great thread! :clap:

20. JAMES GARFIELD (Life is very short...)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ait_seated.jpg


Born: November 19, 1831, Orange, Ohio
Died: September 19, 1881, Elberon, New Jersey (assassinated- shot in Washington DC July 2, 1881)

Term: March 4, 1881- September 19, 1881
Political Party: Republican

Vice President: Chester Arthur

First Lady: Lucretia Rudolph Garfield

Before the Presidency: James Garfield never knew his father as he died when he was an infant. The youngest of three children, he spent most of his childhood helping out his widowed mother work her farm outside of Cleveland. He didn’t like farming, however, and dreamed of a life at sea.

So, Garfield tried his hand working on canal boats between Cleveland to Pittsburgh but that didn’t work out very well.

So, Garfield went into teaching while attending school. He later paid his way through college by working as a janitor, finally entering Williams College in Massachusetts at the age of twenty-three. While at college, he was excited at the prospect of hearing Ralph Waldo Emerson. He also developed his anti-slavery views during this period.

After collage, he returned to teaching at the Eclectic Institute, becoming its President in 1857. Also studying law, he passed the Ohio bar in 1861.

In 1856, the Radical Republican campaigned for John Fremont and, three years later, he was in the Ohio legislature. He was a true abolitionist, opposing the spread of slavery anywhere. He didn’t agree with the John Brown raid but had hopes for a better day as a result. He campaigned for Lincoln in 1860 even though he didn’t like him very much (Lincoln’s views were seen as too moderate for him).

When the South seceded, he strongly favored military intervention. As such, he organized the 42nd Ohio Infantry. He rose to the rank of Colonel and distinguished himself in at least two battles. He defeated the Confederates at Middle Creek in early 1862 and took control of Eastern Kentucky. The next year, and now a Major General, he made a daring ride under enemy fire at the battle of Chickamauga. Later, he was appointed Chief of Staff to Major General Rosecrans although it’s likely the two didn’t get along.

It didn’t matter for Garfield was, unbeknownst to him, elected to the US House of Representatives as a war hero and he resigned his commission to take his seat in December 1863.

In the House, he distinguished himself as one of the most radical of Republicans. He supported the seizure of rebel assets in the North and advocated the execution and exile of Confederate leaders. He grew in his office though and would become quite the seasoned politician. He moderated during reconstruction taking a less severe approach than his radical counterparts. He did support the impeachment of President Johnson, however.

Garfield supported the nominations of Grant in 1868 and 1872 though he did have questions about his judgment. He backed Hayes in 1876 even before the nomination as he was a favorite son (both hailed from Ohio). Meanwhile, he became an expert on banking matters as chair of the Banking and Currency committee. In that capacity, he was an advocate of the gold standard. He also opposed the Granger laws which advocated collective farming (He called it Communism in disguise, interesting comment as this was four decades before the Russian Revolution though after Marx’ manifesto). He also opposed labor unions and the eight hour work day.

Garfield was also caught up in the Credit Mobilier scandal. Garfield admitted taking $329 from the company. He also voted for a retroactive salary increase and it nearly cost him re-election.

Hayes was elected in 1876 as the Republicans lost the House. Garfield was named as House Minority Leader. As such he worked behind the scenes in the Compromise of 1877 which more or less ended Reconstruction in the South. Indeed, as Minority Leader, Garfield was known as a master of compromise within the factions of his party. The major factions were known as the Stalwarts, led by Roscoe Conkling, who really wanted to still punish the South and wanted Grant back in the White House. The Half-Breeds, led by James Blaine, were known for supporting higher tariffs. Both factions were notoriously corrupt.

Such was the state of the Republican Party circa 1880.

Summary of offices held:

1857-1861: President, Eclectic Institute

1860-1861: Ohio State Senate

1861-1863: US Union Army, Major General, served in Civil War.

1863-1880: US House of Representatives

1871-1875: Chairman House Appropriations Committee

1877-1880: House Minority Leader


What was going on: Civil service reform, Post-reconstruction

Scandals within the administration: The Star Route scandal

Why he was a good President: At the onset, he seemed to be going after the patronage system like Hayes before him. And he stood up to Conkling.

Why he was a bad President: He didn’t get to do anything else. Plus were his intentions really what they seemed?

What could have saved his Presidency: Better doctors for one.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: If he had turned out as corrupt as Conkling and his cronies.

Election of 1880: As the Republicans convened in Chicago, it was expected to be a battle between Former President Grant and the Stalwarts and James Blaine and his Half Breeds. Garfield ostensibly was a Half Breed being more on the economic side of things. But Garfield, as head of the Ohio delegation, backed Treasury Secretary John Sherman as a compromise candidate.

For thirty-four ballots, no one could come up with a nominee. Surprisingly, Garfield might get a vote or two, but no one really took his candidacy seriously nor did Garfield himself.

But on the thirty-fifth ballot, the Wisconsin delegation voted all in for Garfield and in the end, Garfield was nominated with 399 votes to Grant’s 305. Garfield found himself as the reluctant Republican nominee. Conkling’s protégé, and with Garfield’s blessing, was chosen for the Vice- Presidency. He was the once fired Chester A. Arthur.

Meanwhile, on the Democratic Side, Tilden withdrew his candidacy, and the Dems went with their own Civil War hero in the form of Winfield S. Hancock.

As for the general election, the states were about as split as they are today. The Democrats had a lock on the South while the Republicans had most of the North with the Western states more or less up for grabs. The Democrats painted Garfield as corrupt from the Credit Mobilier scandal while Republicans stayed away from character issues, instead painting Hancock as uninformed.

It’s possible that the Dems were guilty of incredible stupidity in the end though when a letter that Garfield allegedly wrote to businessmen pledging to continue Chinese immigration so wages could stay low was published in a Democratic newspaper (both Republicans and Democrats opposed Chinese immigration). Garfield vehemently denied writing it and it would be exposed to be a forgery.

And perhaps that was enough to tilt a very close election to Garfield for he only won by 2000 popular votes, the closest in US history. He fared a little better in the Electoral College though and, since there was no major fraud to report this time, no one had to go through the circus of 1876.

First term: James Garfield would go down as the great what-if of American History for reasons we’ll see very soon. As it was though, he started out the gate going after the Stalwarts. He named Half Breed Blaine as Secretary of State and appointed others that especially angered Stalwart Conkling. The biggest issue concerned the appointment of the Collector of the New York Customhouse. Garfield blocked Conkling’s man for W.H. Robertson. Conkling was infuriated and tried to hold up all the appointments. President Garfield got the last laugh, however, when after an agreement to end a filibuster, he withdrew all of his appointments- except for Robertson. Needless to say, Conkling was pissed and, along with fellow New York Senator, Tom Platt, resigned from the Senate.

There wasn’t much time for anything else even as the Star Route Scandal was exposed. This scandal involving the Post Office would later implicate members of Garfield’s cabinet.

Assassination: July 2,1881 was, more or less, an ordinary day. It was a bit past nine in the morning and President Garfield was about to board a train to Massachusetts to introduce his sons to his alma mater.

The President was approached by a reported office seeker. He was armed with a .44 caliber British Bulldog. He shot Garfield in the abdomen and announced that he was a Stalwart and Arthur was now President. He waited to be arrested and the deranged man obviously thought he was some sort of American hero of sorts. As for Garfield himself, he assured bystanders that he wasn’t shot that badly and he would be fine.

Indeed, his wounds were not really that much worse than Reagan’s when he was shot a century later. But this was 1881, not 1981, and the medical procedures and technology were a lot different, even primitive by 1981 standards.

And the doctors weren’t doing Garfield any favors either. They spent two months looking for the bullet that lodged in the President’s pancreas, often with their unsanitized hands.

So, imagine their surprise where, after two and a half agonizing months, President James A. Garfield succumbed to blood poisoning.

Odd notes: Alexander Graham Bell tried to save Garfield’s life (needless to say, he failed)

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/...garfield-facts

Garfield’s favorite food was squirrel soup (yuck!)

https://facts.net/james-garfield-facts/

Final Summary: As mentioned, Garfield goes down as the great what-if in American Presidential history. Most historians like to give him the benefit of the doubt given his history of support for African American suffrage and what appeared to be his advocation of Civil Service reform.

I have no doubt he would have been a friend to the blacks but what about civil service reform? Was he really going to push for reform or was he just trying to stick it to the Stalwarts? After all, he admittedly took a bribe in the Credit Mobilier affair and he was aligned with the Half Breeds, who were just as corrupt as the Stalwarts, even going so far as having the head half Breed, James Blaine, as his Secretary of State.

He also supported the gold standard which, by the Great Depression, was proven not to work very well when people had a run on banks among other things.

So, as he only really accomplished one thing and skeptical of his motives in the four months before he was shot, I’m tempted to be kind and give him an incomplete. But after reading about his political history, I’ll simply call him average and hope I might be wrong.

Overall rating: C

https://millercenter.org/president/garfield

21. CHESTER A. ARTHUR (For he's a dedicated follower of fashion)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...lan_Arthur.jpg


Born: October 5, 1829, Fairfield, Vermont
Died: November 18, 1886, New York, New York

Term: September 19, 1881- March 4, 1885
Political Party: Republican

Vice President: none

First Lady: Mary Arthur McElroy (sister)

Before the Presidency: Chester Arthur was the son of a Baptist minister in Vermont. His father was a passionate abolitionist. He learned how to read and write at home before entering school as a child.

Arthur attended Union College in New York and, while not an A student, still graduated in the top third of his class.

He taught school for a while but had dreams of becoming a wealthy lawyer. Even at an early age, Arthur had fine tastes in clothing and was getting a reputation as a bit of a dandy. He passed the bar in 1854 and secured a clerkship in a New York legal firm. While at the firm, Arthur worked on an appeal to free seven slaves. He assisted in arguments before the New York Supreme Court, and they ultimately won the case in 1860. This case also got Arthur connections with other legal minds as well as some politicians.

Arthur, now a partner, also won another important case. A black woman had been forced out of a New York streetcar and told to catch the next one (shades of Rosa Parks a century later). Arthur argued the case and the woman won. After the case, all railroad companies in New York were told to seat black people without prejudice on their streetcars.

Arthur signed up for the Civil War as a way to further his political connections and maybe to make friends along the way. The Governor appointed Arthur Engineer-in Chief with the rank of Quartermaster General in the state militia. He would leave with the rank of Brigadier General as he became known for his administrative skills and efficiency.

Arthur, as a Unionist, wanted to go into battle, but his wife‘s family were from Virginia, so he never pushed his case.

So, he went back to his law practice in 1863. It was through this practice where he met Roscoe Conkling, a New York Republican Party boss. Conkling was also a Senator who used patronage and party discipline to gain more power. Think Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago for a comparison.

It wasn’t long before Arthur became one of Conkling’s top Lieutenants. Through Conkling, he became Chief Counsel to the New York Tax Commission, and he would become fairly wealthy as a result.

And, thanks to Senator Conkling, no doubt, President Grant appointed Arthur as the Collector of the Port of New York, a very important position as they controlled the majority of the nation’s import duties. It also had a bit of a reputation for corruption although Arthur, himself, was never implicated in any graft. He did, however, collect salary kickbacks from custom house employees to give to Conkling’s machine.

In 1878, the gravy train all but ended. President Hayes was determined to end the practice of patronage, and Roscoe Conkling, and the New York Customs House, were in his crosshairs. Arthur was initially fired and offered a consulship in Paris, but he and Conkling fought the firing. Arthur instead was suspended and he and Conkling vowed to support Grant in 1880.

Summary of offices held:

1861-1863: Engineer-in- Chief, New York Militia

1871-1878: Collector of the Port of New York

1879-1881: Chairman, New York Republican Party

1881: Vice President of the United States


What was going on: the Gilded Age, Civil Service reform, Chinese immigration, Naval reform

Scandals within the administration: Ordway corruption scandal

Why he was a good President: He ended the spoils system once and for all and made improvements to the Navy.

Why he was a bad President: He never was truly able to shake the corrupt tag on him from his days as a Stalwart, and there really is no civil rights record one way or the other.

What could have saved his Presidency: He was able to kill the Stalwarts, but he needed to go after the more corrupt wings of the Half- Breeds. Also, maybe a stand against the bigotry towards the Chinese could have glorified his presidency (though it certainly would not have helped him in the 1880s)

What could have destroyed his Presidency: If he had continued to favor Conkling and the Stalwarts and vetoed the Civil Service Act, well, we would have been putting him in with Buchanan and Pierce.

How he became Vice President: The Republican convention was more of less a war between Conkling’s Stalwarts by way of Grant, and James Blaine’s Half- Breeds. Both sides were known for their patronage habits, and both truly despised each other. It was an ugly battle, and it took thirty-six ballots to nominate a compromise candidate, James Garfield, who aligned with the Half- Breeds.

Now why Arthur, with no real political experience, was even considered for the Vice-Presidency is a bit of a mystery. What we do know is that some of Conkling’s lackeys were pushing Arthur for the ticket and a reluctant Garfield acquiesced as he knew he would need the New York machine if he wanted to win the election. Conkling, meanwhile, had nothing to do with his lieutenants’ zeal and he tried to persuade Arthur to turn the Vice-Presidency down. Conkling hated the Half-Breeds so bad, he would apparently have rather had a Democrat in the White House.

But Arthur’s ego was pretty much flattered, and he accepted the nomination saying that, “ The office of the Vice-President is a great honor than I ever dreamed of attaining.”

And Garfield won a fairly close election. Chester A. Arthur was the Vice-President of the United States.

First term: The Vice-Presidency was an interesting one to say the least. Already accused of being in Conkling’s pocket, Arthur broke with the President over the Robertson appointment (pushed by now Secretary of State Blaine) to the New York Custom House. Conkling and the other New York Senator resigned in protest. It was obvious Garfield and Arthur didn’t like each other and Arthur was more of less powerless, at first anyway.

For, on that fateful July day, President Garfield was shot. Two and half months later, he was dead, and Chester A. Arthur was now the President of the United States. Roscoe Conkling was dancing a jig.

But Garfield’s assassination created a public outcry for civil service reform and President Arthur, to the shock of Conkling, voiced his support for it. It was one thing to dislike Garfield; it was another thing for him to die so unnecessarily.

Arthur, indeed, surprised everybody by being a fairly capable President. He vetoed the Chinese Exclusion act (though he would sign a watered down bill later). Then he went after the graft, first by vetoing the River and Harbor act (overridden) that he considered a pork barrel bill.

Then came the big blow. After losing big time in the midterms, the Republicans passed the Pendleton Civil Service Act in hopes to salvage some patronage at least. President Arthur signed the bill.

Then he appointed the members of the new Civil Service Commission to the astonishment of the Democrats at least and the ire of Boss Conkling who must have felt fairly betrayed. Chester Arthur did what his predecessors couldn’t do (though Hayes came close), end the spoils system in government once and for all.

Well, sort of. Presidents still appoint friends and political allies to cabinet positions to this day. Even Arthur would be accused of appointing a Secretary of the Navy via the spoils system.

But mostly, people are now appointed on the basis of their merits and not on who they donated to, and Arthur gets the credit for that.

He also gets credit for refurbishing the Naval fleet as he appropriated funds for the Navy’s first steel vessels.



Post Presidency: President Arthur was secretly diagnosed with a fatal kidney disease in 1882. He kept it quiet even as he half-heartedly sought re-election in 1884. But he didn’t get much support as his Stalwart allies turned against him and the Half Breeds really wanted Blaine. Arthur would lose out on the fourth ballot.

And that was fine with Arthur as he was dying anyway. He tried to return to his law practice, but the disease had a devastating effect on his heart. He died in November 1886 surrounded by family and friends. He was buried with honors in Albany, President Grover Cleveland was in attendance.



Odd notes: In college, he helped to throw the school bell into the Erie Canal

Arthur owned at least 80 pairs of pants

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/...21st-president

Final Summary: Chester A. Arthur is the perfect example of how the Presidency can change you into a better person. Once corrupt, Arthur became a reformer. And for someone who had no business being in the White House to begin with, Arthur proved to be quite adept and even if he wasn’t considered a hard worker (Got that from an episode of the Presidents on the History Channel), he certainly took the office seriously. I would have liked to have seen him take a stand against discrimination in the South (The Republicans were still pro-civil rights in the 1880s) and maybe attempted to do something to end the genocide against the Native Americans that was going on.

But all in all, ending the political patronage for the most part and starting to beef up the Navy isn’t a bad legacy to go on.

Overall rating: B-

https://millercenter.org/president/arthur

Good read. My mom, for some reason, always claimed we were related to Arthur. I have no idea if this is true, but that's always been something I've carried with me.

Your knowledge of all these Presidents is quite commendable.

22 and 24. GROVER CLEVELAND (Ma, Ma, where's your PA?)


http://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryServic...a/8000048c.jpg


Born: March 18, 1837, Caldwell, New Jersey
Died: June 24, 1908, Princeton, New Jersey

Terms: March 4, 1885- March 4, 1889, March 4, 1893- March 4, 1897
Political Party: Democrat

Vice President(s): Thomas Hendricks, Adlai Stevenson

First Lady: Ann Cleveland (sister) Frances Folsom Cleveland (married 1886)

Before the Presidency: The son of a minister, Cleveland grew up in central New York State. He had dreams of college but had to put it aside to support the family after his father died. He worked with his older brother in New York City then studied law in Buffalo while working as a clerk. It was there where he was admitted to the bar in 1858.

During the Civil War, he worked as an assistant district attorney for Erie County. He also got out of the war by paying a substitute $300. It was legal though obviously controversial, and it would be a factor in his political career later. Still, he was a good attorney with a photographic memory, and he took advantage of that when giving arguments in court.

The political career of sorts started in 1870 when he was elected Sheriff of Erie County. He also gained a bit of weight and might have been, after William Taft, the second heaviest President in history. He was a gregarious guy, not extremely cultured. He also stayed active in the Democratic Party.

Though Cleveland had been a sheriff, he tried to stay away from partisan politics and yet, would become Mayor of Buffalo by way of the Democratic machine there. It was a surprising endorsement as the new Mayor would be known quickly as a reformer as he exposed graft and corruption in some of the city’s services. He vetoed dozens of pork barrel bills and earned a reputation for honesty and efficiency. This got the attention of Democratic leaders in New York and the nominated him for Governor in 1882. He won the support of Tammany Hall (who would soon regret it) and he was elected that November.

And, as Governor, Cleveland went after, guess who, Tammany Hall. He was a workaholic and vetoed many a spending bill, especially those that were blatantly of the pork barrel variety. He became nationally known being the Governor of a prominent state and was already being talked about as a potential Presidential candidate in 1884.

Summary of offices held:

1871-1873: Sheriff or Erie County, New York

1882: Mayor, Buffalo, New York

1883-1885: Governor, New York


What was going on: 1885-1888: The Statue of Liberty, the Gilded Age, the Dawes Act, Great blizzard of 1888

1893-1896: Lizzie Borden, Coxey’s Army, Dreyfus Affair, Plessy vs Ferguson

Scandals within the administration: none that we know of

Why he was a good President: He was an advocate against corruption and, was a pretty solid administrator if nothing else. Plus, while not the greatest policy maker, he was at least honest.

Why he was a bad President: He was, at best, insensitive to racial concerns and pretty much was the President to give Jim Crow laws a green light in the South. For someone with excellent administrative skills, he did virtually nothing to alleviate the economic impact from the Panic of 1893.

What could have saved his Presidency: A more active approach to the Panic of 1893 and maybe a better Foreign Policy. The fact that we could have gotten to war with England in 1895 seems rather scary.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: A situation like Harrison would have with the Wounded Knee massacre. And, of course, there was the Panic of 1893 that nearly did.

Election of 1884: This would prove to be one of the ugliest campaigns in history. Cleveland came in early on as the favorite to take the Democratic nomination. He was lauded for his taking on of Tammany Hall plus, it was assumed New York, along with the South, would make Cleveland a shoo in for the White House.

Meanwhile, the Republicans were in disarray. The Stalwarts were staring to fade away, but Blaine remained the most powerful man in the Republican Party. But he now had a new faction to contend with, the Mugwumps, a group that really was reform minded and they were secretly supporting Cleveland.

In the end, Cleveland and Blaine were the opposing candidates and the mudslinging began in earnest. At first, the campaign was issue oriented as Blaine talked about Tariffs and Cleveland was emphasizing honesty in Government.

The Cleveland camp fired the first shot as they depicted Blaine in political cartoons as corrupt and even came up with a slogan: Blaine, Blaine, James G. Blaine, the continental liar from the state of Maine.

Blaine’s camp responded with something a little more personal. Cleveland, in his younger days, was having a bit of fun sowing his wild oats, the result being having a child born out of wedlock.

So, the Blaine camp came up with the infamous: Ma, Ma, where’s your Pa?

Now the typical politician might have tried to cover the whole details up, but Cleveland fessed up to possibly having an illegitimate child, thus neutralizing the political damage.

As far as the accusations go. Both Cleveland and his law partner had slept with the woman in question which is why Cleveland had said his fatherhood was possible. The woman also suffered from mental health issues and was indeed committed, but that had nothing to do with Cleveland as the Republicans were suggesting. In any event, neither Cleveland nor his law partner would see the child, adopted by a couple later on, again.

In the end, Cleveland won just enough states to eke out a close victory.

And the Democrats crowed: Ma, Ma, where’s your pa? Gone to the White House ha, ha, ha.

First term: President Cleveland quickly earned a reputation as something of a miser when it came to public funding. He vetoed hundreds of Veteran’s Pension bills seeing them as fraudulent. He also denied drought relief to farmers in the West as he didn’t think it was the responsibility of the Government, this was no FDR.

On the other hand, he continued the crusade to end government corruption. He expanded the list of classified positions under the merit system among other things and he fought against attempts to weaken reform laws already on the books.

President Cleveland wasn’t known as an activist President and he only rarely advocated legislation to Congress, but he did approve of the streamlined Presidential Succession Act which established the order of Presidential succession after the Vice President. That would be law until 1947 when a new act to include the Speaker of the House and the President Pro-Tempore would be passed.

1886 was also something of an interesting year for President Cleveland as he became to first President to marry in the White House. It was also year he welcomed the Statue of Liberty from France.

But when it came to relations with minorities, Cleveland wasn’t so hot. He signed the Dawes act which divided tribal lands with the intention of assimilating the Natives to the American way of life. It backfired. It made the railroad barons happy though as that took the land that was divided and made them even more money.

