List your Top Ten U.S. Presidents Of All Time

Discussions on other historical eras.
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Patrick Edwin Cooley
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List your Top Ten U.S. Presidents Of All Time

#1

Post by Patrick Edwin Cooley » 11 Oct 2003, 22:22

:D

Hello!

List your prezzes...

Here's my list, in NO ORDER:

George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
John Quincy Adams
Abraham Lincoln
Theodore Roosevelt
Rutherford Birchard Hayes
James Abram Garfield
Chester Alan Arthur
Andrew Johnson

:D

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Zapfenstreich
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#2

Post by Zapfenstreich » 11 Oct 2003, 23:42

George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Andrew Jackson
James Madison
James Polk
Benjamin Harrison
Theodore Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry S. Truman
Ronald Reagan


Gespenst
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#3

Post by Gespenst » 12 Oct 2003, 00:09

As a 'non-american' myself, i have lately been curious about the fame of Ronald Reagan, also dubbed as 'Ronnie Raygun'.
He has been said to be the person who lived the American Dream from a Hollywood actor to become the President who won the 'Cold War'. While the U.S. Navy is somewhat dumb in naming it's ships after living persons, it is indeed a great honor for a person to have a U.S.N aircraft carrier (CVN-76) named after yourself.

I live in the counry which has about 1300 kilometers of land border wit Soviet Union/Russia. I was raised in the 80's, and the uncertainty and fear preached by local communists (including my father) somehow affected my mind in the way that i tended to have nightmares of nuclear explosions (as seen on TV). Ronald Reagan was said to be the 'most dangerous man in the World'.

While Reagan was a madman trying to put up an orbital defense perimeter, he was also jovial and diligent enough to cut deals with the Soviet Union while on the other hand betting so much for the Soviets to handle, causing them to fold.

So, despite all the problems associated with the modern day Russia, i believe that if any of the presidents of the U.S.A. should be nominated the greatest, or most achievable, it could be Ronald Reagan.

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John W
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#4

Post by John W » 12 Oct 2003, 00:17

From the ones I know (and have read about):

1. George Washington
2. Thomas Jefferson
3. Abraham Lincoln

When I was a kid once, I wanted to be just like Abe. :)

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#5

Post by twright55 » 12 Oct 2003, 01:37

Washington (should be ovbvious)
Jefferson ( "" "")
Lincoln (yes he DID end slavery and reunited the union)
Teddy Roosevelt (a progressive when we NEEDED a progessive)
Reagan (yes he DID end the cold war)


honorable mention for a couple of men with no honor:

Truman (ended American involvement in WWII but started our involvement in the Korean war)
Nixon (ended Vietnam and pulled a brilliant switch with China)

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#6

Post by Caldric » 12 Oct 2003, 01:40

Teddy Rossevelt (true protector of the average man)
Thomas Jefferson
Truman
Washington
Reagan
Madison
FDR

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Marcus
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#7

Post by Marcus » 12 Oct 2003, 16:32

To make this thread more interesting and worthwhile, how about adding a few words explaining why each of you selected the presidents for your lists?

/Marcus

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Psycho Mike
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#8

Post by Psycho Mike » 12 Oct 2003, 18:07

GEORGE WASHINGTON - Refused to serve past a second term. Are you listening Bill Clinton? FDR?

THOMAS JEFFERSON- First term only! Condemned for owning slaves by people who don't realize there was a law that forbade freeing inherited slaves for years after they were passed on. Smeared with charges that he fathered children of the slaves (when in fact his brother was in charge of running the slave quarters) no President did more to argue against slavery and the repeal of all the laws that kept it in place. Only two southern states voted against his bill to end it, all of the northern states voted in support of slavery. Started the Republican Revolution, in retrospect the first term was the zenith of the American dream. That history will show to be our peak. The second term he began doing what Presidents have done since- discarding the Constitution whenever it got in the way. Judges were kicked off the bench if he didn't like them, he was unable to stop the corrupt John Randolph and his ilk from taking over his party, but if there was a moment when the American revolution fulfilled its dream, it was his first term.

MILLARD FILLMORE - America was on the verge of Civil War over the slavery question, the question of California and the question of Texas. 1860 you ask? Nope- 1800! The compromise that he and Daniel Webster brought about was a truce between the two warring factions. Became the first ex- President threatened with arrest when he openly called for Lincoln to sue the south and settle the quuestion of succession in the courts. Even after being threatened, continued to speak out against the war. Perhaps that is why he is lost now in history.

JAMES MADISON- Quite simply the best man who ever held the office. I could imagine having drinks with this man. Co-author of the Federalist and a leader of the Constitutional Convention, Bill of Rights sponsor and a man's man. Perhaps he wasn't the greatest President we ever had, he was hands down the greatest man to hold the office.

JEFFERSON DAVIS- Guided the south through a period when it could have abandoned all the important papers that had been crafted by the founding fathers. Could have brought back the slave trade by allowing slaves to be brought into the states (that had been ended). In fact, he could have shut down newspapers that disagreed with him, arrested reporters who pointed out his mistakes, had troops fire into demonstraters that asked for peace with the north, threatened judges with arrest, held tens of thousands without charges but instead reading the Confederate Constitution is like reading our own. All of those things were done by the way. By Lincoln. Our worse President. Followed by FDR. But that's another list....

RONALD REAGAN- Contrary to popular thinking by many of my conservative friends spending did not go down under Reagan. The divorce rate and VD rate did not go down under his new morality. So why is he on the list?

History will show that he proved once and for all cutting taxes while at first causing discomfort would as Hayeck and Friedman had long argued, stimulate growth that could last for decades. It did. Thatcher learned the same when she took on the coal industry. The right wing thought socialism was monolithic and should be negotiated with. The left thought it's "good points" should be stressed, aid given to them, and ignore abuses perpetrated bytheir regimes. The CIA thought it would be decades before Russia collapsed economically.

