire · Post by **Snowfire** » Sat May 09, 2015 2:10 am

tude dog;1478892 wrote: I donno who we is.

Anyway, what was the clue he missed?

Not only Reagan then !

"We" refers to "us" over here in the UK. Reagan isnt fondly remembered at all here. Never thought of as a true Statesman but as a bit of a dithering idiot who commanded as much derision here as Thatcher.

tude dog · Post by **tude dog** » Sat May 09, 2015 12:01 pm

Mark Aspam;1478904 wrote: Ask any of the voters who elected him one, two, three, or four times.

Just coincidently just two days ago I met a woman who just turned 93 years old, ten years too young to have voted for FDR four times. It was a pleasure to meet her and as much as I would love to hear stories of her life, unless she thought to mention FDR. It would not be my place to bring it up.

I am not a young guy and heard my elders talk of FDR. So what am I supposed to make of it?

Kinda like asking somebody the rational for voting for Obama not just once, but twice.

Mark Aspam;1478904 wrote: Reagan was so senile in his second term that it's unlikely that he even knew what planet he was living on.

I was tempted, but I ain't going to bite.

tude dog · Post by **tude dog** » Sat May 09, 2015 12:25 pm

AnneBoleyn;1478863 wrote: Outstanding review Mark.

Maybe you could tell me what he did so great.

When it came to economy, he failed.

I do give him great credit for seeing the problem in Europe, that being Nazi Germany.

LEND LEASE ACT

Once at war, far as I know he let the armies go about their business without much interference. He also authorized the Manhattan Project

Funny, I asked

So what did FDR do that was so great?

Nobody had anything to say, but to make ad hominem attacks and goof on President Ronald Reagan.

AnneBoleyn · Post by **AnneBoleyn** » Sat May 09, 2015 3:20 pm

WPA great success. Taught people trades, great for theatre, the arts, every older person I ever knew benefited from this program. I could go on, but why? You see white when I see black, vice-versa. No point, have no desire to persuade you. & like JFK, he gave people Hope, & that optimism goes a long way. I have complaints about some of FDR, no one's perfect, but for his time, he was the best man for the job.

tude dog · Post by **tude dog** » Sat May 09, 2015 3:47 pm

AnneBoleyn;1478964 wrote: WPA great success. Taught people trades, great for theatre, the arts, every older person I ever knew benefited from this program. I could go on, but why? You see white when I see black, vice-versa. No point, have no desire to persuade you. & like JFK, he gave people Hope, & that optimism goes a long way. I have complaints about some of FDR, no one's perfect, but for his time, he was the best man for the job.

Thank You.

At least somebody made an argument in favor of FDR.

As far as JFK, I was always amazed how without any accomplishment just because he was murdered by Lee Harvey Oswald becomes a great president.

At least JFK was a real American and War Hero PT 109

FourPart · Post by **FourPart** » Sun May 10, 2015 4:21 am

Without JFK & the Space Programme, would we now be discussing this matter over the internet, which is especially reliant on satelite technology?

tude dog · Post by **tude dog** » Mon May 11, 2015 12:35 pm

FourPart;1479001 wrote: Without JFK & the Space Programme, would we now be discussing this matter over the internet, which is especially reliant on satelite technology?

JFK did not start the U.S. space program. He not only had played catch up with the Ruskies but doubled down when in a speech vowed to send a man to the Moon. JFK gets full credit for that.

Then he was murdered.

It was unfortunate that President John F Kennedy saw fit to involve us in Viet Nam.

AnneBoleyn · Post by **AnneBoleyn** » Mon May 11, 2015 12:43 pm

tude dog;1479107 wrote:

It was unfortunate that President John F Kennedy Vietnam saw fit to involve us in Viet Nam.