It wasn’t a good time for African Americans either as Cleveland more or less let the South do its thing with the Jim Crow laws. The Chinese didn’t fare much better. Cleveland, at first, was reluctant to bar them from the US seeing them as an important workforce, but pressure from Western whites resigned him to think that their culture was way too different from American (read: white) culture for them to ever really assimilate . So, he signed the Chinese Exclusion Act.

He did, however, repeal the 1867 Tenure of Office act, deeming it unconstitutional, which it likely was.

Election of 1888: As the election of 1888 approached, it was obvious that Cleveland wasn't setting the country afire. He wasn’t unpopular by any means, but he wasn’t exactly a rock star either and he seemed beatable in this election.

The Republicans nominated former Senator Benjamin Harrison, yet another Civil War hero. Meanwhile, the only drama on the Democratic side was on who to choose for Vice President since Vice President Hendricks had died three years earlier, thus sparking the Presidential Succession Act. They would go with Allen Thurman of Ohio.

The general election was much more issue oriented than the previous one. The Republicans pushed for higher tariffs as usual and blasted Cleveland on his numerous vetoes (he holds the record for vetoes by any President to this day). Cleveland, meanwhile, campaigned on his civil service reform and the lowering of tariffs.

In the end, and this may be one of the arguments against an Electoral College, Cleveland won the popular vote by a close margin.

But Benjamin Harrison was going to be the new President because he won the Electoral College rather handily. Indiana (Harrison’s home state) swung back to the Republicans and Cleveland lost his state of New York narrowly (New Yorkers liked high tariffs apparently).

President Cleveland left the White House with dignity, but his First Lady and wife, Frances Folsom informed the staff. “I want you to take good care of all the furniture and ornaments in the house, for I want to find everything just as it is now when we come back again four years from today.”

She proved to be prophetic.

Election of 1892: Grover Cleveland emerged as the favorite in 1892. People had had enough of four years of Benjamin Harrison, and they missed the relatively good times of Cleveland’s term.

So, after some competition from the likes of David B. Hill of New York who had hoped to get some support from the South and Midwest, who were a little skeptical of Cleveland’s chances. As such, Cleveland would barely win on the first ballot.

The general election proved to be a bit easier as Harrison was quite unpopular with his high tariffs (and makes you wonder how McKinley ever got elected in 1896 considering it was his tariffs). Because of the economy, a new party called the Populists were created and they would have an effect on both candidates. Cleveland would win the popular vote again but this time with just a plurality, the Populists scoring eight percent of the vote.

The Electoral College though was a clean victory for Cleveland as he swept the South and lost only most of New England as well as a handful of other states.

And Grover Cleveland would make history as the only person (so far) to serve two non-consecutive terms.

Second Term: The honeymoon for President Cleveland ended just two months into his term as the Panic of 1893 hit. And of course, as is typical of Americans (and I bet all people actually), whoever is holding the ball at the time gets the blame, even if it was the predecessor who actually fumbled the ball.

The real question now, though was, what was President Cleveland going to do about it? Well, as noted earlier, he wasn’t any FDR, so if you expected economic help on a lower level, you wouldn’t want to hold your breath.

The Panic of 1893 affected other areas as strikes were on the rise. Gold reserves were at such a low point that Cleveland had to borrow $65 million in gold from J.P. Morgan, thus making Americans beholden to the very rich. On top of that there was the infamous Pullman Railroad strike of 1894. To say the least, that was handled badly as Cleveland sent in federal troops to break the strike, giving the affluent another victory.

Things weren’t going very well on the Foreign front either. The US threatened war with Britain over a border dispute with Venezuela citing the Monroe Doctrine. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed, and war was averted.

He also failed in Hawaii as he rejected annexation and tried to get Queen Liliuokalani reinstated. It was all well meaning as he was trying to save Hawaii from an overthrow by sugar interests. But neither side seemed exactly moral, and Cleveland simply washed his hands of the whole affair.

So, Cleveland was no more popular than Harrison had been by the mid-terms and the Republicans swept through to again take over Congress. As a result, Cleveland’s last two years were somewhat ineffective and even had opposition from a group known as Silverites, a group that would dominate the Democratic party very soon.

And, even as a pro-Gold faction tried to persuade Cleveland to run for a third term, he declined.

And left the White House an embittered man.

Post Presidency: While Cleveland’s popularity upon leaving the White House would make even Donald Trump blush, he would end up about as popular an ex-President as he had been when he lost in 1884. He arrived to a hero’s welcome in Princeton, New Jersey and the bitterness he felt after leaving the White House began to dissipate. He wrote a book about his most controversial Presidential decisions and became well-respected as an elder statesman. He often would comment on President Roosevelt’s administration, usually with civility, and twice would turn down drafts to run in 1900 and 1904.

His health began to decline after the death of his daughter, Ruth, and he would die of a gastro-intestinal disease in 1908.

Odd notes: Cleveland was affectionately known by his family as Uncle Jumbo

https://twitter.com/mental_floss/sta...38003107549186

Grover Cleveland allegedly paid to avoid conscription in the Civil War

https://facts.net/grover-cleveland-facts/

While President, he secretly had an operation to remove a cancerous tumor from his mouth.

Final Summary: History has been kind to Grover Cleveland and most historians tend to rate him as an above average President.

But I don’t see it. I mean the man all but opened the door for Jim Crow. He basically was no better than Herbert Hoover when it came to financial hardships. His foreign policy was pretty questionable as well as he nearly went to war with Britain over a dispute with Venezuela.

On the plus side, especially in his first term, he was a stanch advocate for civil service reform and, whatever you thought of the guy politically speaking, you couldn’t question the man’s integrity and honesty.

But he wasn’t a friend of minorities and, as a social liberal, I guess I have a hard time with that.

At least they named a candy bar after his daughter (for those who thought it was named after Babe Ruth).

Overall rating: First term: C
Second Term: D

https://millercenter.org/president/cleveland

I know president Arthur from such movies as Die Hard With A Vengeance.

23. BENJAMIN HARRISON (It's all about the Benjamins)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...to%2C_1896.jpg


Born: August 20, 1833, North Bend, Ohio
Died: March 13, 1901, Indianapolis, Indiana

Term: March 4, 1889- March 4, 1893
Political Party: Republican

Vice President: Levi Morton

First Lady: Caroline Scott Harrison

Before the Presidency: Benjamin Harrison came from a political family. His grandfather was the ill-fated William Henry Harrison, the ninth President of the United States and his father, John Scott Harrison, was a congressman. On top of that, his Great-Grandfather was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

As for Benjamin, he was raised in rural Ohio where he enjoyed hunting and fishing among other things. He was schooled by private tutors. He grew up with a certain self-assurance that some people took as arrogance and later was given the derisive nickname, the Human Iceberg.

Benjamin was a good student, and he was near the top of his class at Miami of Ohio University in 1852. He passed the bar in 1854 and he and his wife moved to Indianapolis where he set up a law practice.

Harrison joined the new Republican Party in 1856 and backed John Fremont for President. He became Indianapolis City Attorney in 1857. He later served with the Indiana Republican State Central Committee as secretary and supported Abraham Lincoln for President. Harrison was an ambitious sort and he also took on the job as state reporter for the Indiana Supreme Court.

Harrison’s career was interrupted by the Civil War. He joined the Union Army ending his stint as Brigadier General under William Sherman, who liked Harrison. Harrison, though, hated the war, finding it a filthy business.

After the war, Harrison returned to his law career and worked as a court reporter. He also continued on with his political career, running unsuccessfully for Governor in 1872. He ran again four years later as the Republican nominee but would lose in the General election. He was a supporter of Rutherford Hayes and Hayes would appoint Harrison to the Mississippi River Commission in 1879. He chaired the Indiana Delegation at the 1880 Republican National Convention. There, he threw his support behind the dark horse, James Garfield.

Harrison finally made the big time as he became a Senator from Indiana in 1881. It was here where we have an idea of where Harrison stood on the issues. He supported pensions for Civil War veterans, meaning he wasn’t a fan of Grover Cleveland. He also supported statehood for Dakota, high tariffs, some civil service reform, a modernized Navy. He also broke with his party by opposing the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Summary of offices held:

1857- 1861: City Attorney, Indianapolis

1862-1865: US Union Army, Brigadier general, served under William Sherman

1881-1887: US Senator


What was going on: The Sherman Anti-trust act, Wounded Knee massacre,

Scandals within the administration: none that we know of

Why he was a good President: He continued the drive towards civil reform and, while he had mixed success on the foreign affairs front, he did start the Pan American Conferences which was essentially the North and South American United Nations.

Why he was a bad President: His aloof and arrogant personality tended to turn people off, so he wasn’t the greatest diplomat. His push for high tariffs would precipitate the Panic of 1893. And he obviously wasn’t very sensitive in the arena of Indian affairs.

What could have saved his Presidency: Better attention towards the economic conditions might have lessened the severity of the Panic of 1893.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: A disastrous foreign policy could have led to war with both Italy and Chile. I don’t see how either could have defeated us and Chile in fact caved in to US demands. As for Italy, it was certainly our bad and we managed to smooth things over.

But, if we hadn’t, well…

Election of 1888: Harrison’s Senate career ended after the Democrats took over the State Legislature 1887 and he declared his candidacy for President calling himself a living and rejuvenated Republican, thus inventing a catchphrase of the times briefly. Meanwhile, Blaine was again seen as the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, but unlike 1884, he was unable to get enough support to guarantee his nomination.

So, he threw his support behind Harrison in hopes of uniting the party. It became a hotly contested contest between Harrison and new favorite James Sherman of Ohio. Harrison would win out on the eighth ballot and be given Levi Morton as his running mate. The Democrats, meanwhile, had an easy selection and renominated President Cleveland.

The 1888 general campaign was much less hostile than the infamous Cleveland-Blaine battle. Harrison limited his campaign to front porch speeches while Cleveland would make only one public appearance. Their backers, of course, were a totally different story, but even they, for the most part, stayed civil.

It was an issue oriented campaign as Harrison talked about tariffs, sound currency (Harrison supported the Gold Standard), and Civil War pensions. One issue that did cause some tensions was over the Civil War itself. Cleveland wanted to return captured Confederate Flags to Southern States which caused some consternation in the North. There was also some fraud in some of the states, notably in Harrison’s hometown of Indianapolis which strangely went for Cleveland.

And it ended in a rather controversial election count. President Cleveland won the popular vote and with a majority, but Harrison won the electoral vote and he was to be the next President of the United States.

At least the Congress didn’t have to decide the outcome this time.

First term: President Harrison started right of the gate as he condemned the practice of Senatorial courtesy and the spoils system. James Blaine, as under Garfield, was the Secretary of State and he was quite active, organizing the first Pan-American Conference among other things. The Sherman Anti-Trust act was also passed during Harrison’s term though it wouldn’t really be used until the Roosevelt Administration. Harrison also pushed for the Sherman Silver Purchase Act though that would have little effect on the economy.

President Harrison also signed the McKinley Tariff act increasing duties by nearly 50%. This proved to be one of the less popular bills in the Harrison Administration. Plus, he had to deal with an International Crisis when eleven Italian immigrants were lynched in New Orleans. Italy had considered going to war over it. There were also tensions with Chile and war was being threatened there as well.

But perhaps the lowest point of Harrison’s Presidency was the infamous Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890. In that incident, there was an uprising that resulted from the attempted arrest and murder of Sitting Bull (another thing for Trollheart to delve more deeply into). A group of Lakota Indians were met by the 7th Cavalry. There were escorted to camp at Wounded Knee and, after being told to disarm, there was confusion as Chief Yellow Bird began what was called the Ghost Dance. After some confusion, shots rang out and, in the end, nearly 400 Lakota men, women, and children lay dead.

At the time, it probably did little to hurt Harrison’s political chances and it is uncertain as to what he even knew (he basically was more pro than anti civil-rights at the time, even going so far as to appoint Frederick Douglass minister to Haiti).

But it pretty much destroyed his legacy.

Election of 1892: Harrison entered 1892 as not the most popular President going. He had differences with Secretary of State Blaine and Blaine resigned that summer, running against him for the nomination. Meanwhile, Grover Cleveland was back and was more popular than ever. And though there was some resistance from within the party, Cleveland eked out the nomination on the very first ballot.

Harrison, too, would be nominated on the first ballot but only because Blaine had turned down a draft (he would die in early 1893) and as for up and comer William McKinley, well, it just wasn’t his time yet.

So, it was going to be a Harrison- Cleveland rematch. It was a quiet campaign as Cleveland, out of compassion for President Harrison’s ailing wife (she would die just two weeks before the election), didn’t campaign at all. Harrison, for his part, limited his campaign to just New York and New Jersey, considered swing states at the time.

There was also a third party to contend with known as the Populists. They nominated Civil war General James Weaver and advocated the free coinage of silver.

In the end, Cleveland again won the popular vote but this time, he also ran away with the electoral vote, thus making history.

Harrison, now widowed, was just going home.

Post Presidency: Harrison had a quiet retirement, speaking on Constitutional Law at Stanford University and working as Chief Counsel for Venezuela during a boundary dispute with British Guiana.

Benjamin Harrison passed away in 1901 at the age of 67.

Odd notes: Harrison owned a goat named Old Whiskers

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/...bably-planning

Harrison had electricity installed in the White House

Final Summary: Harrison wasn’t the most eloquent of Presidents and he certainly lacked the ability to rally Americans around a cause like Theodore Roosevelt would do a decade later.

But he did have some accomplishments on the foreign front, notably the Pan-American Conference. He backed American sailors after an incident in Chile, and he supported the expansion of the Navy.

But, overall, he probably goes down as one of the littlest known Presidents in history. And I’m sure being sandwiched between Grover Cleveland’s two terms didn’t help.

He did try to do his best though.

Overall rating: C-

https://millercenter.org/president/bharrison

25. WILLIAM MCKINLEY (Shufflin' off to Buffalo)

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Born: January 29, 1843, Niles, Ohio
Died: September 14, 1901, Buffalo, New York (assassinated)

Term: March 4, 1897- September 14, 1901 (assassinated)
Political Party: Republican

Vice President(s): Garret Hobart, Theodore Roosevelt

First Lady: Ida Saxton McKinley

Before the Presidency: William McKinley grew up with a happy childhood. His mother was deeply religious and taught young William the vales of honesty and prayer among other things while his father taught young William to have a strong work ethic.

It was this work ethic that made William want to get a good education. Entering Allegheny Collage in 1860, he had to drop out after a year, because of illness and financial difficulties.

His illness must not have been too debilitating, however, as he joined the Twenty-Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry at the start of the Civil War. As a Private, he fought bravely at Antietam. Later, he was a Lieutenant under Colonel Rutherford B Hayes. He considered Hayes his mentor and they would enjoy a lifelong friendship. By the time the war ended, McKinley was a Brevet Major.

After the Civil War, McKinley entered Albany Law School, passing the bar in 1867. He opened a practice in Canton, Ohio and it was there where he met his wife, Ida Saxton.

He became involved in Republican politics in 1869 and won an election as County Prosecutor that year. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1876. He served three terms before losing in 1882 but he won his seat back two years later.

It was as Chairman of the House and Ways Committee where he became nationally known. He drafted and pushed through what was known as the very protectionist McKinley Tariff of 1890. It had an effect of raising consumer prices and McKinley ended up losing his second election that year.

He didn’t try to return to the House. Instead, McKinley made a run for Governor of Ohio where he won by a razor thin margin.

McKinley had considerably better success as a Governor as he tried to lessen the rift between management and labor. McKinley was certainly pro- business but that didn’t stop him from developing a system of arbitration designed to settle labor agreements. It wasn’t all fun and games, however, as Governor McKinley called in the National Guard to quell strike related violence by the United Mine Workers in 1894.

McKinley was personally affected by the Panic of 1893, and he could sympathize with voters when he ran for re-election in 1894. Voters sympathized with him as well and he was re-elected Governor easily.

And it put him in position as a candidate for President in 1896.

Summary of offices held:

1861-1865: US Union Army, Brevet Major

1869-1871: Prosecuting Attorney, Stark County, Ohio

1877-1883: US House of Representatives, Ohio

1885-1981: US House of Representatives, Ohio

1889-1891: Chairman, House and Ways Committee

1892-1896: Governor of Ohio




What was going on: Spanish American War, The Philippine Insurrection, the Gold Standard, the Gay Nineties

Scandals within the administration: Oregon land fraud scandal

Why he was a good President: The United States more or less was recognized as a global power after the Spanish-American War. And, though his tariffs were controversial from a historical standpoint, the economy was improving.

Why he was a bad President: The concept of big money controlling elections more or less started with him. He wasn’t corrupt by any means, but some of his followers, well… He was also something of an Imperialist President so that doesn’t go well on his resume either.

What could have saved his Presidency: Historically speaking, I’d say maybe if he had shown more restraint when it came to wars, particularly the ill-advised Philippine one. I would have also liked to have seen him take a stand on civil rights.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: If people knew more about the Philippine resurrection. If they hadn’t discovered more gold, which had a lot to do with the now booming economy.

Election of 1896: 1896 is something of a historic election, for a new political Machiavellian was taking over the Republican Party. He was an affluent businessman from Ohio named Mark Hanna. He especially pushed for McKinley, and he won on the first ballot.

The Democrats, burned from the Panic of 1893, were looking for some new blood. They found it in a young Populist, William Jennings Bryan. Bryan, of course, would be remembered mostly for being the prosecutor in the infamous Scopes trial of 1925. For anyone interested, I’ll explain that trial later (assuming Trollheart doesn’t beat me to it first). Anyway, basically Bryan was an Evangelical Christian, certainly not a handicap in 1896 and not even a factor in the campaign.

The Republican and Democratic platforms were quite different in 1896. The Republicans wanted to stay on the Gold Standard, pushed for protectionist policies, and supported the annexation of Hawaii.

The Democrats, through the charismatic Bryan, was primarily for the Silver standard. His passion for free silver was likely the dominant issue in both campaigns. It was in this campaign where Bryan made his famous Cross of Gold speech. The Democrats also opposed protectionism, pushed for cheap foreign labor through immigration, and the use of injunctions to end strikes. They also supported an income tax (that still goes so well with Americans even today- yes, I’m being sarcastic).

The third party Populists lost their platform to Bryan, so they nominated him as their candidate as well.

The campaigning styles were quite different as well. McKinley, as was the tradition, ran a front porch campaign. But, Bryan campaigned all over the country, 18,000 miles in all. He spoke to enthusiastic crowds and painted McKinley as a puppet to big business (and, in a sense he was, $4 million dollars was donated to his campaign by, um, big business).

Bryan’s campaign seemed to be going fairly well, but there was a faction of Gold Democrats who bolted from the party. Bryan would go on to be, the Scopes trial notwithstanding, to be one of the most decent people ever to run for President (wait till we get to Woodrow Wilson, and I’ll tell you why).

But he was not to be President. William McKinley would win by over 600,000 votes and pulled a solid win in the all-important Electoral College.

First term: The first thing President McKinley did upon entering office was to go after the tariffs. He would sign the Dingley Tariff act that raised the average tariff by nearly 50%

But it would be wars that would dominate McKinley’s first term, notably, the Spanish-American war. Expansionists had been looking for an excuse to take Spain’s territories in the Caribbean and Pacific, even if it meant war with Spain. In fact, some were hankering for a war with Spain, no longer the powerhouse they were during Colonial times. McKinley, to his credit, did everything he could to avoid going to war.

But the saber rattlers had their excuse when an explosion on the Battleship Maine was blamed on the Spanish off Cuba. Yellow journalists, led by William Randolph Hearst, convinced the public that Spain was essentially the epitome of evil (Actually, they weren’t far off the mark; Spanish authorities were indeed guilty of some human rights abuses in Cuba).

So, President McKinley sent in the military to free Cuba from the Spanish. The Rough Riders were formed by Congress and McKinley’s Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt, resigned to lead one of the regiments in Cuba.

The war was more or less a rout as Spain surrendered within months. As a result, Hawaii was finally annexed, the US also gained Puerto Rico and Guam, Cuba was independent, and the Philippines was up in the air.

And that created an issue that isn’t much talked about today, for a rebellion was brewing in the Philippines and the US was going to get caught right in the middle of it. Called the Philippine Insurrection, McKinley sent troops to the islands in order to stifle the rebels. It only made matters worse, and McKinley just avoided ending up with his own Vietnam. Thanks, strangely enough and inadvertently, of course, to Leon Czolgosz. (It would be Theodore Roosevelt that got us out of that quagmire).

President McKinley would also send troops to China as the Boxer Rebellion was underway in 1900. McKinley had adopted an Open Door policy regarding China. What he didn’t know that there was a group, known as the Boxers, who wanted all foreigners out of the country and went on a rampage, massacring Western missionaries, diplomats, garbage collectors, you get the picture.

So, McKinley sent troops and gunboats along with Britain, Germany, Russia, and Japan to crush the rebellion. In the end, the Chinese had to shell out $300 million in indemnities to the five nations.

So, whatever the economic climate was in the US (and it was good for the most part), McKinley’s successes in war (two out of three isn’t bad I guess) put him in fairly good position for re-election.

Election of 1900: The election of 1900 was more or less a repeat of 1896 as the popular McKinley won re-nomination easily, the only drama being who would be his running mate. His Vice-President, Garret A. Hobart, had died in office, so they had to find someone to counter McKinley. They went with Theodore Roosevelt, the hero of San Juan Hill, and the Republicans left very happy with their ticket.

The Democrats decided to go with the popular Williams Jennings Bryan for a second time, going with former Vice President Adlai Stevenson as the running mate. An interesting rematch was brewing.

Some of the issues were old as Bryan continued to push for free silver. The Democrats also opposed the Philippine War and American Imperialism in general. The Republicans, of course, had the success of the Spanish-American war on their side and could point to the economic upturn as the result of gold discoveries in Alaska and South Africa (and, by the way, the Boer War involving Britain and Germany, was going on then too).

In the end, the silver issue was more or less dead and McKinley would win re-election rather easily.

Second Term: The second term got off to a good start as the leader of the Philippine rebels, Emilio Aguinaldo, surrendered, and the US gained the upper hand. Fighting still would continue for another year, however.

The next months would be rather quiet as President McKinley worked on trade and tariff issues. It was about tariff reciprocity that dominated a speech President McKinley made in Buffalo during the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo.

It was the last speech he would ever make.