As if he were a cowboy playing poker Reagan called them on it. He came upwith a winning hand- an almost laughable Star Wars program that would cost the Russians trillions to match. Gorby called Thatcher. For the first time a Soviet President admitted all the propaganda was lie. There was no way the Soviets could spend even 1/1000 of the amount needed. The game was over. While Gorby had wanted to save the Communist Party, resentment from decades of abuse (not just Stalin- as we have now seen the Russian Mafia WAS the party) caused his people to hate him. Oddly, he became a hero to the west. By confronting the Soviets, Reagan caused the Cold War to end.

Critics of Star Wars never even noticed that the original plans seemed to simply vanish after the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

J. EDGAR HOOVER- If you don't like my logic of putting Jeff Davis on this list, this one is going to perplex you. Let me explain. Hoover started his career as a bureaucrat and he was against the Palmer Raids- when over 100,000 were arrested in their homes and deported to Italy. FDR asked him to start collecting dirt on all politicians and created a shadow President
who would serve longer than any American President. From Truman to Nixon, every President, every speaker of the house, every attorney general, had to answer to him. Why do I think the governemnt didn't kill JFK when so many do? Using his files he had RFK and JFK back down on Martin Luther King and got them to allow wire taps. His file on JFK and his sexual liasons (including a nazi spy!) woud have been enough to make him a one term President. There was no reason to shoot him. Hoover owned him. No President had the power over judges, politicians, Presidents that Hoover did. Period.

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R.M. Schultz
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#9

Post by R.M. Schultz » 12 Oct 2003, 19:24

Here is my list of the ten men who would have made better presidents than the ones elected:

1] 1948 — Henry Wallace, FDR's second VP, genius corn hybidyzer, a man of peace and vision!

2] 1924 — Bob LaFollet, crusading good government reformer.

3-5] 1824, 1832, 1844, Henry Clay, the Mill Boy of the Slashes …

6] 1852, Winfield Scott, one of our greatest generals and a reliable Whig.

7-9] 1896, 1900, 1906, William Jennings Bryan, our greatest Secretary of State.

10] 1916, Charles Evans Hughes, an honest man who might have stopped our catastrophic entry into WW1.

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Patrick Edwin Cooley
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#10

Post by Patrick Edwin Cooley » 12 Oct 2003, 22:19

:D

Hello!

I'd like to repeat here what I wrote on the other
"U.S. Presidents" topic.

It's going to take a while to elaborate on my reasons
for my selections.

Thanj you very much!

:D

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Psycho Mike
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#11

Post by Psycho Mike » 13 Oct 2003, 16:32

My understanding of Henry Wallace was he was so far to the left he made the Democrats nervous, (which is really odd after so many years of FDR) but no one seems to really know why he was dropped by the Democrats. R.M., do you know why the Democrats dropped him?

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#12

Post by fdewaele » 13 Oct 2003, 16:36

Being a non-American myself I consider the following persons to be the best US Presidents based on my knowledge of their deeds and policy

1. Harry S. Truman
2. Abraham Lincoln
3. Thomas Jefferson

the best President the USA never had: Albert Gore jr.

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#13

Post by R.M. Schultz » 13 Oct 2003, 16:54

Psycho Mike wrote:… R.M., do you know why the Democrats dropped him?
FDR, and especially Eleanor, wanted Henry Wallace to remain on the ticket as Vice-President in 1944, but the party bosses didn’t like him for several reasons:

1] Until l933 he had been a Republican In fact his father had been Secretary of Agriculture under Harding/Coolege.

2] He was not a politician, but an agronomist. He was known as “the man who knows more about corn than anyone in the world.”

3] Though he was a thoroughgoing capitalist, he was hard left, favoring parity for the farmers, strong labor unions, anti-colonialism, and coöperation with the Soviets.

4] He was considered a “dreamer” because he was a mystic (that is, though he was a church-going Episcopalian, he sought a personal knowledge of God and his writing often involved bringing out the mystical side of practical agricultural problems. See his short essay “The Strength and Quietness of Grass” for a good example of this.).

In his defense, it must be said that he was by far the most effective of the New Dealers, having for all intents and purposes ended the depression in the agricultural sector by 1936. Far from being a “dreamer” he was a practical man who had founded the first hybrid seed corn company for $10,000- in 1927 which went on the be hugely successful (when his widow sold her 20% share to DuPont in 1991, she netted $7,000,000,000-!) As a hobby after returning from public life he took to breeding chickens and was so successful that now 60% of all eggs sold in the USA are from the Wallace Leghorn Chicken. And I contend, that without Truman’s sabre-ratting we would have avoided a “Cold War” altogether.

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Psycho Mike
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#14

Post by Psycho Mike » 13 Oct 2003, 17:26

Interesting info, did not know that about Wallace and chicken eggs!

Actually economists now feel that FDR and his policies lengthened the depression. (Unemployment in the late 1930's was still high- good thing the war came along!).

Once Stalin broke his promise to hold free elections in the areas the Soviets were in control of the Cold war was public. I contend however, that it actually started in World War 2, and FDR and Wallace had no idea what was happening. Truman would later seal this information up, historians would slander Joe McCarthy and the Democratic Party would survive. If the information had been known by the public, there would be no Democratic Party.

To me FDR and Wallace betrayed this country due to their own egos. But I will admit Wallace sounds like a good chicken farmer!

http://www.thirdreichforum.com/viewtopi ... highlight=

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Jack Nisley
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#15

Post by Jack Nisley » 14 Oct 2003, 02:33

Fdewaele,

Why do you think Al Gore would have been a good president?

Jack Nisley

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