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Favorite President

post #1 of 38
4/19/02 at 5:14pm
Thread Starter 
We did the least favorite, so let's be more positive. Here's your chance to list and discuss some of your faves, and if you can, the ones that you feel get an unfair rap.

Abraham Lincoln is my favorite historical figure of all time and as close to a true hero as I could come up with for myself. He was the first President to really grasp that slavery was a moral question, not a business and property issue to be legislated and compromised on. He was a great enough man to offer the South true peace without violent reprisals. He had the strength to fight a war, but the compassion and fairness that made him a truly great man. His words are legendary, and IMO he's the greatest President we've ever had.

Franklin D. Roosevelt won the war, had the real balls to fight it, and pulled us out of Depression. His firey belief that we were on the moral side of the war and his own struggle with polio makes him very admirable to me.

John Quincy Adams gets a very bad rap IMO for being a one term President and for the way Jackson treated him. He was a true intelectual, schooled in diplomacy and politics from his childhood. I think he was just too late for the Presidency. By the time Jackson came along the people wanted a less formal leader, one who would bend to their will and be just like them. Adams knew what he thought was best for the people (he pushed literacy and education before it was a major issue) and they hung him for it in the election. The greatest testament to his devotion to government and service can be seen in his return to the House for years and years following the Presidency. Without ego, he returned to do what he thought was best and pushed for a uniformed standard of weights and measures for the world which is, of course, an integral part of our society today.
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post #2 of 38
4/19/02 at 5:21pm
The 40th President, Ronald Wilson Reagan.
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post #3 of 38
4/19/02 at 6:26pm
James A. Garfield. Fuck him and the horse he rode in on. Oh, wait. I like William Howard Taft. He was fat and had a giant bathtub. He also liked to ride old timey bicycles, the kind with the giant front wheel. The End.

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post #4 of 38
4/19/02 at 11:12pm
Quote:
kronos:
The 40th President, Ronald Wilson Reagan.
Kronos continues to gain my admiration. Great choice, and one that i can't top.

edited for community harmony

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post #5 of 38
4/19/02 at 11:15pm
What a nice *positive* thread.
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post #6 of 38
4/19/02 at 11:19pm
Gonna have have to go with *______*
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post #7 of 38
4/19/02 at 11:20pm
Either Jefferson or Teddy Roosevelt.

Jefferson was a brilliant man (who originally wrote into the Dec. of Independence a provision that basically outlawed slavery, but was removed because it would piss off a lot of people at the time) and he had a lot of policies that still make sense to me (small government being my favorite). I just love the guy.

Teddy because he was totally insane, personality wise. I like that.

And Abe is always a good choice, as well.
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post #8 of 38
4/19/02 at 11:29pm
Quote:
kronos:
The 40th President, Ronald Wilson Reagan.
I don't think he was a bad president, but he's definitely overrated by conservatives (myself being pretty conservative). He was just in the right place at the right time for several things (the end of the Cold War being a prime example). I don't consider him an idiot or, like I said, a bad president, but he's not very great either. But, I was too young to fully remember his presidency from memory, so what can I really say?
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post #9 of 38
4/19/02 at 11:36pm
The first G. Bush was the Pres at the end of the cold war, IIRC. Not Reagan.

But he does have the coolest movie cameo, Point Break.

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post #10 of 38
4/19/02 at 11:36pm
damn cheese, you claim often to be pretty conservative, but I hardly ever agree with what you say..... What gives?

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post #11 of 38
4/19/02 at 11:38pm
Quote:
Not Regan
Who?
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post #12 of 38
4/19/02 at 11:41pm
Donald Regan.....Reagans COS? wink

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post #13 of 38
4/19/02 at 11:42pm
I fixed...

I can't spell, no hidden truth in that.

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post #14 of 38
4/19/02 at 11:43pm
Quote:
Tony Ryan:
The first G. Bush was the Pres at the end of the cold war, IIRC. Not Reagan.

But he does have the coolest movie cameo, Point Break.
Thanks for pointing that out. What I meant to say was Reagan was at the fall of the Berlin Wall and such, and many people give him credit for ending the Cold War (my parents do, for example). But after studying these events in history recently, I have come to understand that Reagan was just kind of... there, throughout his presidency. He did some good stuff, but overall, he wasn't all too spiffy. The Cold War ending was brought along by many presidents (Nixon helped it out a ton).