Assassination: The next day, September 6, 1901, would prove a fateful one for President McKinley. He was visiting the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. After making his speech, he stood last in a line of greeters shaking hands with admirers, well, mostly admirers.

Because, at 4:07 in the afternoon, McKinley offered his hand to a professed anarchist named Leon Czolgosz. Czolgosz happened to have a concealed weapon under his shirt and fired point blank into McKinley’s chest. He fell backwards, telling his Secret Service men not to hurt the assailant. He also worried on how they would tell his wife, for the First lady was very emotionally dependent on her husband and he obviously loved her as well.

It was hoped that McKinley would survive the wound (and he might have under today’s technology), but gangrene set in, and he would die eight days later. At least he didn’t have to suffer the way Garfield had.

Odd notes:

McKinley had a pet parrot named Washington Post

https://www.visitcanton.com/blog/sta...-may-not-know/


Wife Ida hated the color yellow

10 Interesting Facts About William McKinley

Final Summary: William McKinley, in some ways, is an example of being beholden to special interests. It wasn’t all his fault of course; Mark Hanna deserves much of the blame. But it is true that more money poured into McKinley’s two Presidential campaigns than any candidate previously. We became a world power during his administration and some of it can be attributed to McKinley’s foreign policy and, of course, a rather formidable military, but, as in the Polk Administration, was it worth losing our souls?

Still, while I can’t say I was a fan of McKinley’s economic policies (I’m definitely not a protectionist), the economy did improve significantly during his one term plus. Yes, it had more to do with external factors such as the new gold discoveries than of McKinley’s policies. I guess you can say, on that score, McKinley was quite lucky.

But of course, and tragically, he wasn’t lucky at all.


Overall rating: C

https://millercenter.org/president/mckinley

26. THEODORE ROOSEVELT (Won't you be my Teddy Bear)

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Born: October 27, 1858, New York, New York
Died: January 6, 1919, Oyster Bay, New York

Term: September 14, 1901- March 4, 1909
Political Party: Republican

Vice President: Charles Fairbanks

First Lady: Edith Carow Roosevelt

Before the Presidency: Theodore Roosevelt grew up in a fairly affluent family in New York City. He suffered from asthma as a young child but was surrounded by love from his parents and three siblings.

Young Theodore was a determined young man, and he took it upon himself to get out from under his bad health. He took up gymnastics and weight lifting and built up a fairly rugged physique. He became an advocate of exercise and the adventurous life as a result. It also instilled quite a bit of confidence in the young man. He also spent his childhood traveling extensively overseas with his family and no doubt gained a perspective on other nations, particularly in Europe.

In 1876, Roosevelt entered Harvard College where he studied a variety of subjects. It was there where he met his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee, who he would marry in 1880. He dropped out of Columbia Law School a year later to begin a life of public service.

Roosevelt was elected to the New York Assembly in 1882 where he served for two years. Unfortunately, tragedy would strike in 1884 when both his mother and wife died on the same day. Distraught, Roosevelt left for the first of his many adventures, hanging out in the Dakota Badlands where he hunted Grizzly bears, herded cows, and chasing outlaws as a frontier sheriff. Roosevelt was quite happy living the rugged life.

But he would return to the East after a devastating winter all but wiped out his cattle. He had rekindled a love with his childhood sweetheart, Edith Kermit Carow, and they would marry in England in 1886, settling at Oyster Bay, New York.

Back in New York, Roosevelt resumed his writing career, writing about the Naval War of 1812. Several more books followed, and it is possible Roosevelt could have been a successful non-fiction author.

But public service was his first calling, and he ran for Mayor of New York in 1886. He lost but, after campaigning for Benjamin Harrison in 1888, he was appointed to the US Civil Service Commission. And indeed, he was a reformer, being re-nominated by Grover Cleveland in 1893. As Commissioner, he enforced the Civil Service laws and clashed with both parties who wanted him to look the other way when it came to patronage.

In 1895, Roosevelt left the Commission to accept the job of Police Commissioner in New York City. There he developed a reputation for honesty as he cleaned up the corrupt Police Board and enforced the city’s blue laws (no liquor to be sold on Sundays). Needless to say, Roosevelt wasn’t popular with the party bosses.

Lucky for them, Roosevelt was off to accept a new job as President McKinley appointed him as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, an interesting position, since, up to then, he hadn’t served in the military.

Of course, that would change a year later when the Spanish-American War broke out. Roosevelt left the Administration to join the Rough Riders as a Lieutenant Colonel. The Rough Riders were essentially a rag tag bunch of Ivy Leaguers like himself, Western cowboys, sheriffs, police officers, even Native Americans. Roosevelt was a popular leader and he led them up San Juan Hill. His contingent suffered heavy casualties, but they emerged victorious; Roosevelt becoming perhaps the biggest military hero since Ulysses Grant.

Roosevelt came home a war hero, and the Republicans tagged him for New York Governor against the Tammany Hall backed Democrat, Judge Augustus Van Wyck. Roosevelt too benefitted from party bosses, in his case Boss Thomas Platt. Roosevelt, though, was not a big fan of patronage and he let it be clear he would be his own man. He narrowly won the election.

And, indeed, he wouldn’t be a favorite of party bosses as he refused to appoint party regulars to the most powerful positions in the state. He really went against Platt when he supported a bill for taxes on the public services, who had been in Platt’s pocket before.

So, Platt had a pow wow with Senator Mark Hanna to devise a way to get rid of Roosevelt. Their solution was to kick him upstairs as the Vice Presidential candidate in 1900.

And, as they say, don’t ask for something too hard- you might just get it.

Summary of offices held:

1882-1886: New York National Guard

1882-1884: New York State Assembly

1883: Minority Leader, New York State Assembly

1889-1895: Commissioner, United States Civil Service Commission

1895-1897: New York City Police Commissioner

1897-1898: Assistant Secretary of the Navy

1898: United States Army, Colonel (Spanish-American War)

1899-1900: Governor of New York

1901: Vice President of the United States



What was going on: Trust busting, the Panama Canal, the Great White Fleet, Russo- Japanese War

Scandals within the administration: none that we know of

Why he was a good President: Where should I start? He broke up the monopolies, or at least some of them anyway (it was the one Roosevelt legacy Taft would continue), he ensured the US would stay a World power, he broke tradition when he guested an African American, and he passed laws to make sure the Grand Canyon wouldn’t become a landfill among other things. Did I miss anything? Probably.

Why he was a bad President: Well, as history shows, he wasn’t, but I wish he could have been more forceful with his beliefs on civil rights.

What could have saved his Presidency: Not a thing. It wasn’t perfect (what Presidency is?) and he made his mistakes, but you can’t accuse this Presidency of needing any saving.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: Roosevelt took a lot of chances, especially in his second term, and anything could have destroyed it at any given time. If the economy had tanked (and there was the Panic of 1907), could he have saved it? What if he had turned his back on labor to appease the Republican majority? It is to his great credit that he didn’t.

How he became Vice President: Indeed, Mark Hanna pushed Roosevelt for the Vice-Presidency in 1900. Roosevelt was nominated by acclamation. Roosevelt proved to be the perfect pit bull for McKinley as he furiously campaigned for the President. He traveled 21,000 miles and seemed like an endless bundle of energy, putting opponents Bryan and Stevenson, also actively campaigning, to shame. In the end, McKinley won by a larger margin than he had in 1896. Mark Hanna got what he wished for.

But then he had to pay the piper, though not in the way anyone would wish for. For in September 1901, President McKinley was assassinated, and that damned cowboy, as Hanna put it, was now President.

And, to Hanna’s consternation, the United States would never be the same again and, even more frustrating for Hanna, for the better.

First term: Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office in Buffalo moments after President McKinley died. At 43, he was the youngest President ever.

And the Republicans were none too happy, for Roosevelt absolutely represented the Liberal wing of the Republican Party. Yes, he was pro-business, but he was also pro-labor as well. And he wasn’t in office much more than a month when he invited Booker T. Washington, a prominent black educator, to the White House. You can imagine the outrage in the South right now.

President Roosevelt would also go to war with the trusts. He began to enforce the Sherman-Anti Trust Act and won an important victory in the Supreme Court. While the court case was going on, Roosevelt also went after the railroads, signing the Elkins act in 1903. This prohibited railroads from granting rebates to larger companies, thus leaving the smaller companies out. Railroads unfortunately found a way around this, but TR would have a response to that in his second term.

The beginnings of what would be the Panama Canal began in Roosevelt’s abbreviated term. He signed the amended Hay- Pauncefote treaty opening the way for a canal at the isthmus of Panama. Unfortunately, Colombia controlled Panama. Colombia did not want to give the US permission to build a canal.

So, there was a rebellion for Panamanian independence, backed by the US. Roosevelt sent the Navy to deter Colombia from crushing the revolt. They succeeded, Panama gained their independence, and the United States was getting their canal.

The other major event was the Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902. Coal miners walked off the job in Pennsylvania in 1902. It went on all summer and Roosevelt thought executive action was needed to get the miners back to work.

But he didn’t send the army to quell the strike. Instead, he called for the mine operators and Union leaders to the White House where he was able to arbitrate an agreement, an agreement that probably favored the coal miners. It was the precursor to what would be called the Square Deal later.

President Roosevelt, much to the consternation of the more conservative Republicans, I’m sure, would come into 1904 a very popular President indeed. And, with Mark Hanna dying, early in 1904, they would be hard pressed to find a candidate that could wrestle the party’s nomination from him.


Election of 1904: Theodore Roosevelt had to walk a thin line if he wanted to win the nomination in his own right. At first, he used the White House as a “bully pulpit”, to advocate how government should regulate big business but would tone down the rhetoric come election time. He also was able to place his people in key positions within the party and managed to win the endorsement of Mark Hanna, now the RNC Chairman. Roosevelt also appealed to the public at a time when there wasn’t primary voting.

Things eased up a bit when Mark Hanna died suddenly. TR’s nomination was more or less etched in stone after Hanna’s death. As for the Vice-Presidency, he nabbed conservative Charles Fairbanks as his running mate. His ties to the railroad industry were no doubt attractive to the big business wing of the party.

The Democrats too went conservative, picking Judge Alton P. Parker from New York, and Henry Davis, at 81, the oldest man ever to run for the Vice-Presidency. They had wanted Bryan to run again but he agreed with much of Roosevelt’s policies and, besides, if he couldn’t beat McKinley, he sure wasn’t going to defeat Roosevelt.

As for the campaign itself, the Democrats painted Parker as the sane and safe choice while the Republicans touted Roosevelt’s foreign policy. Neither candidate campaigned actively.

In the end though, it was a matter of personalities as Parker’s affable but staid personality couldn’t match up with Roosevelt’s extroverted optimism. As a result, Roosevelt won in a landslide for the most part, particularly in the North and, well, everywhere but the South. Guess they hadn’t forgiven him for Booker T. Washington.

Second Term: After the election of 1904, President Roosevelt introduced the Roosevelt Corollary as a companion to the Monroe Doctrine, essentially giving the US police power in the Western Hemisphere or the Americas anyway. It was a controversial doctrine and would later cause resentment in South America.

But even as Roosevelt carried his big stick which ended with the Great White Fleet Tour at the end of his Presidency, Roosevelt was also a man of peace. He mediated negotiations between the warring factions in the Russo- Japanese War, winning the Nobel Peace Prize as a result. He also mediated an agreement with France and Germany over Morocco. Many historians believe it may have averted, or at least postponed a major European War (Alas, he couldn’t save Europe in 1914). It certainly strengthened ties between the US and France.

There was a racial incident in Brownsville, Texas that tainted Roosevelt’s record a bit. White civilians taunted a group of Black soldiers. Violence erupted and three whites were killed. The public (it was still a racist time in the United States) assumed that it was all the Blacks’ fault and President Roosevelt would discharge 160 black soldiers as a result. Probably not a proud moment given his own more enlightened opinions on race.

But, as before, his biggest peeve was against the monopolies, and he signed the Hepburn Act which gave the Interstate Commerce Commission more power to regulate railroad rates. Roosevelt was in his second term, and he wasn’t going to run for a third, so he had free reign whether the conservatives liked it or not.

And he used that knowledge to improve the environment. He started by establishing the National Forest Service in 1905 followed by the National Monuments Act a year later. His big act, however, would be the Antiquities Act which gave the President the power to create national monuments from Federal lands. The landscape of the Unites States would certainly have been different if not for this law in particular.

And Roosevelt wasn’t done. After Upton Sinclair published the Jungle, an indictment against the meat packing industry, President Roosevelt pushed more laws to make food safer with the Meat Inspection Act and the Food and Drug Act in particular.

Things quieted down a bit by 1908 as Roosevelt was now a lame duck President but he launched the Great White Fleet which toured the world both as a sign of American strength and of goodwill. They were received with warm welcomes in most of the ports they visited.

He also engineered a compromise with Japan over immigration. Japan agreed not to issue any more visas with the understanding that the US would allow laborers to come to the States

President Roosevelt was indeed a very popular man, but he declined another run for the Presidency honoring the two-term tradition. Still, he didn’t feel like he fulfilled everything he needed to (and as history would prove just six years later, he hadn’t), and he would return to the political stage four years later.



Election of 1912: Roosevelt had handpicked President Taft to succeed him in 1908, but he would be disappointed, even angry, at Taft’s more conservative policies overall.

So, equipped with an ego the size of Montana, Roosevelt decided to make another run. It would cause a split within the GOP. Roosevelt had won a series of preferential primaries and had the lead in delegates. Taft, as the sitting President, controlled the floor and his backers refused to accept the credentials of the Roosevelt delegates. Roosevelt was infuriated and withdrew, thus, giving Taft the nomination.

But it wasn’t over yet, for TR formed the Progressive Party, otherwise known as the Bull Moose Party. He was drafted as their candidate. Roosevelt described the new party platform as a “New Nationalism”, seeking social justice, an eight-hour workday, and a minimum wage for women. He also campaigned on a social security program (That his distant cousin, Franklin D, would push through two decades later), a National Health Service (TR was a Communist? Just kidding), and direct elections of US Senators (which was right around the corner, actually). It was very forward thinking to say the least.

It was an interesting campaign to be sure and it nearly cost TR his life. On October 12, 1912, while making a speech, Roosevelt was shot in the chest by a would-be assassin. He was lucky, though. He had a book in his jacket where the bullet hit. It slowed down the bullet and, while it penetrated the former President’s chest, the damage was minimal; so minimal, in fact, that Roosevelt continued on with his speech.

With Woodrow Wilson, a progressive (sort of, more on that later) within the Democratic Party, Roosevelt didn’t expect to win, but he did overtake Taft to become Wilson’s toughest opponent. Still, in the end, Wilson would win election easily and Roosevelt would finally retire for good… maybe.

Post Presidency: Of course, Theodore Roosevelt may have retired but he wasn’t finished living. He explored the jungles of Brazil with his son, Kermit, and developed malaria in the process. Of course, as usual, he survived. After his return to the United States, he went back to writing again.

World War I broke out in 1914 and Roosevelt led the cause for military preparedness. He supported US involvement in the war effort and was disappointed in President Wilson’s neutrality stance. When the US did enter the war, Roosevelt wanted to join and form his own volunteer division, but President Wilson turned him down. Roosevelt was 58 by then. He mellowed a little after his youngest son, Quentin, died in the war.

Down, but not out, Roosevelt was being touted as the frontrunner for the 1920 Republican nomination, but death took the gallant man by surprise on January 6, 1919. It was said that it was a good thing he died in his sleep, otherwise death would have had a fight on its hands.

Odd notes: TR kept a virtual zoo at the White House

He was blind in one eye as the result of a boxing mishap

He hated the nickname Teddy

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/...eddy-roosevelt

Final Summary: I think I mentioned that I didn’t quite think Abraham Lincoln was the greatest President (though he came close). Theodore Roosevelt is the reason why. No, he wasn’t perfect. I could have done without his Cowboy interventions in Latin America for example and I do wish he had taken a stand on the Brownsville riots instead of firing 160 Black servicemen.

But look at all the accomplishments. No, he didn’t make it okay to mix races in the White House but at least inviting Booker T. Washington was a start. More importantly, he broke several monopolies, he made sure that the most beautiful areas of the United States would be preserved, he was a friend of labor, and he negotiated peace between several countries and ended one major war in the process. Plus, he established the Presidency as a position of inspiration as future Presidents such as FDR, Kennedy, Reagan (yes, Batlord, Reagan too), and Obama would use the bully pulpit for their own agendas, mostly in the name of good, as Theodore Roosevelt had.

And he foresaw the need of the safety nets that his distant cousin, FDR, would implement as well as would Lyndon Johnson with Medicare.

So, is Theodore Roosevelt the greatest American President ever?

You’re damned right he is!

Overall rating: A

https://millercenter.org/president/roosevelt

27. WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT (You can't judge a book by looking at its cover)

https://www.thefamouspeople.com/prof...ard-taft-1.jpg

Born: September 15, 1857, Cincinnati, Ohio
Died: March 8, 1930, Washington, DC

Term: March 4, 1909- March 4, 1913
Political Party: Republican

Vice President: James Sherman

First Lady: Helen Herron Taft

Before the Presidency: William Taft grew up in Cincinnati. Despite being overweight, he was quite the athlete. He also was quite intelligent finishing second in his class at private Woodward High School.

Following his father’s advice, Taft refrained from athletics at Yale and concentrated on academics. After graduation, he returned to Cincinnati to attend law school and passed the bar in 1880.

The Taft family was a very political family, and it didn’t start with William. His father, Alphonso Taft, served as Secretary of War and then Attorney General in President Grant’s cabinet. He would later serve as Minister to Austria-Hungary and Russia under President Arthur. Alphonso, though conservative overall, was quite liberal when it came to women’s rights. That, no doubt, rubbed off on William.

William put a lot of pressure on himself to please his parents. But he never really wanted a political career, not in the classic sense anyway. His actual dream was to one day be Chief Justice of the United States.

Of course, he fouled up on the onset when he married Nellie Herron. Her father had been a law partner of Rutherford Hayes and she had dreams of one day becoming First Lady.

So, with that in mind, Taft, through his father’s connections, became assistant prosecutor of Hamilton County in 1881. He worked as a lawyer for a while thereafter before he was appointed to the Cincinnati Superior Court in 1887. He must have gotten someone’s attention because, in 1890, he was appointed as United States Solicitor General under President Harrison. While Solicitor General, he became friends with Theodore Roosevelt, and it was Taft who persuaded President McKinley to appoint Roosevelt as Assistant Secretary to the Navy.

Despite opposition from his wife, who still had White House dreams, Taft accepted a position to the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals. He stayed at the that position for eight years. He also would teach at the University of Cincinnati Law School.

Taft was happy on the Court of Appeals, but his wife wasn’t. Wanting to please his wife, Taft answered the call from President McKinley to become Governor General of the Philippines; like it or not, Taft had entered politics.

And he presided over the Philippine Insurrection. Seventy Thousand US soldiers had been sent to the Philippines to quell the rebellion and things were not going very well. Things were quite brutal on the US side and Taft was often at odds with the military Governor, General Arthur MacArthur (yes, Douglas McArthur’s father). Taft felt MacArthur’s treatment as too brutal and unsympathetic to the Islanders. He was able to remove MacArthur after Aguinaldo’s capture and set up a Constitution and Bill of Rights not unlike the US Constitution. He also established a civil service system, a judicial system, an English-speaking education system, a transportation network, and health care facilities. He even twice turned down the Supreme Court so he could finish his work. He would leave the Philippines in 1903 very much loved by the islanders.

Taft might have stayed in the Philippines longer if not for a request from President Roosevelt to come to Washington and the prodding of his wife. Taft was offered the position of Secretary of War and, since Nellie would be back in Washington, he accepted. He became Roosevelt’s most important adviser, overseeing the work on the Panama Canal and traveled around the world on behalf of the President. He also functioned as the Provisional Governor of Cuba.

It would all set up the Presidential race of 1908, though it wasn’t something Taft really wanted.

Summary of offices held:

1887-1890: Judge, Cincinnati Superior Court

1890-1892: Solicitor General of the United States

1892-1900: Judge, Sixth US Court of Appeals

1901-1903: Governor General of the Philippines

1904-1908: Secretary of War

1906: Provisional Governor of Cuba



What was going on: Progressive labor policies, Mexican revolution

Scandals within the administration: none that we know of

Why he was a good President: Basically, though not the progressive Roosevelt had hoped for, he at least didn’t rock the boat and busted even more trusts than Roosevelt himself.

Why he was a bad President: He really didn’t want the job. He appointed too many pro-businesspeople at the cost of the environment, and he sometimes went against the progressive principles of the time.

What could have saved his Presidency: A more progressive approach with his policies. He should have taken more chances like Roosevelt had.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: If he had actually reversed Roosevelt’s environmental policies, he wouldn’t have been remembered fondly. Had he not been a trust buster in his own right (which is what actually saved his legacy as President). Also, if he had followed the political wind and intervened in Mexico, something that could have ended in disaster.

Election of 1908: President Roosevelt decided not to run again in 1908 despite already having regrets about that decision. He did want someone that would continue his policies and he believed his good friend, William Taft, was the man. Taft really didn’t want to run for President but Nellie, who had always dreamed of one day living in the White House, insisted, as had Roosevelt.

The nomination wasn’t as simple as it sounded though. On the second day of the Convention, a spirted demonstration of Roosevelt supporters wanted to draft Roosevelt. Roosevelt, however, sent word that he wasn’t available, and Taft was nominated on the first ballot.

The Democrats, for the third time in four elections, went with William Jennings Bryan. He remained quite popular with the liberal and populist wings of the party and his closest competitor, reformist Governor John Albert Johnson of Minnesota, couldn’t even come close.

In a sense, Bryan was running against Roosevelt by proxy. Taft had pledged to continue Roosevelt’s progressive policies and Roosevelt himself was on the campaign trail, boosting his friend. Nellie also got into the political game as she persuaded Taft to lose thirty pounds (Taft would be the heaviest man in history, even Grover Cleveland looked like an anorexic next to Taft).

In the end, all Taft really needed to do was to pledge he’d continue Roosevelt’s work and he would win election quite easily.



First term: Taft’s administration seemed to start out at the gate okay as he continued to pledge to push progressive policies, but there was already a rift brewing between Taft and his predecessor. Nellie fulfilled her dream as First Lady, but she suffered a stroke two months into the term, taking over a year to fully recover. Sort of a Monkey’s Paw tale, I guess.

As for President Taft, he introduced what would become the sixteenth amendment, calling for a personal income tax. He also reduced the tariff, something that didn’t go well with the majority of protectionist minded Republicans.