I agree. There are some commentators, like Chris Matthews, speaking while wearing rose colored glasses, opines that JFK would have gotten us out, once he saw the mess he made. I disagree, I think he'd have done the same as Lyndon, keeping the mess & making it worse.

tude dog · Post by **tude dog** » Mon May 11, 2015 1:12 pm

AnneBoleyn;1479109 wrote: I agree. There are some commentators, like Chris Matthews, speaking while wearing rose colored glasses, opines that JFK would have gotten us out, once he saw the mess he made. I disagree, I think he'd have done the same as Lyndon, keeping the mess & making it worse.

Often wondered. Never occured to me JFK would make it worse?.

Post by **LarsMac** » Mon May 11, 2015 1:20 pm

tude dog;1479113 wrote: Often wondered. Never occured to me JFK would make it worse?.

JFK merely escalated what was started on Ike's watch. And Johnson's administration took it to the next step.

Had congress not ended the Draft in '73, we may still be there.

AnneBoleyn · Post by **AnneBoleyn** » Mon May 11, 2015 1:48 pm

tude dog;1479113 wrote: Often wondered. Never occured to me JFK would make it worse?.

I didn't mean make it worse than Lyndon did, just would have done about the same as occurred.

tude dog · Post by **tude dog** » Mon May 11, 2015 3:02 pm

Yee HAW

I am going to a neutral corner.

We really don't to fight that damn war all again here.

AnneBoleyn · Post by **AnneBoleyn** » Tue May 12, 2015 7:59 am

LarsMac;1479117 wrote: JFK merely escalated what was started on Ike's watch. And Johnson's administration took it to the next step.

Had congress not ended the Draft in '73, we may still be there.

Nothing "merely" about it; the next step was unnecessary, and one which I believe JFK would have taken had he lived. tude might want to forget it, but the point is it still haunts our stature in the world, that we can't really be trusted.

halfway · Post by **halfway** » Wed May 13, 2015 9:38 am

Reagan. American pride and resolve. Said what he meant, meant what he said.

Got us out of the 70's funk and brought people together.

Next would be LBJ. â€œIâ€™ll have those ******* voting Democratic for the next 200 years.â€ Lyndon Baines Johnson about the Great Society plan. He showed the true colors behind the control grabbing, anti MLK, "equality of outcome" pandering scumbags that profess "tolerance and racial equality". Good job LBJ! You missed the message by MLK in a big way, but secured your party in the minds of the weak.

FourPart · Post by **FourPart** » Fri May 15, 2015 2:43 am

halfway;1479207 wrote: Reagan. American pride and resolve. Said what he meant, meant what he said.

Had no idea of reality of the rest of the world around him though.

Post by **LarsMac** » Fri May 15, 2015 6:57 am

FourPart;1479230 wrote: Had no idea of reality of the rest of the world around him though.

That can be said for a majority of the American Right-Wingnuts.

tude dog · Post by **tude dog** » Fri May 15, 2015 1:14 pm

LarsMac;1479239 wrote: That can be said for a majority of the American Right-Wingnuts.

Whatever that means.

halfway · Post by **halfway** » Fri May 15, 2015 3:37 pm

You mean the one's that attempt to conserve the US Constitution?

The far left skinhead nazis and communists tend to hate the right wing "nutjobs".

How 'bout "them ******* voting for us left wingers for 200 years" statement? Pretty telling eh?

FourPart · Post by **FourPart** » Sat May 16, 2015 12:00 am

Except that far from being Far Left (skinheads or otherwise), the Nazis were (are) Far Right. I think that in such cases it's more on a par with Religion. Following the identical tenet in all but name, but bickering as to whose tenet is the right one.

Post by **spot** » Sat May 16, 2015 2:54 am

halfway;1479255 wrote: How 'bout "them ******* voting for us left wingers for 200 years" statement? Pretty telling eh?
LBJ may well have thought that true, he may even have said it though it was only first reported 30 years later. It's to his credit that he went ahead with his civil rights program knowing that there were a lot more racist bigots in the USA whose votes the Democrats would permanently lose than others who would, in practical terms, become enfranchised and vote Democrat out of gratitude and solidarity. And so it has turned out, as you can plainly see.