And hell yes to Point Break.
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post #15 of 38
4/19/02 at 11:49pm
Reagan encouraged the Soviets -that's what they used to be known as- to "tear down this wall". The wall actually came down during the Bush41 Administration. But the momentum toward the fall of Communism there had already begun before Reagan left office.
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post #16 of 38
4/19/02 at 11:50pm
[quote]Cheese Biscuits:
Quote:
And hell yes to Point Break.
And I say.....huh?
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post #17 of 38
4/19/02 at 11:53pm
[quote]call:
Quote:
Cheese Biscuits:
Quote:
And hell yes to Point Break.
And I say.....huh?
Quote:
But he does have the coolest movie cameo, Point Break.
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post #18 of 38
4/20/02 at 12:00am
Quote:
kronos:
Reagan encouraged the Soviets -that's what they used to be known as- to "tear down this wall". The wall actually came down during the Bush41 Administration. But the momentum toward the fall of Communism there had already begun before Reagan left office.
Damn, I just can't get anything right tonight. I need some sleep. I still stand by my point, however.
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post #19 of 38
4/20/02 at 12:03am
[quote]kronos:
Quote:
call:
Quote:
Cheese Biscuits:
Quote:
And hell yes to Point Break.
And I say.....huh?
Quote:
But he does have the coolest movie cameo, Point Break.
DING! I think I may need a nap as well.
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post #20 of 38
4/20/02 at 12:26am
Quote:
Cheese Biscuits:
Either Jefferson or Teddy Roosevelt.

Jefferson was a brilliant man (who originally wrote into the Dec. of Independence a provision that basically outlawed slavery, but was removed because it would piss off a lot of people at the time) and he had a lot of policies that still make sense to me (small government being my favorite). I just love the guy.

Teddy because he was totally insane, personality wise. I like that.

And Abe is always a good choice, as well.
Agreed on Jefferson. He was an idealistic who stuck to his ideals, as with many people. But he was also smart enough to know when it was in the best interests of the country to bend them. And he isn't deified to the extent some presidents (Lincoln, FDR) are. He had flaws, he was human, but it's obvious that he spent his entire life aspiring to reach his ideal, which is about as an admirable trait as a person can have.

In my humble opinion, Theodore Roosevelt was a complete lunatic who should have been institutionalized, not put in office. wink

And I kind of like William McKinley, but mainly because I had to do a big report on him and his rather dry personality and concern for America's people makes me think he could have been one of the U.S.'s greatest presidents had he not been shot.
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post #21 of 38
4/20/02 at 1:26am
There was some historian (can't remember who) who said that the greatest gathering of minds in American history was when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.

Me, I think I'd go with JFK. Say what you want about the Marilyn allegations (hell, we're finding out now that FDR had mistresses), he really seems to me to be the last president who had any kind of truly sweeping agenda, who was willing to shake the status quo. And watching 13 Days truly makes you appreciate how he handled the Cold War at its hottest point.
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post #22 of 38
4/20/02 at 1:35am
Franklin Delanor Roosevelt (FDR)
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post #23 of 38
4/20/02 at 12:38pm
Quote:
Cheese Biscuits
Teddy because he was totally insane, personality wise. I like that.
Quote:
LlamaRama

In my humble opinion, Theodore Roosevelt was a complete lunatic who should have been institutionalized, not put in office.
TR came at the turn of the century and bucked the prevalent isolationist mentality to cement America as a global superpower - it was he who ordered the famed White Fleet's trip around the world; a former undersecratary of the Navy, as President he shepherded the US Navy from ~15th in the world to #3; he was instrumental in the establishment of our National Parks and Forests; he gave one of the all-time great foreign-policy quotes of "speak softly and carry a big stick" (most people don't realize he spoke softly far more often than he used the stick). The guy was an example of a President we'll never have again - he did what he felt best, not what polls said, nor did he cater to public opinion, he MADE it.


Plus the guy had more sack than any President since. When giving a speech in Milwaukee, he was SHOT (not nearly shot, shot as in "there's a bullet inside him and he is bleeding"), and proceeded to give his full 45 minute speech as planned before being carted off to a hospital. Reagan and JFK can't top that shit, the pussies! wink
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post #24 of 38
4/20/02 at 3:32pm
Hey, I'll be the first to admit that TR did a lot of good stuff for the nation.

But he was still an egomaniacal lunatic.
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post #25 of 38
4/20/02 at 4:16pm
Quote:
jabbadonut:
John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country".
"We will put a man on the moon by the end of this decade"

The two greatest quotes in the history of presidencies.

The moon missions and the inspiration that they provided to uncounted thousands is all that needs to be said about our greatest president . . .
My favorite JFK quote has always been, "I am a Jelly Doughnut."
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post #26 of 38
4/20/02 at 5:55pm
Quote:
DJ Dylan:
Franklin Delanor Roosevelt (FDR)
Heh heh...Delanor...
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post #27 of 38
4/20/02 at 10:36pm
Bill Clinton. I liked the guy, I liked what he was about, and I can honestly say he's one of my favorite presidents (this is not an endorsement for all of his policies, of course).

I like that Jimmy Carter has had a brilliant post-Presidency. He's one of my faves, too, as someone who digs on Habitat for Humanity in a big way.

Historically, I have to say I like what I've read about Andrew Jackson's bravado, but really think Abraham Lincoln took an impossible job and did wonders with it.

Theodore Roosevelt is a favorite to read about.

In 7th grade (this is around 1988), I thought Richard Nixon was the greatest, most interesting historical figure I'd ever heard about and wrote a research paper on him explaining a "thesis statement" about Ford's pardoning of Nixon. I had a blast researching it and it got me interested in politics in a big way.
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post #28 of 38
4/20/02 at 10:46pm
Quote:
jabbadonut:
John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country".
"We will put a man on the moon by the end of this decade"

The two greatest quotes in the history of presidencies.