Taft could be a cowboy President too, just as Roosevelt had been. He sent 700 Marines to Nicaragua to prop up a pro-USA regime

The biggest blunder came in 1910 when he fired Gifford Pinchot, head of the Forestry Service. Pinchot was in a feud with Richard Balinger, Head of the Department of Interior. Ballinger was a business minded executive who, no doubt, wanted to dismantle Roosevelt’s work in protecting the environment. Pinchot responded by attacking both Ballinger and Taft leaving Taft with no choice but to fire Pinchot. Roosevelt was on a world tour at the time but when he returned in June 1910, he was none too pleased and the rift between Taft and Roosevelt would be irreparable.

The Mann Act was passed in the Taft Administration. Music historians may remember this as the act that got Chuck Berry busted in 1959 when he transported a minor across state lines.

Most of the rest of Taft’s term seemed to be dominated by the now feud between he and Roosevelt. While both would support each other from time to time, relations between the two were frayed as they seemed to avoid each other at all costs. Taft rejected Roosevelt’s calls for a new nationalism, saying the US would have to adopt a new Constitution. Taft did replace the controversial Ballinger with a Pinchot ally, but they seemed to do little to please Roosevelt.

But it wasn’t all negative. Taft would bust even more trusts than Roosevelt had, and he would veto a bill requiring all immigrants to take a literacy test, and while the US would intervene in Nicaragua and Cuba near the end of Taft’s term, Taft took a political hit by wisely staying out of the mess in Mexico (Though Wilson and Harding would have to deal with Pancho Villa later).

And besides, Nellie got to plant the famous Japanese cherry blossoms in 1912.

Election of 1912: Taft hated his four years in the White House. He really didn’t like the political back and forth and he lost a dear friend in Theodore Roosevelt. Still, he accepted a draft to run for a second term.

But Theodore Roosevelt was back too, and he declared his candidacy as well. Roosevelt felt that Taft was taking the party down. He was upset that Taft went after one of the “Good Trusts” in US Steel. But he was most upset over the Pinchot firing. So, he was back in the game.

Roosevelt spent 1911 and 1912 criticizing the President at every turn. Taft finally would respond with attacks of his own and the gloves were indeed off. Taft compared a Roosevelt election to the reign of terror as a result of the French Revolution.

If the primary system had been in place like it is today, Roosevelt would have been the easy nominee. He remained very popular with the public. But in 1912, only thirteen states actually had primaries, Roosevelt winning eleven of them and Robert LaFollette winning the other two, and the votes didn’t count at the convention anyway.

So, the convention was a tug of war between Taft and Roosevelt and Taft used his patronage card to take control of the floor. Consequently, Taft won the nomination and Roosevelt and his followers walked out.

The Democrats, seeing victory with a split GOP, eventually went with their own progressive, Governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey. They became even more excited when Roosevelt went third party with the intent of torpedoing Taft. In fact, Roosevelt would be so successful in that regard, he would become the man to beat in the general election, not the President.

The election took a toll on Taft to the point where he was in tears. He retreated to the golf course, more or less ceding the Presidency, and let Wilson and Roosevelt battle it out.

In the end, Wilson would win the election easily with Taft finishing third, carrying only Utah and Vermont. Taft’s conservative policies lost the day in 1912.

Post Presidency: Even though Taft had suffered a humiliating defeat, he was relieved that he was leaving the White House. Wife Nellie was disappointed to be sure, but she would support her husband in his judicial endeavors for the rest of his life. He lost a lot of weight and stayed active in politics, supporting Charles Evans Hughes for President in 1916 and backing President Wilson’s European Policy and his Quixotic quest for the League of Nations.

In 1921, his lifelong dream was fulfilled when President Harding appointed him as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. It was a conservative court for the most part and it isn’t remembered for many landmark decisions, but Taft proved to be an honorable man worthy of the position.

Taft, falling ill, resigned from the Supreme Court in 1930 and died shortly after. He is one of only two Presidents buried at Arlington National Cemetery (John Kennedy being the other).

Odd notes: While the getting stuck in the bathtub story could be a rumor, he was reported to have spilled water on the heads of guests below in a hotel in 1915.

Taft had a habit of falling asleep at public functions

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/...ard-taft-facts

Final Summary: I guess you could argue that Taft was a caretaker President between two of the better-known ones, Roosevelt and the once praised Woodrow Wilson.

But he did accomplish some things in his own right. He continued some of the progressive policies of Roosevelt at least even if he did have conservative leanings. He didn’t do a lot in terms of race, but he didn’t set things back either.

But he did lean more towards the business interests when it came to the environment. I won’t judge him on labor so much because he didn’t have the same situations that Roosevelt had.

And the bottom line was, even though he did run for re-election, he didn’t really want to be there. Instead, he was just another good person who simply wasn’t that good a President.

But he would be a good Chief Justice, whether you agreed with him or not, and you could feel good for the guy in the end. It was a rocky path, but in the end, he got what he wished for.

He even deserved it.


Overall rating: C

https://millercenter.org/president/taft

28. WOODROW WILSON (He kept us out us, um, ...)


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...cropped%29.jpg

Born: December 28, 1856, Staunton, Virginia
Died: February 3, 1924, Washington, DC

Term: March 4, 1913- March 4, 1921
Political Party: Democrat

Vice President: Thomas Marshall

First Lady: Ellen Axson Wilson (died 1914), Edith Galt Wilson (married 1915)

Before the Presidency: Thomas Woodrow Wilson was essentially a product of the old south having been born in antebellum Virginia and raised in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, mostly in the years of Reconstruction. His father, an ordained minister, had been born in Ohio but shared the racist Southern values and helped to organize the Presbyterian Church of the Confederate States of America. In Columbia, South Carolina, Wilson grew up around a majority of blacks, some of whom were known as leased slaves.

Young Wilson suffered from a weak eyesight and may have had dyslexia. Still, he was a normal boy, playing baseball and the like. Schools were scarce in the post-Civil War South and Wilson had to rely on former Confederate soldiers for his education.

In 1873, Wilson enrolled at Davidson Collage despite not being academically prepared. Despite the slow start in education, Wilson was quite the intellect as he excelled in Logic, Latin, and English among other subjects. He had to drop out after a year however when his father was forced out his church in Columbia as well as Wilson’s own poor health.

He enrolled at the College of New Jersey (Princeton) in 1875. There he did fairly well, graduating in the top quarter of his class. He entered law school at the University of Virginia but dropped out after a year to study law on his own. Bored with law, he attended Johns Hopkins University as a graduate student and received his PhD in History in 1886.

He found academia rather easy, so he spent much of his free time reading British history and writing essays on Government. One essay, Cabinet Government in the United States, was published in the International Review, where Henry Cabot Lodge was the editor. Another essay, his dissertation titled Congressional Government: A Study in American Politics, became a classic in the annals of American Political Science. In it, he criticized congressional dominance of Government and the weak-Presidencies in the post-Civil War Era. He even argued for the British Parliamentary System though he would change his mind after Roosevelt’s strong presidency.

Though Wilson was undoubtedly a racist, his first wife, Ellen Axson, influenced him on the social needs of the poor and dispossessed as well as for political and economic reforms.

It would seem that Wilson was destined to be a scholar, but he was also very interested in politics, having dreams of becoming a US senator as a stepping stone to the presidency. In the meantime, he taught economy and law at Bryn Mawr College in the 1880s. Later, he would teach history at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. He would end up at Princeton University where he would teach law and political economy.

In 1902, Wilson was tapped for President of Princeton University. The trustees wanted a reformer. What they got was someone intent on changing the way colleges were run. Princeton went from a tradition Ivy league school to a modern liberal university where professors were more less impersonable with their students. The changes would get old after a while and Wilson would leave the university in 1906 but not without leaving as a reformer with realistic goals.

By 1910, the Democrats in New Jersey had been tarnished by scandal and the party bosses were looking for an honest man with a high profile to run for Governor. Woodrow Wilson was that man with the caveat that he would be his own man and not beholden to the political machine. The party bosses agreed.

But they would soon regret their decision for Wilson was elected Governor and the first thing he did was to go after the political machines. Governor Wilson pushed through legislation that required primaries for all state candidates. He also passed a campaign finance law and outlawed corporate contributions to political campaigns. This radical reform (in the eyes of the machine anyway) got the attention of the National Democratic Party and of William Jennings Bryan in particular. The 1912 Presidential campaign was off and running.


Summary of offices held:



1902-1910: President, Princeton University

1911-1913: Governor of New Jersey


What was going on: Women’s Suffrage, Prohibition movement, World War I, Mexican Revolution, Russian Revolution

Scandals within the administration: The Newport sex scandal

Why he was a good President: Well, he was our last really progressive President. He really did go after monopolies. He was ultimately one of the great peace activists in American history and, even if he did do it while kicking and screaming, he ended up supporting women’s suffrage.

Why he was a bad President: He was kicking and screaming while supporting women’s suffrage. Also, he was a racist. He also had no taste for civil liberties when it was against his own interests, at least when it came to the world war anyway. The Espionage and Seditions Acts are probably the most Undemocratic bills to have ever plagued this nation. Even the Patriot Act didn’t go that far.

Did I mention Woodrow Wilson was a racist?

What could have saved his Presidency: More sensitivity towards civil rights might have been enough to put him in my top five. Maybe if he had supported women’s’ rights from the outset. He also should have accepted he was done after his stroke and let Marshall be President, for good or bad. And, of course, maybe he should have chilled a little before possibly starting the great Red scare.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: World War I lasting longer than it did wouldn’t have been good. Staying insensitive to women’s’ rights wouldn’t have helped his legacy either.

28. WOODROW WILSON (PART ii)


Election of 1912: Wilson came into Baltimore as one of the two favorites at the Democratic Convention, the other being Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House. The machine politicians favored the moderate Judson Harmon of Ohio and it looked like a three-way race. The perennially popular Bryan was also a factor.

A two thirds majority was needed for nomination, and it promised to be a long convention. Clark was well ahead on the first fourteen ballots and the powerful Tammany Hall machine dropped Harmon to support Clark. This concerned Bryan, thinking that a deal had been cut with party bosses and Wall Street. As such, he threw his support to Wilson more or less thwarting a Clark nomination. As it turned out, Wilson wasn’t immune to deal making either. Another candidate, Oscar Underwood of Alabama, was about to withdraw in favor of Clark, but Wilson’s men convinced Underwood that he would get Wilson’s support if he (Wilson) dropped out. Underwood stayed in and Wilson was finally nominated on the forty-sixth ballot.

Wilson campaigned on campaign reform, tariff reductions, stronger anti-trust laws, independence for the Philippines, and most important, a breakup of all monopolies. He counteracted Roosevelt’s New Nationalism with what he called the New Freedom, which basically was a more extreme version of monopoly busting.

But realistically, Wilson could have ran on a platform of requiring all Americans to have their legs amputated, for the Republicans were spilt between President Taft and Roosevelt, who bolted to form the Bull Moose party. In the end, Wilson won with just 41% of the vote but with a large majority in the Electoral College.

First term: The first thing President Wilson did was to go after the tariffs. He believed that a lower tariff was necessary in order to narrow the disparities between rich and poor. This created a deficit in tax revenue so, after signing the Underwood-Simmons Act, which lowered the tariffs, he also implemented the income tax as the Constitution now allowed.

Next up was banking reform. Ever since Andrew Jackson torpedoed the Second National Bank, there wasn’t a real system of banking that could stabilize the market and there were too many periods of recessions and depressions, the most recent being the Panic of 1907. And by now, these financial panics were not only affecting the average person, but the bankers and corporations as well. This gave Wilson the impetus to push through the Federal Reserve Act which established a board that could control interest rates and the money supply. It also created twelve regional reserve banks where money would be minted and printed. I actually got to visit the Federal Reserve in Philadelphia as a kid. It was neat to see how money was printed. They wouldn’t give me any souvenirs though.

On the foreign front, Mexico became a hot issue. In 1913, Mexico was overthrown by the counterrevolutionary General Victoriano Huerta. Huerta was an authoritarian in the worst way and, while Europeans saw Huerta as a business opportunity, Wilson refused to recognize him calling his men a “government of butchers.” The next year, a few American soldiers were arrested, and Wilson had his excuse to send in the Navy, who occupied the port of Vera Cruz. Huerta fled and Venustiano Carranza, Huerta’s rival from the North, and supported by Wilson, took over Mexico.

The story wouldn’t end there though because, by 1916, the rebellion led by Pancho Villa had begun and President Wilson would have his hands full with the popular revolutionary throughout his second term.

There were even bigger fish to fry in Europe. Because of what seemed like umpteen alliances in Europe not to mention a slew of near wars over the past ten years, it was inevitable that something would trigger a major war.

And, on June 28, 1914, the straw that broke the camel’s back happened. On that day, the Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated by a Serbian National. This created tensions between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, who both had their allies that encompassed pretty much all of Europe. Within about six weeks, what became known as the Great War (later called World War I) would break out.

Both sides, now led by Germany and Britain, respectively, tried to draw the United States into the war but President Wilson agreed with the public outcry that the US should stay out of it only suggesting that both sides play nice when American shipping is involved.

A big controversy loomed in 1915 when the Germans sunk the luxury ship Lusitania, a British ship but not a military one by any means and also with Americans aboard. It was obvious now whose side the Americans would be on, and Germany appeased Wilson, knowing American involvement in the war would not be good for them. Wilson accepted the apology knowing the desire to go to war was small.

But Germany continued to push the envelope and began unrestricted submarine warfare. Their U-Boats would lead to the deaths of four American citizens. President Wilson protested again but this time Germany took a more arrogant stance. President Wilson ordered Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to write a second note more or less threatening war against Germany. Bryan resigned instead feeling that there was no balance between the two major belligerents (Britain was pushing the envelope as well) and felt it would draw the US into the war. You see, besides being a creationist and an advocate for the poor (and maybe even a socialist), Bryan was also a pacifist.

Wilson drafted a third note, this time signed by the new Secretary of State, Robert Lansing, telling Germany that the sinking of another ship with American passengers would be an act of war. Things quieted down for a while after that.

There would be one more major act in Wilson’s first term when he appointed the liberal Louis Brandeis to the Supreme Court. This is significant because Brandeis was Jewish and as such became the first Jewish member of the Supreme Court.

The Birth of a Nation Controversy: Woodrow Wilson may have been fine with Jews and immigrants (he vetoed an anti-immigration act in 1915 but it was overridden).

But when it came to African Americans, he was definitely a product of the old South. He curried their favor in 1912 and rewarded them by segregating the Federal departments.

The biggest controversy surrounding Wilson’s racism, however, came when famed movie director D.W. Griffith arranged a screening of A Birth of a Nation at the White House in 1915. Wilson was said to have praised the movie for its unflinching accuracy. This movie’s so-called accuracy depicted blacks as basically evil lazy buffoons that ate fried chicken and watermelon at legislative sessions (never mind they were all played by white men in black face), and they also liked to rape white women on the side. And thank God for the Ku Klux Klan for saving the pure white people from the scourge of black dominance. Yes, President Wilson, said quote, “unfortunately, this is all so very true.”

Of course, this was 1915, and even the Northerners weren’t thinking much about racism and Jim Crow in the South, nor did they really care.

But historians certainly took a look and, while the webpage I’m reading about Wilson seems to have him in the top five, other historians have condemned him to the middle of the pack. Two historians who I have been watching on YouTube in fact have him down as one of the worst Presidents in history and one of them calls himself a Christian Conservative.

So, yeah, he may have been one of the most progressive Presidents in history and he was the one who planted the seed for what would eventually become the United Nations.

But, like it or not, Woodrow Wilson was an unabashed racist.

https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_birth.html

https://www.history.com/news/woodrow...w-ku-klux-klan


Election of 1916: President Wilson came into the 1916 campaign looking fairly popular. His progressive agenda was certainly a hit with the public and, so far, we had stayed out of the conflict in Europe. The Women’s Suffrage movement was taking off and there was some hope Wilson would support that cause as well.

But the Republicans had gotten their act together. Roosevelt style progressivism was dead at this point. Roosevelt himself was still active within the party but now he was advocating going to war against Germany. But there was an isolationist mood within the GOP and there was a lot of resentment toward Roosevelt for splitting the party in 1912.

So, they went with Charles Evans Hughes, a Moderate Republican, and a justice on the Supreme Court. Roosevelt derided Hughes as a bearded iceberg but Hughes would win on the third ballot anyway.

The platforms were not all that different when it came to the Great War. Wilson was pushing for military preparedness while stressing neutrality. Indeed, his slogan was “He kept us out of war.” Hughes too advocated military preparedness which seemed less convoluted than Wilson’s plan. Also, the public was beginning to tire of the progressive reforms by 1916 and wanted to go in a new direction. So, Hughes’ chances looked fairly good.

Indeed, by the time Election Day rolled around, Hughes reportedly went to bed thinking he would win a close election. And it was a close election. Only problem was, the close election went to Wilson, with a plurality of 49% (Hughes pulled 46%) and a slim victory in a Electoral College.

So, Hughes went into obscurity until 1930 when he would succeed William Taft to become one of the best-known Chief Justices in history.

And the nation waited with bated breath to see if President Wilson would still keep us out of war.


Second Term: Before the second term even began, President Wilson tried in vain to suggest a peace without victory between the two belligerents. He also recalled General Pershing from Mexico after failing to capture Pancho Villa.

Germany notified the US that it would resume unrestricted submarine warfare and the US would sever diplomatic ties with Germany. The US was closer to war. A month later came the infamous Zimmerman telegram in which Germany was trying to persuade Mexico to war on the United States. Wilson had his smoking gun.

With the Zimmerman note released to the press, Americans were outraged, and Wilson was able to get Congress to declare war on Germany. The US was in the war. Laws were passed including the Selective Service Act that reinstituted the military draft, and the very controversial Espionage Act which limited the freedom of expression and called for a stiff fine and prison sentence for anyone who dared to criticize the military or the Government. It was far worse than Lincoln’s lifting of Habeas Corpus and made Adams’ Alien and Sedition Act look like the greatest Civil Rights act ever.

There was also an internal war against the International Workers’ Union, or the Wobblies for short. The Wobblies were a radical Union that argued mainly for socialism. And, yes, sometimes they would react with violence.

Wilson was not a fan of this group, or of any socialist/communist group for that matter, so he approved the first of many raids on this group in particular. By 1919, the raids had spread to any group deemed anti-American. The raids were led by Attorney General Mitchell Palmer, and they would become known as the Palmer Raids.

Women’s Suffrage was also on the table as was prohibition. Prohibition had been an issue for decades really and the push to make alcohol illegal in the United States was on the rise by 1917. Wilson himself never gave his opinion one way or the other, but Congress would submit the eighteenth Amendment for ratification by the end of 1917 that would prohibit the sale of alcohol.

As for women’s suffrage, Wilson, at best was unmoved by the protests led by suffragette Alice Paul; in fact, he was even bemused. Later, he would become angry having more protests broken up. Things got more violent, and women were convicted and sentenced to sixty days in prison where they suffered some considerably cruel conditions such as beatings, forced feedings, and unsanitary conditions.

Wilson was repelled by these militant women but with the US now in the Great War and sentiment beginning to favor the right to vote for women, President Wilson, after a plea from the more moderate Carrie Chapman Catt, introduced the nineteenth Amendment, which would give women the right to vote. And although the Amendment would fail in the Senate twice, the third time would be a charm in 1920.

As the Great War winded down in 1918, President Wilson introduced what he called his fourteen points. It was yet another attempt to end the war in Europe and he again called for peace without victory (whatever you thought of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Britain, France, or Serbia, there really was no good guy in all this mess). Despite the rejection by England and France, Wilson’s document stands as one of the more historical and well-meaning documents of world history and it would be the blueprint in which the Armistice that ended the Great War would be drafted.

1917 was also the year of the Russian Revolution and, by 1918, the first of many Red scares would plague the United States. Socialism remained popular in some circles and Wilson, through Attorney General Palmer, were wanting to discourage the movement, thus the infamous Palmer raids. There was also a companion to the Espionage Act called the Sedition Act which permitted the Postmaster general to ban the mailing of anything deemed subversive. It also called for heavy penalties when criticizing the government or the war effort. Eugene Debs would soon be sentenced to ten years for violating the Espionage Act (later commuted by President Harding).

As the Great War was ending, a new war was blooming, and this was a medical emergency. For this was also the era of the Spanish Flu pandemic. It would be nice to say that Wilson tried to do something but, given his soon to be zeal for his League of Nations and then his subsequent stroke, he would end up doing even less than Trump. By the time it was over, 600,000 American were dead (and 20 million worldwide).

The Great War ended in November 1918 and President Wilson attended the Paris Peace Conference making him the first US President on European soil. He arrived to a hero’s welcome and became even more popular when he introduced his proposal for a League of Nations. The European nations liked the idea, and the Europeans would indeed form this organization, a precursor to what would become the United Nations.

But it didn’t prove to be as popular at home. The Republican Congress were in something of an isolationist mood and would spend over a year arguing about ratifying either the League of Nation or even the Treaty at Versailles.

Thus, Wilson set out on a League of Nations tour in the fall of 1919. His health wasn’t the greatest by then and doctors and some of his aides advised him against it, but he was determined to win public support. So, off he went, making forty addresses in twenty-nine cities. But he was unable to sway the likely indifferent public either. Suffering from exhaustion, he cut his tour short and a week later, on October 2, he suffered a debilitating stroke.

And Wilson would leave us with yet one more controversy. Since no one had any real faith in the Vice-President, Thomas Marshall, they kept the severity of Wilson’s stroke secret to the public (and to Marshall and the Congress) and Wilson’s wife, Edith Galt Wilson, more or less ran the White House, managing to get her husband to sign legislation as needed. She tried to stay as apolitical as possible but was influential in the firing of Robert Lansing when he held cabinet meetings behind the President’s back and wouldn’t accept a British ambassador’s credentials until he fired an aide that made unflattering comments about her. She is sometimes referred to (usually affectionately) as the first woman President.

With President Wilson more or less sidelined, 1920 would prove to be a quiet year in the White House despite the new Prohibition and the new right to vote for women. The Treaty of Versailles ratification failed as had the League of Nations proposal.

The United States was about to enter a new era.




Post Presidency: Still ill from his stroke, the last few years of Wilson’s life were rather quiet. He tried to form a law office with a partner but that fizzled when it was obvious Wilson was too ill. He fantasized about a third term in 1924 despite his paralysis and being nearly blind. He also still managed to publicly advocate for the League of Nations and managed a short Armistice Day address on a newfangled invention known as radio. This was in 1923.

Alas, Wilson would be unable to make a election bid as he died quietly on February 3, 1924.

Odd notes: Wilson kept a flock of sheep on the White House lawn (couldn’t afford a lawnmower I guess)

His parents were Confederate sympathizers during the Civil War

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/...w-wilson-facts

Final Summary: Needless to say, Woodrow Wilson is one of the most complicated men ever to hold the Oval Office. On one hand, he made great strides in progressivism. He formed the Federal Reserve, he obviously supported immigrants given his several vetoes on anti-immigration legislation, and, despite his walk back on keeping the US out of war, he was, ultimately, a man of peace as he tried desperately tried to push the League of Nations, an organization that was, sadly, destined for failure. He even won the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.

But he also had such a dark side, arguably evil even. He betrayed the blacks when he segregated the various departments and even encouraged laws that set back rights for blacks, especially in the South. And of course, there was the Birth of a Nation episode when his real feelings for blacks came out. That alone is damning, but then with the Espionage and Sedition acts which curtailed civil liberties to no end (and it was even upheld by the Supreme Court), well, needless to say I’m no fan of Wilson.

Still, he is remembered by historians (or at least some historians) as a great President for the things he did accomplish and at least had the foresight on such as the League of Nations.

As for me, I look at it as two Woodrow Wilsons. The good Woodrow, the progressive who advocated world peace and, eventually, women’s suffrage, I’d give an A to. But the bad Woodrow, the racist who didn’t believe in civil liberties gets an F.

So, I guess I average the grades out.


Overall rating: C

https://millercenter.org/president/wilson

29. WARREN HARDING (I'd do anything for love)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._%26_Ewing.jpg


Born: November 2, 1865, Blooming Grove, Ohio
Died: August 2, 1923, San Francisco, California (died in office)

Term: March 4, 1921- August 2, 1923
Political Party: Republican

Vice President: Calvin Coolidge

First Lady: Florence Kling Harding

Before the Presidency: Warren Harding grew up in a family of six in rural Ohio. Both of his parents were doctors; his mother having gotten that distinction from being a midwife. It was a happy childhood.

Harding graduated from Ohio Central College. While there, he distinguished himself by editing the campus newspaper. Though he tried his hand at law and teaching, journalism was his calling, and he, along with some friends, purchased a small newspaper for $300. They would have some moderate success.

In 1891, Harding married a local divorcee, Flossie King DeWolfe, five years his senior. The wealthy woman pursued Warren and he would finally give in to her chagrin, more on that later. Anyway, her father objected to the relation because of a rumor that Harding had black ancestors. He reportedly even threatened to kill Harding.

Harding’s Marion Star flourished during the 1890s partly due to Florence’s business sense and Harding’s own affability. He was known for his unbiased reporting and became popular with politicians of both parties. He made great pains not to run a critical story and had never fired an employee. It made Harding extremely well liked.

So, he was a natural when it came to politics. He became a Republican and was elected to the Ohio State Senate in 1899. He served as Majority Leader before a run for Lieutenant Governor, which he also won. He held that position for one term. He left that position to return to the newspaper in 1905. Five years later, he would make an unsuccessful run for Governor.

Harding became popular with the National GOP and won the honor of formally nominating President Taft for his re-election in 1912. He made a run for US Senator in 1914. It wasn’t the most pleasant of campaigns as Harding’s backers smeared his opponent for being Catholic (you think Americans are a bunch of bigots now? Let’s go back to a time when even having brown eyes was a cardinal sin). Harding won the election, but he was somewhat embarrassed by his supporters.

Harding’s six years in the Senate were undistinguished for the most part though he did oppose President Wilson’s League of Nations pitch. Considered a good fellow, Harding missed more sessions than he attended and missed key debates on the two major amendments of the day, women’s suffrage, and prohibition. He did serve as keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention in 1916 though.

And it set up what would be an interesting 1920 convention indeed.

Summary of offices held:

1900-1904: Ohio State Senate

1904-1906: Lieutenant Governor of Ohio

1915-1921: US Senator, Ohio


What was going on: League of Nations backlash, Economic boom, Teapot Dome scandal, prohibition

Scandals within the administration: Can you say Teapot Dome?

Why he was a good President: He did pass some reforms, especially when it came to women and children. He also was involved in the Washington Naval Treaty. And he was the first President to make use of the new media form called radio.

Why he was a bad President: he was one of the most scandalous Presidents in history. His economic policies would inevitably lead to the disaster known as the Great Depression. But, ultimately, for every decent person he appointed (he also was the first President to appoint women to key positions), he would appoint about three really bad eggs, Albert Fall only being the tip of the iceberg. Also, he didn’t really respect the White House all that much.

What could have saved his Presidency: Cleaning house before and during the Teapot Dome scandal became apparent would have been huge.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: After Teapot Dome, it already was.

Election of 1920: There was no indication Harding would be nominated, but he had a campaign manager, Harry Daugherty. There was no clear front runner, so he began talking Harding up to party leaders. Harding himself was proving to be affable and non-offensive as always, chumming it up at poker games, not seeming to take any positions on anything. To some Republicans, he was perfect and ended up getting nominated on the tenth ballot. To compliment Harding, they went with the popular Governor of Massachusetts, Calvin Coolidge, as his running mate.

As for the Democrats, they were pretty much tired from eight years of Woodrow Wilson and were looking to change courses. It was a disheveled convention to say the least. They also went with an Ohio newspaperman, James Cox of Ohio, a former Governor and a liberal. He too would have a big name running mate, President Wilson’s former Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The platforms were fairly predictable. The Republicans criticized Wilson’s handling of the World War and railed against the League of Nations. They also pushed for a return to tariffs and went with the slogan of a Return to Normalcy. Celebrities of the day began to get involved and popular jazz singer (and embarrassing blackface actor) Al Jolson, stumped for Harding, singing songs that compared Harding to Lincoln (If Lincoln had seen the Jazz Singer, he would have puked).

The Democrats campaigned on continuing Wilson’s policies for the most part (luckily, D.W. Griffith stayed away). That proved to be unpopular among the public though and they would pay the price come November.

The Socialist Party had a candidate in 1920 also. He was the well-known Eugene Debs who campaigned from prison. He had been convicted under Wilson’s Sedition Act (he opposed the draft). This probably didn’t help Cox’ chances wither.

So, Harding won the election by a landslide for the most part and a very interesting decade in American history (at least culturally) was about to unfold.

First term: One of the first things President Harding did was to sign bills enforcing higher tariffs. He also signed the Budget and Accounting Act which consolidated the budget requests into one large request. Probably one of Harding’s better bills.

He also made some fairly solid appointments in his first year of office, tabbing Charles Evans Hughes for Secretary of State and Herbert Hoover for Secretary of Commerce. Of course, he struck out on a few others, but we’ll get to that later. His most significant appointment, however, was for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. For that, he picked former President William Howard Taft.

During Harding’s term, Washington D.C. hosted the Washington Naval Armament Conference designed to limit naval strength throughout the world. It kept the world at peace for about a decade but, sadly, thanks to Japan initially, and Germany and Italy even more aggressively, it would be doomed to failure.

Though a staunch conservative, especially in economic matters, Harding could also have a heart. He pardoned Eugene Debs in late 1921 and he made some speeches condemning the treatment of African Americans by the previous administration. He also signed an act over the protests of the American Medical Association who called federal involvement in medical affairs, Socialist (in other words, Harding was costing them their mansions). He signed the Maternity and Infancy Protection Act which contributed matching funds to states that established prenatal and child health centers. This too, would also be temporary, however, as a Republican led Congress would let it lapse in 1929.

Like other Presidents before him (and Coolidge and Hoover afterwards), Harding wasn’t friendly when it came to Veterans’ pensions. He vetoed a bonus bill saying a balanced budget came first.

By 1923, President Harding was indeed a popular man and there was no doubt he would have been re-elected in 1924 had he not died.

Or would have he? Because, just weeks after he died, the biggest political scandal in United States history to date broke out. Remember I said he struck out with some of his cabinet appointments? Well, his Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, was a doozer. In January 1923, he resigned after being implicated in a scandal where he took bribes from private oil companies so they could tap the Teapot Dome reserves in Wyoming. Meanwhile, Harding’s former campaign manager and now Attorney General, Harry Daugherty, survived two impeachment attempts as two indictments accusing him of defrauding the government hung over his head. Harding himself, was part of a nefarious bunch of political crooks known as the Ohio gang, known for late night poker games at the White House where Harding once gambled away the White House China. And on top of all that, Harding was known as a notorious womanizer and had a long affair with one Nan Britton, and it’s the affair with her that will start a conspiracy theory surrounding Harding’s death.

But it was the Teapot Dome Scandal that would tarnish Harding’s legacy ultimately. While Harding himself was never implicated in the scandal, it did expose both his desire to please everybody (His father once told him if he were a girl, he’d be in the family way all the time, because he couldn’t say no) and his propensity to pick his cronies for important positions, no matter his character.

Death: President Harding had been shaken by the looming scandals surrounding him and he embarked on a trip to Alaska and the West with Florence. Though his health wasn’t the best, he was in his element as went out to shake hands and greet people. Whatever was going on in Washington, he was certainly well liked in Alaska.

On July 28, 1923, on the return journey, Harding fell ill with what was thought to be ptomaine poisoning and the train made an emergency stop in San Francisco. He lingered for several days and died five days later, on August 2.

Doctors would later rule his death as from a heart attack, but suspicion surrounded around the President’s wife. She certainly knew of Harding’s philandering, and she was worried he would be taken down by scandal as the Teapot Dome affair, while not yet public, was certainly well known in political circles. More telling, she refused to have an autopsy done on him, having him embalmed within the hour.

So, for the longest time, there was speculation that she had poisoned him. History Daily even goes as far to say she was behaving erratically on the day he died, accusing the hotel of poisoning him and threatening lawsuits until an employee wanted to test a glass that smelled odd.

https://historydaily.org/warren-hard...cy-wife-poison

An administration official, Gaston Means, published a book called the Strange Death of President Harding in 1930. He was hardly a dependable source, however, as he had served time for, guess what? Political corruption. Doctors later cleared Mrs. Harding long after her death.



Odd notes: Al Jolson endorsed Harding for President

Harding named his penis, “Jerry.”

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/...-harding-facts

Final Summary: Warren Harding really wasn’t cut out for the White House. He wasn’t really known as a hard worker though he did accomplish some things in his first year. But basically, he delegated authority to his cabinet members, a couple were successful such as Secretary of State Hughes and Secretary of Commerce Hoover (who incidentally was with Harding when he died).

But he had a long list of neer do wells starting with his own campaign manager/Attorney General and Albert Fall. Others in his administration would wind up behind bars as well. Basically, Harding was not a good judge of character. He treated the White House like a bachelor’s apartment to the point where the ghost of Dolley Madison would have been appalled. Though likable certainly, maybe too likable, he was also lacking moral character and not just from his womanizing.

So, in the end, Warren Harding on the surface was a pretty nice guy who would do anything to be liked, but it also made him something of a pushover, something you never want in a President.

And that was, in a nutshell, his downfall.

Overall rating: D

https://millercenter.org/president/harding

30. CALVIN COOLIDGE (Silence is Golden)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...cropped%29.jpg

Born: July 4, 1872, Plymouth, Vermont
Died: January 5, 1933, Northampton, Massachusetts

Term: August 2, 1923- March 4, 1929
Political Party: Republican

Vice President: Charles Dawes

First Lady: Grace Goodhue Coolidge

Before the Presidency: John Calvin Coolidge was born in Plymouth Notch, Vermont. He had no major ambitions growing up, just wanting to follow in his father’s footsteps as an honest small-town merchant. He was an average student in school until he blossomed at Amherst College where he graduated with honors in 1895. A member of the Republican Club, Coolidge was known for his wit and his public speaking skills. On his oratory skills, he was chosen to deliver the Grove Oration, a send up on his Senior Class at graduation. He also won a national essay contest for “The Principles Fought for in the American Revolution.” He also relied on other Amherst Graduates such as his future Attorney General, Harlan Stone.

Coolidge passed the Massachusetts Bar in 1897 and began his law practice in Northampton. He also starting to get involved in Republican politics.

Coolidge suffered personal losses in his youth with the death of his mother and younger sister. He would form a bond with his stepmother, however. His father, meanwhile, was a pillar of his community and had a political career of his own. Along with being a storekeeper, he served in the Vermont House of Representatives as well as a term in the State Senate. That along with his prudence with money, would be a big influence on Calvin.

His political career started with a seat on the Northampton City Council. His star rose steadily as he was appointed the city solicitor a year later. After a stint as a county clerk, he ran for the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1906. Four years later, he was elected Mayor of Northampton followed by three years in the Massachusetts State Senate where he would preside as President. In 1916, he was elected Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts and was off to Boston.

It was Coolidge’s election as Governor of Massachusetts where he gained National prominence. In 1919, the Boston Police went on strike. Governor Coolidge sent the Massachusetts State Guard to restore order by force and to break the strike. He faced up to AFL Union leader Samuel Gompers and won. The militia, meanwhile, policed the streets of Boston until the now fired strikers could be replaced. Coolidge was seen as a national hero even being praised by President Wilson.

Coolidge’s term as Governor was fairly progressive by his standards. He supported pay increases for public employees, limited the workweek for women and children to 48 hours (the child labor laws in the early twentieth century were pretty abysmal), and placed limits on outdoor advertising. He also consolidated the state government.

So, as 1920 rolled around, he was being touted as the favorite son candidate for the Presidential nomination.

Summary of offices held:

1899: Northampton City Council

1900-1903: Northampton City Solicitor

1903-1904: County Clerk, Hampshire County, Massachusetts

1907-1909: Massachusetts House of Representatives

1910-1912: Mayor of Northampton, Massachusetts

1912-1915: Massachusetts Senate

1914-1915: President, Massachusetts Senate

1916-1919: Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts

1919-1921: Governor of Massachusetts

1921-1923: Vice President of the United States


What was going on: Prohibition, the Roaring Twenties, the Ku Klux Klan, The Scopes Monkey Trial, Teapot Dome scandal

Scandals within the administration: none major

Why he was a good President: Well, he kept his cool, didn’t he? Seriously though, he never wavered from his political philosophy (which, admittedly, isn’t mine). He did cut taxes to the point where few Americans paid any. He balanced the budget, and he took advantage of the media at the time becoming the first real radio President. Most importantly, he wasn’t Warren Harding and brought back integrity to the office.

Why he was a bad President: His economic policies, which seemed great at the time, directly led to what would become the Great Depression. He also wasn’t the most socially activist President, even to the point of tolerating (though not necessarily approving) the Ku Klux Klan.

What could have saved his Presidency: he should have had more foresight in economic matters. He missed the Wall Street crash by about seven months.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: Had the stock market crash happened a year sooner or if the KKK had been ultimately successful.


How he became Vice President: As mentioned, Governor Coolidge, came into Chicago as a favorite son candidate and he received 34 votes on the first ballot. Of course, he had absolutely no chance of winning.

He wasn’t discussed in the smoke-filled room where deals were made. It was there where Warren Harding was decided on for President. However, they initially wanted Senator Irving Lenroot of Wisconsin for the running mate.

But there was a groundswell for Coolidge on the floor and, after a push by some rebellious delegates, Coolidge was nominated as Vice-President.

Coolidge did his part in the campaign as well, stumping in the South mostly, though in vain. The South was still largely Democratic (or Dixiecratic really). Nevertheless, it as an easy win overall in November and Coolidge was the Vice President of the United States.

As, Vice President, Coolidge would keep a low profile until, on August 2, 1923, while vacationing at his father’s home in Vermont, he was awakened with the news that President Harding had died. Coolidge’s father, a justice of the peace, swore Coolidge in at 2:24 AM.

And the new President coolly went back to bed.

First term: President Coolidge served out the rest of Harding’s term with little fanfare. There were some things brewing such as the Ku Klux Klan more or less taking over Oklahoma. Coolidge himself would let his goals be known in a State of the Union Address supporting prohibition and U.S. involvement in the World Court. He, like Harding before him, vetoed the bonus bill, although his would be overridden later. The Congress passed an even more restrictive immigration law banning the Japanese entirely and severely limiting everyone else outside of Canada and Mexico. He also oversaw the signing of the Dawes plan which was to solve the German reparation problem. It wouldn’t be enough to save the world from Hitler, however.

Election of 1924: President Coolidge, already popular in his own right, was ready for a try of a term of his own. He was unscathed from the Teapot Dome Scandal and was indeed praised for his honesty and decency at a time when it was so sorely needed by the President. So, despite the challenges from the likes of everyone’s favorite anti-Semite, Henry Ford, Coolidge would win the nomination fairly easily. He was known as Silent Cal by then, known for his disdain for small talk. He had hoped to peg Senator William Borah as his running mate, but he turned the offer down. So, they ended up going with the colorful Charles Dawes of Illinois.

The Democrats were, at the very least, a little more entertaining. For they had no clear front runner to challenge Coolidge. Not that they didn’t have their own stable of candidates who wanted a shot at him., indeed, there were several solid contenders such as Governor Al Smith of New York, touted by the returning Franklin Roosevelt (he had just recovered from polio) as the “Happy Warrior.” He was challenged by Wilson’s former Treasury Secretary, William McAdoo. McAdoo was supported by William Jennings Bryan due to his positive stance on prohibition (this was the year before the Scopes trial that would tarnish Bryan’s reputation somewhat). Prohibition, by now, had become something of a divisive issue within the Democratic party. In the end, the Democrats went with John Davis, a former ambassador to the United Kingdom.

The general campaign got off to a tragic start as President Coolidge’s son died of an infection during the Democratic Convention (they suspended out of respect). Once everything got rolling, however, it was more or less a repeat of the 1920 campaign. “Keep Cool With Coolidge” was the campaign slogan for the Republicans as they held the line on tariffs and stayed mum on just about everything else including prohibition and the KKK. Davis, on the other hand, openly condemned the Ku Klux Klan and, as such, made open the rift among the Democrats between the Jim Crow South and the Civil Rights advocacy that was gaining with the Northern Democrats.

Thanks to a progressive third-party campaign led by Robert LaFollette, Coolidge all but destroyed Davis in the popular vote and easily won his chance at his own term.

Second Term: President Coolidge certainly wasn’t what you would call an activist President. The Congress passed the Revenue Act which lowered government spending and cut income taxes considerably. The economy was booming and President Coolidge was content with letting the good times roll.

He was a little more active on the foreign front. Though opposed to joining the League of Nations, he favored joining the World Court (which Congress would also reject). He also participated, through Secretary of State Kellogg, in the Kellogg- Briand pact, a resolution that more or less outlawed war (I know, seems pretty naïve now, doesn’t it?). He also took an economic interest in Latin America, sometimes with the Monroe Doctrine in mind. Meanwhile, the more militaristic Roosevelt Corollary was all but abandoned.

Despite Coolidge’s reputation as the quiet type, he was quite available to the public, holding two news conferences a week and becoming well known on the radio. He was known for his sense of humor and once even wore an Indian headdress given to him by Yellow Robe’s daughter (Lakota tribe).

There were other things going on that Coolidge more or less ignored such as a major Ku Klux Klan demonstration in Washington in 1925. It was all but ignored except for a passing critical comment, hardly the outrage John Davis had vocalized the year before.

It was also the era of the Scopes evolution trial in Tennessee (will have to write about that someday) and Lindbergh’s cross-Atlantic flight. It was a quite exciting time in the mid to late twenties.

President Coolidge was as popular as any President has ever been, and he would have been re-elected easily in 1928. But he chose not to run, citing the two term rule (though, in Coolidge’s case, that might have been a little iffy).

Post Presidency: Coolidge announced he wasn’t running in 1928 with little fanfare. Even his wife was to quip, “What announcement?”

In truth, he had never really gotten over the death of his son in 1924 from a blister infection. Penicillin wasn’t around in those days so if you got an infection, you could very well be toast. In any event, he returned to Northampton where he worked on his autobiography and wrote a newspaper column. He traveled the country with his wife and even dined with Huey Long, the Governor of Louisiana. He would also speak infrequently on behalf of President Hoover, besieged from the ills of the Great Depression, an economic crisis in which the seeds were, unfortunately, due to the Coolidge policies.

On January 5, 1933, Coolidge, after having eaten lunch, collapsed and died of a heart attack.

Odd notes: A dinner companion reportedly bet Coolidge she couldn’t extract three words from him. He answered, “You lose.”

Coolidge once pardoned a raccoon.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/...coolidge-facts

Final Summary: Well, whether you liked his policies or not, you have to admit Calvin Coolidge was a pretty cool dude. And, really, he wasn’t all that terrible a President. As noted before, he certainly brought trust and integrity back to the White House (Whether he was able to recover the White House China Harding gambled away, we don’t know). He also was an advocate for world peace and, with the help of radio, he made the Presidency more accessible.

But he’ll also have to bear the cross with his economic policy. Yes, things were booming during his tenure, but the signs of a market crash were already there. There were absolutely no regulations then and speculators were running amok. Coolidge couldn’t see the writing on the wall, maybe no one could. I also wish he had taken a tougher stand against the Ku Klux Klan. Oklahoma’s Governor did, in fact, and got rewarded by being thrown out of office. Somehow, I don’t think that would have happened to Coolidge, not in the 1920s anyway.

But overall, yeah, he was a much better President than Harding had been for sure. Now would he have handled the Depression better than Hoover had? Honestly, I doubt it.

But for the time period that he served; Coolidge was certainly the right President for the times. Just don’t ask him how the weather is.

Overall rating: C+

https://millercenter.org/president/coolidge

31. HERBERT HOOVER (Brother can you spare a dime)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...r_portrait.jpg

Born: August 10, 1874, West Branch, Iowa
Died: October 20, 1964, New York, New York

Term: March 4, 1929- March 4, 1933
Political Party: Republican

Vice President: Charles Curtis

First Lady: Lou Henry Hoover

Before the Presidency: Herbert Hoover was born to Quaker parents in rural Iowa. By the time he was nine, both of his parents had died, and he and his siblings were passed around to relatives. Herbert ended up with his uncle in Oregon. Herbert was somewhat introverted, and he struggled in school for a bit, excelling in only math. But he studied hard and got into Stanford University. It was there where he showed his entrepreneur skills when he started a student laundry service.