The moon missions and the inspiration that they provided to uncounted thousands is all that needs to be said about our greatest president . . .
jabba, for a conservative, you actually LIKE someone from that goatfuck, liberal, East Coast family?

ALL JFK may have inspired, but I believe in terms of actual accomplishments, the biggest feat of his term of office was banging Marilyn. Can we stop overrating the guy who gave us the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and brought mob ties into the White House?
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post #29 of 38
4/20/02 at 10:48pm
Quote:
LlamaRama:
TR was still an egomaniacal lunatic.
Well, IMO the view that "I can run this country better than anyone else" leads to that sort of person pursuing the job. wink
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post #30 of 38
4/20/02 at 10:54pm
Quote:
Chavez:
Can we stop overrating the guy who gave us the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and brought mob ties into the White House?
Ah, so you'd have rather had Soviet nukes in Cuba, huh?
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post #31 of 38
4/21/02 at 3:32pm
Quote:
Ah, so you'd have rather had Soviet nukes in Cuba, huh?
Here's a little secret...those nukes were there for quite some time before they were discovered by an overflying U-2. Kennedy's brinkmanship payed off, but his knee-jerk beginning to the situation was that of an amphetamine-fueled reactionary.

Look it up...the guy was wired the whole time at the hands of the shadowy man who had come to be known as Dr Feelgood(before the term was a popular nomenclature for "drug dealer"), Max Jacobsen. Jacobsen was keeping JFK wired through iv amphetamines throughout the whole Cuban Missile Crisis -something I'm more than familiar with. I wouldn't want someone who is amped up like a crazed lunatic at the controls of a powerful nuclear arsenal. Yet we had one.

Good? Bad? Or indifferent, it's the truth.

But, according to popular lore Kennedy "got us out of" the Cuban Missile Crisis. A "Crisis" that didn't really exist until Kennedy provoked Nikita Kruschev. What got us out was Nikita backing off. Hell, the whole thing became a National scare the likes of which we haven't seen again till September 11 -a real situation.

On the other hand, I give ol' JFK credit for promoting the Space Program, something dreadfully lacking today. And I give the Kennedy Administration credit for going after the Teamsters like a pack of wild dogs. They deserved it. Still do, in my opinion.

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post #32 of 38
4/21/02 at 3:44pm
Quote:
Kronos:
[I give ol' JFK credit for promoting the Space Program, something dreadfully lacking today. And I give the Kennedy Administration credit for going after the Teamsters like a pack of wild dogs. They deserved it. Still do, in my opinion.
I would like to see some real goals in the space program myself;

But let's not forget that there is some evidence that JFK and Bobby were in office to due some "favors" made to them by Giancanna and the Teamsters. So they turned on the very people who may have had some influence on getting them in office. Nice folks, them Kennedys.
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post #33 of 38
4/21/02 at 5:06pm
Quote:
Chavez:
I would like to see some real goals in the space program myself;
The goal at present is the International Space Station, and after that, Mars. But, we'll never get to Mars because no one seems to care about space anymore, even though Mars is a promising second home (after a shit load of work).
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post #34 of 38
4/22/02 at 2:38am
Harry Truman: Despite being a Republican, the strength and integrity of Harry S. Truman is something that should be admired by all Americans.

Teddy Roosevelt: Before John Wayne ever mounted a saddle Teddy Roosevelt defined what is was to be a man. He hunted, played football, boxed, led the charge up San Juan Hill, and after his Presidency continued to inspire the men of our nation.
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post #35 of 38
4/22/02 at 3:08am
Harry Truman was a democrat, so this snide anti-Republican comment looks even more silly.

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post #36 of 38
4/22/02 at 9:25am
Thread Starter 
And Teddy Roosevelt was a Republican. So that makes your point even harder to see.
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post #37 of 38
4/22/02 at 8:15pm
I fail to see how any of this has anything to do with Fat Taft and the old timey bicycles. Interesting foot note: That was the name of his band "Fat Taft and the Old Timey Bicycle Boys." They sang barbershop and had handlebar mustaches.

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post #38 of 38
4/28/02 at 4:58am
Quote:
Cheese Biscuits:
Either Jefferson or Teddy Roosevelt.

Jefferson was a brilliant man (who originally wrote into the Dec. of Independence a provision that basically outlawed slavery, but was removed because it would piss off a lot of people at the time) and he had a lot of policies that still make sense to me (small government being my favorite). I just love the guy.

Teddy because he was totally insane, personality wise. I like that.

And Abe is always a good choice, as well.
Boy! I'd have to go along with Jefferson. What an amazing man he was, truly! If I could go back and meet one person in history, Jefferson would be the man.

Call: You are right about Reagan. I met him. He was a leader, he was a man who make a difference.
He had the same sort of effect on the people of this country as Kennedy did. He united them. Good stuff.
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