After Hoover graduated in 1895, he tried to find work as a surveyor and ended up working at a gold mine in California. It was hard work; Hoover worked seventy hours a week. Luck came his way when he found a job in San Francisco. This put him in connection to a company that needed a mine inspector. He worked as a mining engineer in Australia and China from 1897 to 1902. In fact, Hoover and his young wife, Lou, were in China during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900.

In 1908, Hoover opened his own mining consulting business and was independently wealthy as of 1914. He had identified himself as a Progressive Republican and was concerned about humanitarian needs. In that sense, Hoover was an idealist. He supported Roosevelt’s third party bid in 1912.

Hoover’s foray into politics, or at least the administrative end of it, started in 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War. That year, he was asked by the US consul to help evacuate over a hundred thousand Americans trapped in London. After Germany invaded Belgium, he organized the Commission for Relief in Belgium with some wealthy friends. Through the commission, Hoover was able to raise millions of dollars for food and medicine for the besieged Belgians.

Hoover had become nationally known for his humanitarian skills and President Wilson asked him to run the US Food and Drug Administration. By now, the US was on a war footing, having entered the World War and Hoover was advocating the conservation of food. Hooverizing became another word for rationing and Americans were all in as they were supporting the troops in Europe. After the war ended, President Wilson appointed Hoover as head of the European Relief and Rehabilitation Administration where he directed 34 million tons of food, clothing, and supplies to war-torn Europe. He would also attend the Versailles Peace Conference with President Wilson and ran Wilson’s economic council as well. After leaving the administration, he founded what would later be called the Hoover Institution, at Stanford. And, though a Republican, he supported US involvement in the League of Nations, something his party was vehemently opposing.

Of course, Hoover was a Republican and was considered a candidate in 1920 but his support of the League of Nations more or less ended a chance at the White House that year. Instead, he ended up being appointed Secretary of Commerce by President Harding, a position he would keep through both the Harding and Coolidge administrations.

As Secretary of Commerce, Hoover supported regulation of new industries such as aviation and radio. He also was aggressive in pursuing trade opportunities for American businesses. Under Hoover as Commerce Secretary things were booming indeed.

In 1922, Hoover wrote a book called American Individualism. In it, he rejected the laissez-faire capitalism of the right while also being critical of the socialist policies of the left. Hoover was clearly a Capitalist, but he was looking for a more reasonable middle ground.

As Secretary of Commerce, Hoover was seen as a Progressive and was even being considered as a running mate for Coolidge in 1924. Of course, that was not to happen. But a major flood on the Mississippi River in 1927 but him back in the National spotlight as he took charge in the relief effort. By 1928, Hoover had a reputation as a humanitarian and as someone who could get things done. He was certainly going to be a front runner in 1928 to be sure.

Summary of offices held:

1914-1917: Chair of the Commission For Relief in Belgium

1917-1918: Director, United States Food Administration

1918-1919: Chair, European Relief and Rehabilitation Administration

1921-1928: Secretary of Commerce

What was going on: The Wall Street crash, The Great Depression, the Bonus Army,

Scandals within the administration: none that we know of

Why he was a good President: Despite not being the right President for the times, Hoover did try to do his best and he was certainly an idealist when it came to advocating world peace.

Why he was a bad President: Well, it was the Great Depression, wasn’t it? His political philosophy of not using Federal funds to help the people in need was disastrous to say the least and probably left his successor to deal with an even deeper crisis than necessary

What could have saved his Presidency: A more activist role in making the Great Depression a little less severe would have done wonders.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: Between the Great Depression and Emperor General MacArthur, the poor guy had no chance.

Election of 1928: Hoover came into the Republican Convention not very enamored by the party regulars who, no doubt, found Hoover as too progressive, but he had swept the primaries and was endorsed by powerful Andrew Mellon of Pennsylvania. He also happened to be the Treasury Secretary. Hoover won on the first ballot and was teamed with Majority leader Charles Curtis of Kansas. The Republicans ran on a fairly conservative platform with lower taxes, a protective tariff, and strong support of prohibition among other things. Plus, they had the wave of prosperity under their watch to run on.

The Democrats, on the other hands, needed someone to shake things up on their end. They went with Governor Al Smith of New York. He took a different stance on prohibition. By 1928, you were either a “wet” (for the repeal of prohibition) or a “dry” (a supporter of prohibition). Smith was, unmistakably, a wet, though the party made great pains in promising prohibition supporters they wouldn’t try to repeal the amendment. For proof, they nominated, for Vice-President, the pro- prohibitionist, Joseph Robinson of Arkansas.

Hoover had the upper hand throughout the campaign, and he campaigned cautiously making seven carefully worded radio message without even mentioning Al Smith. He also coined the slogan, ‘a chicken in every pot.” And “a car in every garage.” There was also another issue that hurt Smith. He was the first Catholic to have ever been nominated by a major party and the Anti-Catholic fervor remained strong in the United States. As such, Smith would have to endure some indignities in the South especially as he spoke to a jeering crowd in Oklahoma City while the KKK (still in power in Oklahoma) burned a cross within his sight. The religious intolerance was pretty ugly for Smith to say the least.

And it would show up in the vote in November as well as Hoover won in yet another landslide for the Republicans. The haters of anything non-white Anglo-Saxon protestant won yet again.

And, within a year, they were about to get their just rewards.

First term: President Hoover’s administration started quietly enough. The economy seemed to be flowing smoothly. He organized a strong cabinet and there was no reason to believe the government was in any way unstable. Yes, there were some tensions on the World front, both in Europe and Asia, but nothing that seemed as if a new world war was imminent. It seemed like a happy time.

But October 29, 1929, would change everything. While one can look back and see the tea leaves, no one thought about the warnings then as investors were speculating like it was the 1849 Gold Rush all over again. So, imagine their surprise when the stock market began to crash that previous Thursday, and now, on Tuesday, finished the free-fall that sparked the Great Depression.

It especially affected farmers, initially, but it also trigged a worldwide depression, one that especially affected Germany as they would make their slow descent into Nazism.

On the foreign front, Hoover did have some temporary successes at least, notably with the London Naval Treaty which limited the size of the navies. The US, Britain, and Japan signed the treaty while France and Italy didn’t. Italy, of course, had been led by the Fascist Benito Mussolini for years at this point. Japan would also, thanks to a couple of assassinations, go militaristic in late 1930. The Hoover Administration did get to celebrate a Nobel Peace Prize as a result of the Kellogg-Briand pact of 1928 (really a Coolidge victory but, well, you know).

But on the domestic front, it was all about the Great Depression. Within a year, banks began to fail, and, by the end of 1930, more than 1300 banks had shut its doors. Unemployment rates were skyrocketing and there were no safety nets of which to speak of. Basically, it was every man for himself.

President Hoover, needless to say was way in over his head as he didn’t know what to do, no one did to be fair. But it would take a while for him to even attempt anything. He finally did when he funded a public works project, but it would pale in comparison to the long reaching programs FDR would implement a few years later and the depression only got worse.

By 1931, there was a clamor within the Democratic Party as well as some Progressive Republicans from the Midwest for economic relief for farmers and others affected severely by the Depression. Hoover responded by vetoing at least two relief bills that would be overridden. He had believed that the worst had passed, and that the economy would work itself out. Of course, it didn’t, and it not only had a devastating effect on Americans, but it also had an effect on the World stage as well. Italy was full blown Fascist; Germany was well on its way as Hitler was rising from the ashes, and Japan was about to wage its expansionist war starting with Manchuria. The early 1930s was not a good time to be alive.

Perhaps the final nail on Hoover’s coffin though had to have been the advent of the Bonus Army. A large contingent of World War I veterans, many of whom were affected by the Great Depression, camped out near the White House with demands to receive their bonus pensions early. Hoover, as well as Congress, rejected their demands while supporting their right to demonstrate and even provided them shelter and supplies. So far, so good, right?

Enter Douglas A. MacArthur, General and would be Emperor of the United States Army. By now, most of the protestors had gone home and only a handful remained in the abandoned buildings. Hoover wanted them relocated, peacefully mind you, and ordered the Secretary of War to move them to nearby camps. But the Secretary of War feared riots and ordered General McArthur to relocate the stragglers to the Anacostia River Flats.

But General MacArthur, that great lover of peace who would one day want to nuke China, had other ideas. He decided to drive the Bonus Army out of Washington altogether and burned the camp area down with the use of tear gas, bayonets, tanks, and guns. He probably would have used a nuclear weapon if it had existed then. One Bonus Army member was killed, and the incident horrified the public.

MacArthur and Hurley weren’t willing to stand up for their horrific error and denied responsibility, so President Hoover took the heat for them. Good for him, but maybe he should have done a Truman and, you know, fire their asses? Guess the buck didn’t stop with Hoover though.

Anyway, things were not looking good for Hoover come re-election time.

Election of 1932: No one really expected Hoover to be re-elected after the Bonus Army debacle. Now the word Hooverize stood for something else. Now people were living in Hoover Hotels (cardboard boxes) or in Hoovervilles (enclaves of makeshift shacks). People showed off their Hoover flags (pulled out empty pockets) while they stood in breadlines. This was not a man that was ripe for re-election.

Still, the defeated Republicans nominated Hoover and Curtis on the first ballot, and they took their chances, dim as they seemed. The platform changed though as had the times. Now they were supporting the repeal of Prohibition as they were feeling the political tide turn that way. It was about the only issue they were on the right side of.

The Democrats, on the other hand, were quite giddy at the chance of gaining the White House after twelve years, the only question on being who would be the candidate. It wasn’t as cut and dried as you would think given how the tide had turned, but we’ll get into that more on the next chapter.

For, in the end, Hoover had to deal with the charismatic Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the differing platforms wouldn’t really make a difference. Hoover was toast and he knew it. FDR was cautious in his campaigning, mentioning the New Deal but not really explaining what it meant. What it did mean though was a landslide loss for Hoover in the election, however.

Post Presidency: Herbert Hoover left a failed President but, like Jimmy Carter later, he would have an extraordinary post- Presidency. He was all but rejected by the Republican party and he was more or less demonized by the Democrats, his stinging criticisms of FDR’s New Deal not doing much to help. As such, he actively supported Alf Landon in the 1936 campaign.

Hoover’s post-Presidency really started at the onset of World War Two. He met with Adolf Hitler in Germany to give him a good dressing down basically. As someone who truly opposed war, he was against US involvement until the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. President Roosevelt dropped his less than enamored feelings for Hoover and appointed him to chair an international relief organization to help nations that had been overrun by Hitler. Unfortunately, thanks to the cruelty of the Nazis, he was unable to get food to the people that needed it most.

He fared better in the post war atmosphere, serving as coordinator of the Food Supply for World Famine. In 1947, the Republican controlled Congress appointed Hoover as chairman of what would become known as the Hoover Commission. This was done in hopes he could somehow dismantle the New Deal that he had been so critical of. Imagine their disappointment when he did anything but. Instead, he advocated reforms to strengthen the Executive Branch, some of his proposals even making their way into the Executive Reorganization Act in 1949. He returned in 1955 to suggest more reforms, though he would prove not to have been as successful as he had been in 1949.

On the international front, however, was where Hoover would flourish. He opposed the use of the Atomic Bomb on Japan and opposed American intervention in wars overseas, notably in Korea, preferring a stronger military stateside instead.

He remained active in Republican Party politics as well, supporting Robert Taft in 1948 and 1952 and Eisenhower in 1956. He was not a fan of Nixon in 1960 however and supported Goldwater just before Hoover’s death in 1964 as he shared many of Goldwater’s Libertarian views.

Herbert Hoover died of colon cancer in 1964 and is remembered for his activism in the humanitarian field post-presidency.

Odd notes: President Hoover donated his salary to charity

His son had two pet crocodiles

(https://www.ducksters.com/biography/uspresidents/herberthoover.php)

Final Summary: The only thing that really saves Herbert Hoover from being listed among the very worst Presidents in history was that at least he wasn’t corrupt. He really did try his best in his own way.

But ultimately, he was an abject failure. As someone who basically held Libertarian views, he did almost nothing to alleviate the pain of the average person. He did pass a bill to help the farmers but that was before the Wall Street crash, and he would make some halfway measures in attempts to boost the economy. But he seemed indifferent and even cold from a public standpoint at the plight of the people in need.

He did have a sense of idealism when it came to world events. He supported Kellogg-Briand and was disappointed when Japan broke the treaty. He also backed the London Naval Treaty.

But ultimately, he’ll always be remembered for the Great Depression and all the humanitarian efforts he made after his Presidency can never erase that. If I were rating Herbert Hoover as a man, I’d probably give him at least a solid B.

But as President, well…


Overall rating: D+

https://millercenter.org/president/hoover

32 FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT (Happy days are here again)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...r_Portrait.jpg

Born: January 30, 1882, Hyde Park, New York
Died: April 12, 1945, Warm Springs, Georgia (died in office)

Term: March 4, 1933- April 12, 1945
Political Party: Democrat

Vice President(s): John Nance Garner, Henry Wallace, Harry Truman

First Lady: Eleanor Roosevelt

Before the Presidency: Franklin Delano Roosevelt grew up as an only child of fairly wealthy parents in upstate New York. He was isolated on a large farm growing up for the most part and was schooled at home by tutors. He did have loving parents, especially his mother, who was devoted to him throughout her life.

At age fourteen, Franklin’s parents sent him to the Groton school where he was miserable. There was something of a pecking order at the private school that favored athletes and rebels; Franklin was neither. He did become familiar with his distant cousin, Theodore, however, and became something of an admirer of him.

Franklin entered Harvard in 1900. There he became very active in extracurricular activities, sometimes at the expense of his grades. Still, his grades were average, and he graduated in 1903. He continued on through graduate school where he became editor of the Harvard Crimson. It was during this period when Roosevelt declared himself a Democrat even though he remained an admirer of his Republican and now President cousin.

The love bug bit Franklin as well and, after being rejected by one prospect, he became involved with a distant cousin, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt. They would develop a romantic as well as a professional relationship, and anyone who knows American History knows who Eleanor Roosevelt is.

Franklin and Eleanor were married in 1905. She was given away by Theodore.

About the time he was married, Roosevelt entered law school. It wasn’t really his passion, however, and he never graduated. Nevertheless, he passed the bar.

He worked for a law firm for a time until he was approached by upstate Democrats to run for political office. Roosevelt ran for the State Senate in 1910 and won his first election. Roosevelt was an attractive candidate party due to his name, but also because he seemed to have an endless reservoir of energy. He was clearly a people person, and voters especially then responded very positively to that.

Roosevelt proved to be a different kind of Democrat as he railed against the Tammany Hall machine while defending the farmers in his district. He also shared the belief his cousin had that government should play a role in a fair and equitable society and didn’t think people should be controlled by an economic or political power. In other words, Franklin Roosevelt was a diehard progressive.

After he was re-elected in 1912, he formed a friendship with Louis Howe, a journalist who would become FDR’s chief adviser for two decades. FDR wouldn’t finish out his second term, though, as President Wilson came calling. Roosevelt had supported the New Jersey Governor through his Presidential run and Wilson asked him to be Assistant Secretary of the Navy, a position he held for almost all of Wilson’s two terms. It was a position that his cousin Theodore once had under President McKinley.

As Assistant Secretary, Roosevelt thrived on the ceremonial gatherings he was called to attend, but more important, he worked to reshape the Navy in some ways, acting more as the top dog than as an assistant. He advocated a larger Navy, particularly during the World War, which often put him at odds with the Wilson Administration. Nevertheless, it was Roosevelt that took charge of the Navy’s contribution to the American effort in the war.

Roosevelt, by now, was a politician’s politician, and he would take steps to make sure his political career wouldn’t end, even with his flaws. When he lost a bid for the Senate in 1914, he realized he had to play ball with Tammany Hall. He also had an eye for the women and, when caught, Eleanor offered to divorce him. He turned her down and promised to be faithful from then on (he would break that promise on numerous occasions). He did it more for political reasons than anything else. Eleanor was also the shrewd type (though she has nothing on Hillary Clinton) and decided she would live her own life as well, thus, the marriage was one of a political partnership than of a romantic one.

Despite the personal issues, FDR’s star was rising within the Democratic Party, and he was nominated to run with James Cox as Vice President in 1920. Of course, Harding would win the election in a landslide, but FDR came out of the election as one of the party’s bright stars. He retired to the private world after the election and seemed ready for a political comeback. Then tragedy hit.

In the summer of 1921, Roosevelt was vacationing at Campobello Island when he was stricken with polio. He survived but would be partially paralyzed for the rest of his life. He did manage, through rehabilitation, to be able to stand and walk as necessary, but he would be doing it in constant pain. Eleanor and Louis Howe encouraged him (Eleanor probably still loved Franklin in her own way) and were drawn in by FDR’s own optimism. Franklin expected a full recovery that never came, and yet, he never lost his will to live and, in fact, seemed to be strengthened by his circumstances. In that sense, he was an extraordinary man.

FDR got back into politics in 1922 when he backed Al Smith for Governor of New York. Smith won and FDR would back him for President two years later. Alas, it wasn’t Smith’s time, but 1928 would be, at least in the Democratic Party, and he persuaded Roosevelt to run for the Governor’s seat. Smith had hoped that an FDR gubernatorial run would help his chances in the North. Alas, it didn’t but Smith at least had his man in the Governor’s mansion; FDR narrowly won and was destined to become a fairly popular Governor. At first, a lot of it was smoke and mirrors as Governor Roosevelt proved successful at hiding his affliction with the help of Howe, thus dispelling rumors that polio had made him more or less disabled (which he technically was).

The moment for Governor Roosevelt to shine, though, would come in the form of the Great Depression. Like President Hoover, Governor Roosevelt did nothing in hopes that the economy would take care of itself. However, Unlike President Hoover when it became obvious the market wouldn’t recover, the Governor took action by getting the state to pass a public works program to aid the unemployed and to lower taxes for farmers. He also granted relief to the needy and developed a reputation nationally as a liberal reformer.

As such, Roosevelt won re-election in 1930 and seemed poised as a major Presidential candidate in 1932.



Summary of offices held:

1911-1913: New York State Senate

1913-1920: Assistant Secretary of the Navy

1929-1933: Governor of New York


What was going on: The Great Depression, The New Deal, Hitler and Mussolini, Hindenburg disaster, Golden age of Hollywood, World War II

Scandals within the administration: The Air Mail scandal

Why he was a good President: His New Deal economic policies are with us to this day, even as there are still some who would like to destroy them, even Social Security, which may be FDR’s biggest domestic legacy. It took a while, but he got us out of the Great Depression and kept the nation calm with his numerous fireside chats. And he masterfully guided us through the crisis that was World War II. He is perhaps the only President in history that was able to steer us through two major crises.

Why he was a bad President: Well, he really fumbled the ball when it came to the Japanese- Americans, something even I can’t forgive him for. His quixotic attempt to pack the Supreme Court didn’t look well on him either.

What could have saved his Presidency: If he had followed his advice about falling into fear and not gotten xenophobic on the Japanese in the US, he probably would have scored an A

What could have destroyed his Presidency: If the Depression had actually gotten worse for starters. I won’t mention losing World War II because if he had tanked with the New Deal, he never would have been President for World War II; they would have sent him out on a rail.

Election of 1932: Roosevelt came into the convention in Chicago as the front runner. Still, it wouldn’t be as easy to get the nomination as one would think. For one thing, Al Smith was giving it another shot. They seemed to agree on just about everything, including the repeal of prohibition, but Roosevelt wasn’t as keen on making it a campaign issue as Smith was. And, because Smith was running, Catholicism was again an issue (People actually feared a Catholic President would take his orders from the Pope). John Nance Garner was also running, and he was popular in the West.

Of course, the issue on everyone’s minds was the Great Depression, which had all but peaked by 1932. No one initially had the two thirds majority until Roosevelt promised to put Garner on the ticket, giving him enough votes to be nominated on the fourth ballot.

Roosevelt went against possibly the most unpopular President in recent history in Herbert Hoover and it wouldn’t take much to win in the largest landslide in history up to that point. Still, Roosevelt played up his platform of a “New Deal,”, emphasizing the need for people to work together as opposed to the individualism Hoover spoke of. Otherwise, Roosevelt played the rope-a dope knowing it was Hoover, not he, that had to prove his adeptness at being President, something he (Hoover) seemed to be failing miserably at.

And as such, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was elected in the biggest landslide until, well, the next election.

First term: As it was, FDR was lucky to even make it to inauguration. At a rally in Miami in February 1933, Roosevelt was sitting in the back seat of a car when shots rang out. Four people were wounded, and Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak was killed. FDR, fortunately, escaped the incident shaken, but unscathed.

So, Roosevelt became the last President to be sworn in on March 4. From 1936 onwards, the President would be inaugurated on January 20 since it was now easier to travel to Washington.

Not that he took much time to enjoy his victory. The United States still was in the worst economic crisis in its history, and it actually took a World War to finally get us out of it. Roosevelt made great pains to ease the impact as much as he possibly could, however, as his New Deal turned out to be much more than a campaign slogan. Within a day of his inauguration, he declared a four-day bank holiday in an effort to stop the run on banks. Days later, Congress would meet, and it started a tradition of the first hundred days or, in other words, the first hundred day period of a Presidential Administration when most of his work would be accomplished. That isn’t necessarily true, of course; Obamacare wasn’t passed until his second year for example, but it is true that FDR accomplished more in his first hundred days than any President before or since.

And the country badly needed someone that could accomplish much. President Roosevelt did just that starting with the Emergency Banking Act. He then convinced Congress to let him organize work programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Tennessee Valley Authority. More jobs were created with the Federal Emergency Relief Act and, on the hundredth day, the National Recovery Administration, and the Public Works Administration. The NRA (not the National Rifle Association) was especially notable since their stamp seemed to be on everything from newspapers to shop windows to consumer packaging. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court ruled that apparently helping the less fortunate was somehow unconstitutional and President Roosevelt would have to take another tactic.

Luckily, I’m exaggerating the cruelty of the court circa 1935 a little as many of FDR’s programs did pass muster with them, one of them being the National Labor Board which established the government as a pro-labor entity. He continued to create jobs with Federal Funds with organizations like the Civil Works Administration. He also took the US off the Gold Standard and established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which guaranteed depositors their money wouldn’t suddenly disappear into the night. FDIC exists to this day.

Of course, Roosevelt and his New Deal had its enemies, mainly virtually the entire Republican Party. The Progressive idealism once prominent in the GOP was all but disappearing and only a strongly Democratic congress enabled the President to get his programs through. He also had detractors within his own party for not doing enough, notably, Senator Huey Long of Louisiana, a populist to a fault and even a potential dictator in Louisiana. The people loved him, especially the blacks and the poor and in some ways, was a liberal version of Donald Trump, albeit a bit smarter. He had plans to run against FDR in 1936 but he would be cut down by an assassin’s bullet in 1935.

World events were also becoming grimmer as Japan was hell bent on expanding its empire and was at war with China. Germany was now controlled by Hitler and his oppression of the Jews was already headline news. Roosevelt was, of course, cognizant of all this, but his priorities in this first term was to get as many Americans off the breadlines as he possibly could. Thus, all he could do was to pray for Europe.

And, domestically, the United States was about to get hit with a new crisis. For, the plains states were in a severe drought, and it set off the Great Dust Bowl of 1934.

His biggest enemy though proved to be the Supreme Court which found many of his New Deal programs unconstitutional. Most of these were Republican appointees of course which didn’t help. As such, Americans remained nervous about their futures and wondered if a second FDR term would really do any good.

Election of 1936: World and National events were not the best to say the least. Europe was getting darker by the day as Berlin held the Summer Olympics as Hitler’s paeon to Aryan superiority. Needless to say, he wasn’t thrilled when African- American Jesse Owens all but dominated the Olympics. Meanwhile Spain was in the throes of its own Revolution with Franco’s fascists getting help from Mussolini and Hitler, who were more or less allied these days.

At home, meanwhile, the Supreme Court seemed to have put the brakes on Roosevelt’s New Deal and the economy had faltered into what was now called the Roosevelt Recession. Yes, things were a lot better than it had been in 1932, but people were still struggling to make ends meet in general. So, Roosevelt’s re-election, at least at the start, wasn’t a done deal. He lost the support of the business community after supporting the Social Security Act (screw the elderly the rich men said).

With his likely biggest obstacle gone in Huey Long, however, there was no doubt as to his re-nomination, the only question being who the Republicans would put up against him.

As it was, there really was no strong Republican to put up against Roosevelt; that would have to wait four years. They ended up going with moderate Governor Alf Landon of Kansas, certainly a likable sort, but not much of an orator. Even worse, while Landon himself was more of a Centrist, the more conservative voices, most notably, his running mate, Frank Knox, were louder and that tended to turn the public off.

So, Roosevelt was able to form his coalition of what was called the New Deal Coalition, a group of Southern Democrats, minorities, particularly blacks, Northern Jews, Catholics, labor, and farmers. It was a coalition that would keep the Democrats in power until the seventies with some exceptions (Truman’s Republican Congress, Eisenhower, even Nixon).

And Roosevelt won in the biggest landslide in history- period.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT (Part 2)

Second Term: As casually mentioned, President Roosevelt had signed the Social Security Act into law and, as we know, that gives Senior Citizens some financial security, or at least until they vote for the morons that have always wanted to take it away from them.

The second term started with a bit of controversy as FDR made an attempt to pack the court with justices that would support his New Deal policies. The idea didn’t float well with Congress, however, and they ended up just passing a bill that gave justices over 70 full retirement benefits. No retirements were forthcoming however, and Roosevelt would take a pretty big political hit. However, some justices received the message and voted the National Labor Relations Act and the Social Security Act constitutional, and Roosevelt could breathe a bit of a sigh of relief.

By 1937, the situation in Europe was getting more tense as Hitler was beginning to flex his military muscles. In response and, knowing the Americans’ reluctance to fight another war in Europe, FDR signed the third neutrality act of his presidency which prohibited the shipping of arms and munitions to belligerents. He did approve of non-miliary sales to belligerents in something called Cash and Carry. This was an underhanded way to help Britain and France mostly as Roosevelt was clearly appalled by the human rights violations and warmongering going on in Germany in particular.

There was finally a judicial retirement and FDR made one of the most famous appointments in history in the liberal Hugo Black. Black supported Roosevelt’s New Deal policies but he was also controversial for being a member of the Ku Klux Klan in his youth.

The economy still continued to sputter despite the first term efforts. Roosevelt had taken a more conservative approach in an attempt to balance the budget, but it was obvious more relief was needed. He was talked into a five billion dollar relief bill to create more jobs, but unemployment still stagnated at a whopping 19%. It didn’t seem like anything more could possibly be done to end this depression. President Roosevelt did get one more thing passed on his domestic agenda however as the government established the minimum wage and the 40 hour work week.

Ironically, Adolf Hitler, inadvertently, would come to the rescue though not in the way anyone would have wanted. In 1938 he invaded and took over Austria. Later in the year he made a deal with “Peace in Our Time” Neville Chamberlain, the Prime Minister of Britain, and quickly rolled over Czechoslovakia. Now, the United States was beginning to take notice. By the end of the year, Roosevelt had recalled the American ambassador to Germany over the anti-Jewish activities there.

In 1939, everything went full blown as Italy, having already conquered Ethiopia, was now invading Albania. Germany, meanwhile, after conquering Czechoslovakia, was threatening to invade Poland even as England and France vowed to defend Poland in that situation. President Roosevelt too was concerned, and he sought to cement the alliance with Britain. The US wouldn’t enter the war, of course; public sentiment would have had FDR’s head on a silver platter. But he could help in economic ways. He dropped the arms embargo while revising the neutrality law. Relations with Japan were also in tatters so the trade agreement with the military aggressor was terminated.

On September 1, 1939, the inevitable happened; Germany invaded Poland. France and Britain declared war two days later but the US, thanks to public pressure, declared neutrality.

The truth is, though, Roosevelt wasn’t comfortable with abandoning his European friends in time of need, so he was able to pass Lend and Lease laws in 1940. Germany, by now, was invading practically all of Europe and even had an Axis pact with Italy and Japan. Mussolini was trying to conquer Africa while Japan wanted all of Asia. That left Europe at the mercy of Hitler and by the summer of 1940, he had conquered Norway, Denmark, Holland, and worse of all, France. On top of that, the Luftwaffe was bombing London on a daily basis. This, needless to say, was upsetting the American public though not enough to enter the war themselves. This brought Roosevelt to declare non-belligerency as opposed to neutrality, essentially giving moral and economic support to Britain and France.

Most Americans approved of this happy medium but there was a group known as America First that wanted to stay out of the war altogether. One of its most prominent spokespeople happened to be Charles Lindbergh who must have thought people would reject the call to defend the rest of Europe from Germany. Instead, it would backfire in his face.

As for Roosevelt, he made what would be a controversial decision of his own. With the prospect of the US eventually entering the war (he would implement a peacetime draft just for that inevitability), he announced that he would seek an unprecedented third term.

Election of 1940: FDR has stated that he would only run for a third term if the situation in Europe deteriorated and if there was a draft movement for him. With Nazi Germany running amok all over Europe by the Spring of 1940, the first condition had been met. The only question now was if there would be a draft Roosevelt movement. The second condition was met, sort of, and Chicago Ed Kelly organized his own Draft Roosevelt movement, but others in his party, including Vice President Garner (who wasn’t going to run with FDR this time around), disagreed with Roosevelt breaking the two term limit tradition, never a law, but always assumed.

He also had some resistance from Southern Democrats (or the Dixiecrats) when he chose ultra-liberal Henry Wallace to be his running mate. Nevertheless, Roosevelt had no problem getting a third nomination.

As for the Republicans, they were considerably more organized than they had been in 1936 and went with Wendell Willkie of Indiana. A former Democrat, he actually supported FDR for much of the New Deal and, in some aspects, the platforms, at least economically, seemed fairly similar.

The gloves came off near election time, however, as Willkie railed at FDR’s quest for a third term while indicating that a third FDR term would mean the US would be at war. Roosevelt denied the accusation pledging that the US would not get involved in any foreign war. Sort of like the Woodrow Wilson pledge, “He kept us out of war.”

Though the candidates themselves were rather civil (they basically liked each other personally), the campaigns began to get down and dirty. In the end, it didn’t matter, however; Roosevelt again won by a comfortable margin though the Republicans did fare a bit better than they had in 1936.

Third Term: 1941 would prove to be arguably the most eventful year in American history. America was finally beginning to see the Great Depression in their rear view mirror since Roosevelt had more or less put America on a war footing. No, the United States wasn’t physically in the war, but with Cash and Carry and Lend-Lease bills supporting the Allies in Europe, war production was on all cylinders, meaning jobs were now becoming plenty.

Of course, the World War was the first thing on everyone’s mind and there was still a very vocal isolationist movement, some of whom were actually German (though not necessarily Nazi) sympathizers. One wonders if Lindbergh (who actually did meet Hitler) fell into the sympathizer category.

There was a problem on two fronts globally of course, while the American public was more transfixed on what was happening in Europe (Edward R. Murrow’s news reports during the bombings of London were listened to by millions), they were less aware of the threat in the Pacific. Militaristic Japan was set on conquering virtually all of Asia and even had eyes on Australia. All of this was affecting American interests obviously and relations between the two nations were near the breaking point. As such, Japan sent an envoy to negotiate a peace settlement with the US.

Of course, as we now know, and probably unknown to the Japanese envoy, it was all a ruse. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, United States territory. The isolationist movement fizzled in a matter of hours and the United States was at war.

And President Roosevelt was ready. He had anticipated the inevitability of war, possibly with Japan for certain, and he had implemented a peace draft the year before while setting aside more funds for defense. In some ways the Lend-Lease program had been a stalling tactic, so the US had time to prepare for its inevitable involvement in the war.

And, after the United States and Japan formally declared war on each other, Germany and Italy gave Europe an inadvertent gift when they declared war on the United States. The United States was in the European war as well and, basically, the Americans and British would be major factors in both Europe and Asia.

Of course, the three axis powers were constantly shooting themselves in the foot by 1942. Italy was beginning to bite off more than they could chew in Africa. Germany was in Africa too and they were faring better under Rommel, but Hitler miscalculated when he thought he could bomb England to submission as some guy named Winston Churchill had something to say about that. An even bigger, and probably fatal, faux pas, was the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Things were going swimmingly for a while and they were within miles of Moscow, then the Russian winter set in and the Germans were not prepared. Instead, the tide turned, and Russia began their slow methodical advance to drive the Germans all the way back to Berlin.

Meanwhile, in the United States, as men left for the front lines, women began to take over the jobs in the factories, all with the support of the President. President Roosevelt also took advantage of the war situation by passing some legislation that helped minorities get fair and equal treatment at the workplace. Rationing became a way of life, victory gardens were planted, women sacrificed their nylons for the war cause. And Unions pledged not to strike, and, with a couple of exceptions, they didn’t. Everyone seemed to work together for the most part and, indeed, they had to. A would under Hitler or Tojo was definitely not something that was wanted.

The war also caused a lot of xenophobia in the nation too, sadly, and while Life was briefly a little easier for African-Americans at least (many of whom were fighting bravely in the war), it would be hell for Japanese-Americans. Because of public paranoia, all aliens were forced to register with the government. Germans, Italians, and Japanese were especially singled out, but it was the Japanese who would receive the brunt of the racism. President Roosevelt ordered all Japanese, including American citizens, to live in internment camps during the course of the war. The conditions were mediocre at best and barely livable in some instances. It is the one major flaw in an otherwise solid presidency.

The war effort was slowly turning the Allies way by 1943. The US scored some major naval victories against Japan to the point where Japan would never really recover. Europe was a tougher nut to crack, primarily with Germany, but even there, things were looking up. The Russians now had their counter-offensive going and the best Germany could do on the Western front was settle for the occasional stalemate. They still occupied much of Europe, notably France, Holland, Norway, and some other countries. But there was a sense that the tide was ready to turn, especially after Mussolini fell from power in Italy and the Italians switched sides.

And, in 1944, the tide did turn in the form of what is now known as D-Day. On June 6, 1944, an Allied invasion, coordinated by General Dwight Eisenhower, stormed the beaches at Normandy, overwhelming the Germans. Within weeks, the Allies liberated Paris and now had their own counteroffensive that would end in victory in Berlin.

And President Roosevelt, in between his frequent meetings with Churchill and Stalin to discuss the war effort, was already in motion to establish relief for Europe once the war was over. The groundwork for what would become the United Nations would also be underway in 1944.

The war was going well, and the end looked as if it was in sight. The economy was never better. And, despite the ill thought out imprisonment of innocent Japanese Americans (FDR apparently forgot his own message of the only thing to fear is fear itself), civil rights had taken a tentative step forward as had the rights of women in the workplace (though just as tentative).

But Roosevelt’s health was fading by 1944 and one would think he would have wanted to retire. But he wanted to see the war to its conclusion (and the Pacific theatre still had no end in sight at this point).

So, he announced his bid for a fourth term.


Election of 1944: Despite obviously suffering from poor health, Roosevelt made it be known he was willing to run for a fourth term. This time, and likely smelling an easy victory, there was little opposition in the party as President Roosevelt was as popular as ever. Thus, it was a near unanimous vote on the first ballot.

The Vice Presidency was another matter. There was a feeling within the party that FDR wouldn’t survive a fourth term and they really didn’t want the liberal Henry Wallace in the White House (he was even accused, erroneously, by some as a Communist). So, they went for the relatively unknown Senator from Missouri, Harry Truman. A strange pick for someone they thought might replace Roosevelt, but sometimes you get lucky.

The Republicans were also fairly united as they went with the liberal Republican, Thomas Dewey, the Governor of New York. Like Willkie, he didn’t differ that much from Roosevelt. Like Roosevelt, he supported the concept of a United Nations. He basically also supported the New Deal only criticizing that it needed to be more efficient. He did note that FDR himself was an old man (He was actually 62 but he no doubt looked older).

But Roosevelt was still able to muster up his old energy noting that one shouldn’t change horses in mid-stream. Even better, he deflected some of the more ridiculous criticisms raised against him with his own brand of humor, at one point nothing that he doesn’t resent the personal attacks, nor his wife, but his dog on the other hand…

In the end, the election was a foregone conclusion. While not quite a landslide, Roosevelt nonetheless would win by a comfortable margin. Dewey would have to wait another four years to make history (though probably not quite in the way he wanted).

Fourth Term: President Roosevelt, though ailing, still managed one more trip to the Yalta Conference to discuss the final assault on Germany and how they would be treated after the war. By now, both the Russians and Allies were driving deep into Germany, and it was a foregone conclusion that Berlin would fall within a matter of months. The war in the Pacific was also going well as the US recaptured Manila and scored a decisive victory at Iwo Jima too. It only seemed like a matter of time that Japan would also lose though, as per their tradition, surrender was something that was foreign to them.

With the war effort in hand and in need of a break, President Roosevelt decided to go on vacation at his favorite retreat in Warm Springs, Georgia.


Death: As noted, FDR’s health had deteriorated a lot more than the public could have guessed. He had been quite adept, with some help from sympathetic aides, to hide the impact of his polio from the public. He was equally adept with hiding his more recent health ailments.

And it was a laundry list that included various heart ailments, high blood pressure, bronchitis and, of course, the always lingering effects of polio.

On April 12, 1945, President Roosevelt was sitting for a portrait when he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. He would never regain consciousness and died three hours later.

This, of course, sent shockwaves in Washington as Harry Truman was sworn in as soon as he heard the news. He famously asked the now widowed Eleanor if there was anything he could do for her and she replied, “No, Harry, it’s what we can do for you: you’re the one in trouble now.”

Odd notes: FDR established the White House’s first movie theatre.

When the King and Queen of England visited the United States, President Roosevelt took them on a picnic and served them hot dogs. (ids.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/franklin-roosevelt)

After FDR’s presidency, the Republicans managed to pass an Amendment that from then on limited the President to two terms.

Final Summary: Franklin D Roosevelt rates as perhaps the most activist President in our history. He certainly took the initiative as soon as he took office and never seemed to waver, even as his health was declining. He created programs to put people to work and the Social Security program is today the nest egg that the elderly and disabled depend on. He also was a very forward looking President who saw the war signals much sooner than the rest of us did. On top of that, he had an extraordinary First Lady in Eleanor Roosevelt. She was destined to stay in the political arena and served in the United Nations General Assembly. She is the benchmark for the more politically minded First Ladies that we have today.

The one big flaw in Roosevelt’s resume, of course, is the internment of the Japanese-Americans. I’d like to say that was the last atrocity heaped upon a group of people in America but, sadly, I’d be wrong. It wasn’t even the worst atrocity since that time. But it is, nevertheless, a stain on what was otherwise a nearly flawless twelve years.

So, yes, I’m taking points off for that while noting that he did do things to improve life for minorities though not quite to the point where he alienated the South. We’ll save that for his successor. By the way, he was one of the first Presidents to have women in his Administration as well.

Anyway, given the times he lived in, and despite the brief xenophobia, he still has to rate as one of the best five Presidents in history.

I’ll still take Teddy though.


Overall rating: A-

https://millercenter.org/president/fdroosevelt

Just wanted to chime in and thank you again for this wondeful thread. Fantastic job!

Thanks, Exo :)


33. HARRY S. TRUMAN (America needs you, Harry Truman)

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Born: May 8, 1884, Lamar, Missouri
Died: December 26, 1972, Independence, Missouri

Term: April 12, 1945- January 20, 1953
Political Party: Democrat

Vice President: Alben Barkley

First Lady: Bess Wallace Truman

Before the Presidency: Harry Truman grew up in a modest family of four. The family settled in Independence Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City, when he was six. Harry was something of a nerd as his mother didn’t allow him to rough house. He also wore glasses, and he grew up a rather awkward boy. As such, he spent much of his free time reading and playing the piano. At one point he even dreamed of becoming a concert pianist. And, like most boys, he fantasized about being a soldier.

Truman worked hard at school and wanted to join West Point after graduating high school in 1901, but his poor eyesight nixed that idea. His father also had financial problems, so a major college was out as well. Instead, Truman attended a business school for a year before dropping out and finding work in construction, and then as a bank clerk.

In 1906, Truman left the bank to work on the family farm for close to a decade. It wasn’t his favorite profession, and he found an escape when he joined the National Guard in 1905. During this period, he courted a young woman named Bess Wallace and while she didn’t want to marry him initially, they continued with a romantic relationship. They would finally marry in 1919.

In 1914, Truman’s father died. Though he was heartbroken, this did give him the opportunity to wean himself away from the farm. He tried his hand as a small mining owner as an investor in the oil business but found little success in either.

The United States entered World War I in 1917 and Truman rejoined the National Guard. Soon, his unit was federalized, and he ended up fighting in France. Truman rose up in the ranks, making it all the way to Captain. He proved to be a solid leader, earning the respect of his men. His self-confidence bloomed and Truman would come home a surprisingly popular man in the Kansas City area.

His political career had started once he got home in 1919, unbeknownst to Truman at the time, who only wanted to be successful in a small business. Indeed, a clothing store he opened with his war buddy, Eddie Jacobson, ultimately would fail as Kansas City was apparently immune from the national economic boom of the early 1920s.

But Truman was not the awkward little kid anymore. The war had made him more confident, and he became active as a respected businessman, joining several civic and Veterans groups.

One of his war buddies happened to be Boss Thomas Pendergast of the Kansas City Democratic Party. Pendergast, though, wasn’t your typical political boss; he actually admired Truman for his honesty and hard work ethic. He convinced Truman to run for a local judgeship in Jackson County and, after a tight primary, won the general election easily.

As the local judge, Truman also served as County Commissioner and handled the county’s budget and roads while also awarding patronage to Pendergast supporters. He would lose re-election after a rift in the Democratic Party, but Pendergast got him elected again in 1926 and 1930. He proved to be a very good county commissioner as he oversaw a major road project and helped to guide the county through the worst of the Great Depression. And though he was part of the Pendergast machine, and even though Pendergast had some corruption in him, Truman himself was admired for his integrity and honesty. As such, he walked a fine line between making the Pendergast machine happy so he could continue to make improvements to the county. Truman’s integrity even benefited Pendergast as he could point to Truman as someone in his machine with integrity. Truman also had very much a bi-racial coalition which didn’t hurt matters much either.

By 1934, Truman decided he wanted to move up in the world. He asked Pendergast to support him for a run at the House. At first Pendergast agreed, but then changed his mind- he wanted Truman to run for the Senate instead. It was a bruising primary campaign, but Truman ended up with the Democratic nomination, and rolled on to an easy victory in November. Harry Truman was going to Washington.

Truman’s first term in the Senate was somewhat unremarkable. He enjoyed the camaraderie with his fellow Senators and was a reliable supporter of President Roosevelt’s New Deal policies, but he wasn’t known to take the lead on very many bills. He did have strong ties with the Labor Unions and was a factor on transportation issues on the two committees he served on. He even co-wrote the Transportation Act of 1940 which was an attempt to make the regulations a little less bureaucratic.

Truman’s re-election bid would not be as easy as the first. Pendergast was ill and now in prison as his wheeling and dealing had caught up with him. Still, he had the power of incumbency and was considered the liberal candidate in the Democratic primary. As such, he managed to eke out a close victory after doing well in the big cities of Kansas City and St. Louis. Again, he won in the general election, and he was ready for a second term.

By now, it was inevitable that the US would be involved in World War II and Truman was able to convince the Senate leadership and Roosevelt Administration to let him run his own committee to monitor what he saw as wasteful defense spending. No, he wasn’t one of those deficit hawks that wanted to eliminate the budget, more to the point, he didn’t want the Pentagon to be purchasing those popular hundred dollar toilets.

So, he chaired what was known as the Truman committee, the intent being to protect the little man’s interests from the likes of big business and labor union predators. It met with some moderate success and Senator Truman was now becoming nationally known.

The war also changed Truman’s convictions a bit. He supported the Neutrality acts in the 1930s knowing his constituents were a bit isolationist. But privately, he had grave concerns about Germany and Japan and advocated for a stronger military. When war did break out in Europe in 1939, Truman supported the Cash and Carry laws as well as Lend-Lease. He also supported the peacetime draft that was implemented in 1940. He explained his views to a Missouri voter in a letter stating, “We are facing a bunch of thugs, and the only theory a thug understands is a gun and a bayonet.” It was Harry Truman at his blunt best.

And so, Harry Truman seemed comfortably happy doing his best as a United States Senator. He had no real Presidential ambitions.

But fate has a strange way of behaving.

Summary of offices held:

1905-1911: National Guard

1917-1919: United States Army (World War I)

1920-1953: Army reserve (Colonel)

1923-1925: Judge, Jackson County, Missouri, Eastern District

1927-1935: Presiding Judge, Jackson County, Missouri

1935-1945: US Senator, Missouri

1945: Vice President of the United States


What was going on: The Cold War, the Atomic bomb, The Red Scare, Post war boom, the Nuremberg trials, the Korean War

Scandals within the administration: IRS scandal

Why he was a good President: Accountability mostly. When he said the Buck stops here, he meant it. He took responsibility for his faux pas such as the Korean War. He also made executive decisions knowing they’d be unpopular but was best for the country. He strived to make life better for the Average American and he did more for civil rights than anyone had before him, including Lincoln.

Why he was a bad President: Well, he did get us into Korea. Also, it’s questionable whether he should have dropped the atomic bomb. Yes, the intentions were good (If dropping an A-Bomb is ever good) but it also began the Cold War and we’re certainly living in fear of a nuclear holocaust at this writing (thanks, Vladdie Putin).

What could have saved his Presidency: Maybe more success with his Fair Deal agenda could have helped him at the time. His legacy is rather solid, though.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: If he really was Woodrow Wilson, Jr. and went with his prejudices instead of his heart. And, of course, there was Korea.

How he became Vice President: President Roosevelt decided to dump Vice President Henry Wallace for the 1944 election. The Democrats had seen him as too liberal (read: Communist) and a bit wacky as well. The powers that be, then, congregated in one of their smoke filled rooms and came up with the consensus pick of- Harry Truman.

Truman accepted the nomination with a little reluctance, but he proved to be a good campaigner and seemed ready to accept the duties once FDR was re-elected.

As Vice-President, he didn’t have a lot of contact with the President though there was certainly no animosity between them. He was critical as a tie breaking vote on a couple occasions, notably in getting Henry Wallace approved for Secretary of Commerce.

Of course, we’ll never know how effective Vice President Truman would be because, after only eighty-two days, he was summoned to the White House to be told by Eleanor Roosevelt that the President was dead. The first thing Truman asked was if there was anything he could do for her.

Eleanor answered, “Is there anything we can do for you? You’re the one in trouble now.”

And indeed, he was.

First term: World War II was literally about to end in Europe when Truman became President. Mussolini, already thrown out of power and being hidden by the Nazis, had been captured and publicly executed. Hitler, meanwhile, was stuck in his bunker as the Russians roared into Berlin with the Allies coming from the other direction. Hitler, of course, did what any Fascist hero would do, he killed himself.

So, the war in Europe was over but the US still had to deal with Japan in the Pacific arena. American planes were bombing Tokyo on what seemed like a daily basis, but the Japanese military refused to give in, even as it was obvious the war was lost for them.

Meanwhile, there was a secret program known as the Manhattan project and they had, by 1945, developed the first atomic bomb. President Truman was made aware of this new invention that could wipe out entire cities. After some consultation and some heart wrenching, it was decided that the use of the atomic bomb would likely save more lives than the constant bombings of Japanese cities. This was assuming, of course, that Japan would come to their senses and surrender.

So, President Truman made the fateful decision and okayed the bombing of Hiroshima. The effects of the atomic bomb were devastating. As many as 125,000 civilians were killed, many more suffered severe health problems for the rest of their lives and the city itself was reduced to rubble, all with one bomb.

It was hoped that Japan would surrender right then and there. They didn’t, so an atomic bomb was also dropped on Nagasaki; another 80,000 civilians were killed. This time, the powers that be in Japan realized their nation was in trouble, especially after it was implied that Tokyo would be next.

So, Japan unconditionally surrendered. World War II was over at last.

With the war now over, President Truman could now concern himself with domestic concerns. He had been a fan of the New Deal and he continued Roosevelt’s policies for the most part.

Europe was another matter. With the war over, Truman had to deal with two problems. The most obvious issue was on what to do to help Europe recover from the immense damage the war had caused. The even more serious problem, though, dealt with a new foe, for the Soviet Union was now free to spread its interesting brand of Communism and they were set on pushing their will not only on Eastern Europe, but on East Germany, including Berlin, as well. This would set off some confrontations between East and West starting with the Truman administration. The Cold War had begun.

1946 was not a good year for President Truman, at least on the domestic front. He had hopes to expand the New Deal even further, but Congress didn’t seem so keen, even with a now booming post-war economy. It didn’t help that inflation was getting out of control and there were a wave of Union strikes throughout the country.

So, despite the booming economy, Truman’s polling numbers sank like a lead balloon and the Republicans took both houses in the November election. It didn’t look like Truman was going to accomplish much in the two years he had left.

The Republicans were giddy at having control of Congress and would pass the Taft-Hartley Bill over Truman’s veto in 1947. This bill limited union participation in politics, approved right to work laws in states that wanted them (Right to work was actually a euphemism for anti-union and anti-minimum wage). It also gave the President the right to block strikes with an eighty day cooling off period. Truman didn’t like the measure, but he would find himself invoking Taft-Hartley on several occasions.

Truman fared better when it came to foreign policy. He came up with what was known as the Truman Doctrine. This Doctrine basically supported free European Countries in the war against Communism though it wasn’t formally worded that way. It also called for economic assistance for Greece and Turkey. The extremes of both parties were against the bill from leftist Henry Wallace to majority Leader and isolationist Robert Taft, who would be a constant pain in the side for Truman. Still, it did appeal to the moderates on both sides, and it passed easily.

The other major accomplishment was a humanitarian one. Secretary of State George Marshall suggested an economic aid package to Europe to help them recover from the ravages of war. Officially called the European Recovery Plan, it would be better known as the Marshall Plan.

President Truman supported this plan as he hoped it would make Communism less attractive to the suffering Europeans and would produce economic and political stability on the continent.

Of course, it did much more than that as many Western Europeans (The Soviets and their satellites refused to participate) benefited from the humanitarian aid. Western Europe did indeed stabilize politically and economically, and the United States was widely seen as a force for good.

Of course, the Soviet menace wasn’t going away anytime soon. Stalin decided he wanted all of Berlin (It had been partitioned by the four powers after the war). Since Berlin was actually deep inside East Germany, Stalin ordered a blockade of the entire city so no food could get in. Truman was in a dilemma as advisers suggested he send in the military. He had a better idea.

Instead of sending in the Marines, the United States began air drops of essential supplies to the beleaguered city. Skeptics didn’t think it would work and, it is a bit surprising that the Soviets didn’t try to shoot the airlifts down (which would have caused a war anyway). But it did work, and the Soviets would eventually give in. West Berlin would be free, surviving another blockade in 1961, until the Berlin Wall finally came down in 1989 and Germany was reunited as a free country.

President Truman did one last act in his term as he was now running for re-election. He advanced civil rights farther than any President had before him when he desegregated the Armed Forces. Though Truman personally had his prejudices, having grown up in segregated Missouri, even using language that would have gotten him almost executed today, he also had an innate sense of fairness and decency. In other words, he was no Woodrow Wilson.

The order was met with resistance from the armed forces and wouldn’t be fully implemented until the start of the Korean War and not truly finalized until the Eisenhower administration, but it was an important step in not only acknowledging that all of us are all indeed equal, but it also began a wave of African-American voters into the Democratic Party.

Of, course, with the Dixiecrats in control in the South, it would also cause a major rift in the Democratic Party that would never be repaired, but progress does have to take its lumps, sadly.

Election of 1948: Truman’s prospects of winning re-election were mediocre at best and almost non-existent at worse. Yes, he won back the support of the labor unions and was popular with African Americans, but it was assumed he couldn’t even get elected dog catcher in the South and the Republicans still had a decent hold on the North.

Because of Truman’s liberal policies, there were some major rifts within the party to the point where The Mississippi and part of the Alabama delegations walked out. Truman accepted the socially liberal plank of Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota and at least one Dixiecrat, Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, formed his own party and ran against Truman in the General election.

Yet despite all the rancor, Truman would be nominated for a term in his own right, but he would not have an easy road of it. Besides having to deal with Thurmond, he had a fourth candidate likely to take away votes. Henry Wallace was running as the Progressive Party candidate. Thus, Truman had competition from both the right and left wings of his party.

The Republicans, therefore, must have been salivating when they re-nominated Thomas Dewey paired with California Governor Earl Warren. With the acrimony surrounding the Democrats, the GOP, no doubt, saw an easy win with their two strong candidates. Dewey pushed some of the right buttons as he remained a progressive on some issues (though he now had some criticisms of the New Deal). He was also a staunch anti-Communist, definitely a winning issue in the Red Scare days of 1948.

But Dewey did have at least one drawback. While his policies seemed sound, he wasn’t the most exciting candidate in the world. Truman wasn’t known for his brilliant oratory either, at least when compared to FDR, but compared to Dewey, he was an absolute firebrand. He campaigned hard and seemed to expect a miracle to come through in the end. He also quietly had his collation of labor, minorities, and liberals, so it wasn’t going to be a slam dunk for Dewey.

Or would it be? Thurmond was making waves in the South, and he would ultimately take four states plus an elector from Tennessee. And Wallace was siphoning votes from Truman as well.

So, on election day, the Chicago Tribune made the important announcement, DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN. Thomas Dewey was going to be the next President of the United States.

Only he wasn’t. It appears that the pro-Republican paper was just a little premature. In fact, Truman won the election, and it wasn’t even all that close. It was a plurality, but it was a large one, about three and half percentage points better than Dewey. More importantly, he scored a solid win in the Electoral College.

So, America would have four more years of Harry giving em’ hell.

33. HARRY TRUMAN (part 2)


Second Term: Before he was even sworn in for his full term, President Truman introduced a series of bills that he called the Fair Deal as a compliment to FDR’s New Deal programs. He wouldn’t have the same success getting them passed, however, as the still Republican controlled congress would be much less responsive. He did get three of the bills passed, one with the help of Robert Taft of all people.

But most of his bills, including a proposal for national Health Insurance, fell to deaf conservative ears. Still, it was Truman who first pushed the idea of health insurance and future Presidents, notably Lyndon Johnson and Barack Obama, would get improvements in National health plans.

Truman had bigger problems to face in this term and it went beyond the Cold War. Actually, the Cold War had a very sinister effect at home thanks to an opportunistic, and possibly even evil, Senator named Joseph McCarthy. While there already was something of a Red Scare that actually dated back to Woodrow Wilson, McCarthy would make it full blown after he accused the State Department of harboring Communists. This hysteria spread to practically all professions and nearly devastated the movie industry. If you were called to testify at one of McCarthy’s hearings, you could be sure you would be labeled a Communist, especially if you were asked the damning question, “Are you or have you ever been a member of the Communist party.” Thanks to the shenanigans of not only McCarthy, but of J. Edgar Hoover and his FBI, the late forties and much of the fifties would go down as one of the darkest periods in American History.

And who was a Communist exactly? Well, of course, anyone who was to the left of, well, Joseph McCarthy of course. President Truman would later condemn the House Un-American Committee in particular by calling it the most Un-American thing in the country.

Truman’s biggest Achilles heel though would be the Korean War, which broke out in 1950. By now, the US was in a full-fledged war against Communism in general. Korea was in the throes of a civil war between the Communist North and the non- Communist South (South Korea wasn’t exactly Democratic in those days either). The United Nations got involved and sent a multi-national force, led by the US, to battle the invading North Koreans, erroneously thought to be backed by Stalin.

As it turned out, and as we know now, North Korea was led by the wacky authoritarian Kim-Il Sung family and it was Kim Il Sung that initiated the invasion.

Since the US thought they were actually fighting the Soviets, they went all in. Meanwhile, the Soviets announced that they had the bomb, sparking the US to develop an even more powerful Hydrogen Bomb. The arms race was getting hot.

Douglas MacArthur, the scourge of the Bonus Army but the hero of the Philippines during World War II, was appointed to lead the troops in the Korean theatre. He, no doubt too, though he was fighting the Soviets.

But it was Communist China that would get into the act. With the war itself not going well for either side, MacArthur made a suggestion that the United States nuke China. That and some other ill thought out ideas irked Truman to the point that he fired MacArthur. Yes, he was right to do so, but it all but sealed his presidency to doom.

And, with his popularity at an all-time low, Truman decided not to run for a full second term in 1952. He would spend that year attempting, and failing, to negotiate a way out of the Korean War. He also famously seized the Steel Industry in an attempt to avert a strike. That also proved unpopular, and the Supreme Court even ruled it unconstitutional.

So, Truman left the White House an unpopular man. It would take the retrospective lens of history to redeem, perhaps, one of the most accountable Presidents in our history.

Post Presidency: Truman’s post presidency proved to be much more popular than his presidency had been. He was very vocal in his opinions on Presidential decisions in particular. He was not a fan of President Eisenhower and actively campaigned against him. He was also a booster of Adlai Stevenson who would run against Eisenhower twice. He wasn’t really that big a fan of Kennedy either though he did support him in the 1960 election. He had a warmer relationship with Lyndon Johnson, however. And, of course, he absolutely hated Nixon.

Truman’s last years, and he had many, were fairly comfortable for the most part. His standing in the history books was on the upswing and there was even a play about him called, Give Em’ Hell Harry. The Buck Stops Here was a Truman slogan that now was standing the test of time. And, though he lived a quiet life for the most part, he no doubt reveled in the fact that his noted cantankerousness was making him more popular than ever.

Truman passed away right after Christmas 1972, at the ripe old age of 88.



Odd notes: Truman’s middle name was S. The S stood for nothing.

His daughter, Margaret, was notorious for playing the piano- badly.

Final Summary: Okay, first the bad news. Harry Truman was definitely a flawed man.

Now the good news; he was the first person that would admit he was a flawed man. Yes, he was honest to a fault and, while he had his personal peeves, obviously, he didn’t let that control his decisions. He had a knack for doing the right thing even if it meant losing the Presidency. It’s why his legacy is so strong today.

He looks pretty good in my eyes too, especially when it comes to civil rights. Yes, I know, Lincoln freed the slaves and LBJ signed the Civil Rights Bill among other things, but Truman is right up there with them and, in some ways, even superior to Lincoln. I mean, Lincoln freed the slaves, but what else did he do? Truman forced white America to see blacks as equals, at least in the Armed Forces anyway.

Of course, he did make his mistakes, notably with Korea, but also with a few moments that could be construed as anti-union, probably not his intent, but certainly not popular.

But he was possibly the most stand-up President we ever had, and he also was one of the few who dared to stand up the scourge of McCarthyism when it was not very wise to do so. And why not? He was already unpopular in 1952 anyway.

So, what did he have to lose?



Overall rating: B+

https://millercenter.org/president/truman

thread of the year material :clap:

34. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (I Got dem Eisenhower Blues)


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Born: October 14, 1890, Denison, Texas
Died: March 28, 1969, Washington, DC

Term: January 20, 1953- January 20, 1961
Political Party: Republican

Vice President: Richard Nixon

First Lady: Mamie Doud Eisenhower

Before the Presidency: Dwight Eisenhower grew up in a farming community in Kansas. His mother was a religious pacifist who opposed war making it interesting that young Dwight was considering a military career from a very young age.

He joined the West Point Academy in 1911 where he played football until a knee injury ended his career. Known as a prankster, he didn’t really distinguish himself and graduated in the middle of his class.

Eisenhower’s lot improved over the years though as he began to take things more seriously. After various stints at a number of camps, mostly as a Second Lieutenant, he met George Patton at Camp Meade, Maryland. He and Patton both wrote articles advocating better use of tanks as an alternative to trench warfare. The Army responded with a threat of a court-martial (How dare he question the Army?).

At least Eisenhower wasn’t alone. He was transferred to the Panama Canal Zone in the 1920s where he worked under General Fox Conner. Conner was impressed with Eisenhower’s critical thinking, and he agreed with Eisenhower that the Army wasn’t using its resources to the best of its ability. Conner mentored Eisenhower and arranged for his schooling at the General and Command Staff College in Leavenworth, Kansas. Eisenhower was a prankster no more, and he graduated number one in his class. He subsequently would work for famous Generals John Pershing and Douglas MacArthur.

The years with MacArthur were stormy to say the least. The junior Officer certainly had a different approach to things than MacArthur (he of the Bonus Army massacre). Indeed, though he opposed it, Eisenhower’s loyalty came first, and he helped implement the evacuation of the Bonus Marchers in 1932. Despite the bad taste in his mouth, Eisenhower would stay with MacArthur when he was transferred to the Philippines in 1935.

Eisenhower returned to the United States in 1939 just as World War II was breaking out in Europe. While training troops in Louisiana, Eisenhower’s strategic skills were noticed, and he earned a promotion to Brigadier General. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Eisenhower was transferred to Washington, DC, to work on war plans. Eisenhower caught the eye of General George Marshall, and the General was promoted yet again. By November 1942, he was commanding Allied troops in North Africa under Operation Torch. With more successes, Eisenhower was appointed as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe in 1943.

Eisenhower was well liked as Supreme Commander. He knew how to build coalitions within the Allied ranks, and it made for great leadership as the Allies successfully invaded Italy in particular.

Of course, General Eisenhower’s finest moment was the D-Day invasion of Normandy in 1944. It wasn’t an easy decision; poor weather was predicted for that day and, indeed, if you see the film clips, you can tell it was kind of a nasty day. Eisenhower, though, knew time was of the essence (the Germans knew they were coming; they just didn’t know where exactly). So, he simply said, “Okay, let’s go.” The rest, of course, is history.

After Germany surrendered, Eisenhower received a hero’s welcome all over Europe, and in Washington DC. He was, perhaps, the most celebrated person in America and was now on the same level as other historic Generals like Washington and Grant. Eisenhower was appointed Commander of US Occupation Forces in Germany. There he had to make some difficult decisions such as firing his friend, George Patton, for basically being politically incorrect (not that hiring former Nazis on your staff was exactly smart). He also had to send Soviet citizens in the US occupation zone back to the USSR, even those that didn’t want to go.

Eisenhower also wasn’t without his own opinions, especially when it came to military matters. He was against the use of the atomic bomb worried that it would tarnish the US image at a time when the image was at an all-time high.

Eisenhower returned to Washington as Chief of Staff of the Army. For the next two years, he prepared the Army for what would likely be a long cold war. Afterwards, he left the command to become President of Columbia University, only to return as Supreme Commander of NATO of Europe in 1951.

Of course, there was a lot of political interest in the immensely popular Eisenhower as well. President Truman wasn’t very popular as the 1948 election rolled around, and he tried to convince Eisenhower to run for President with Truman on the ticket. Eisenhower was no doubt flattered but he turned the offer down. He was a military man, after all, not a politician, in fact, he had never even voted. He also turned down offers from the Republicans as well.

Things would change in 1952 as the US was now mired in the Korean War and McCarthyism was now running amok. Truman wisely decided not to run again, but there had to be a voice that could steady the nation yet again.

Summary of offices held:

1915-1953: United States Army

1943-1945: Supreme Allied Commander in Europe (World War II)

1945: Military Governor, US Occupation Zone in Germany

1945-1948: Chief of Staff, US Army

1948-1953: President, Columbia University

1951-1952: Supreme Allied Commander, Europe


What was going on: The Cold war, Civil Rights movement, Elvis Presley and Rock n Roll, Army- McCarthy hearings, Suez Canal crisis, Interstate Highway system

Scandals within the administration: Richard Nixon Checkers speech, Sherman Adams scandal

Why he was a good President: He had a very calming influence. Even with the Cold War seemingly running amok, he had a way of letting people know things were going to be okay. He also started the space program, helped to enforce the civil rights legislation that existed at the time, and helped to keep the world safe for democracy. Most importantly, he was a very decent man.

Why he was a bad President: Yes, Eisenhower was a decent man, but he is also responsible for jacking up the nuclear arms race, supported less than noble means of influencing third world governments through the CIA, and avoiding the civil rights issue until he no longer could. Basically, when it came to foreign policy at least, Eisenhower was fairly secretive.

What could have saved his Presidency: A stronger Civil Rights platform. He could have been LBJ without the Vietnam War if he had played his cards right. He also should have kept his nose out of the Middle East and especially the Latin American countries.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: War with China over Formosa, Heavier involvement in Vietnam, the war that destroyed LBJ’s Presidency. If the nuclear arms race had proved disastrous.

Election of 1952: Both parties again tried to entice Eisenhower to run, and Eisenhower was now in a different state of mind. He was obviously being drafted and he realized he was being called to service again. But with what party?

Eisenhower, by now, was rather disappointed with Truman, particularly with the war in Korea. Eisenhower wanted to find a way out, so he ultimately went with the Republicans.

Of course, it was assumed that 1952 would be Robert Taft’s year as he came in as the frontrunner. However, Taft was an isolationist at a time when the Cold War was getting hot. Republicans, therefore, were looking for someone popular who would still be active in defending the world against Communism and especially the Soviet Union. And there was only one man that could fit the bill.

It was Henry Cabot Lodge who initiated the draft Eisenhower movement in the GOP and Eisenhower finally threw his in his hat in January 1952.

Eisenhower won the New Hampshire primary easily and it was obvious the Republican voters wanted him as well, but there were still few primaries (the first truly full blown primary season wouldn’t be until 1972) and it would ultimately be up to the delegates as to who they would go with, thus Taft still appeared the front runner.

But there were disputed delegates, and the Eisenhower camp was able to get them all. In the end, Eisenhower would win on the first ballot. Eisenhower would choose Senator Richard Nixon of California as his running mate (and boy are we going to have a field day with him in a few chapters). The young senator had already made his mark as an anti-Communist crusader and seemed like a good pick for the ticket.

With Truman out of the way, the Democrats went with the witty and articulate Adlai Stevenson of Illinois. By now, the Northern liberals were taking over the party and Stevenson’s liberal cred pushed all the right buttons. This figured to be an interesting contest.

In the end though, Stevenson never really had a chance. Eisenhower campaigned almost flawlessly, surviving even a mini- Nixon scandal (we’ll talk about that in his profile). He oozed assurance and voters truly felt comfortable with him. Stevenson, of course, wasn’t a bad guy either and is still considered as one of the great statesmen in history. But how do get out from under the unpopularity of Truman, who Eisenhower chose to attack rather than Stevenson?

So, in the end, Eisenhower won in a landslide and Adlai Stevenson would join William Jennings Bryan as one of the Democrats’ what ifs.

First term: President-Elect Eisenhower pledged to go to Korea during the election campaign and, indeed, he did go to Korea, even before he was inaugurated. Still, it didn’t look there was a clear way out and there were certainly still some hawks that thought the US could win this war.

But Eisenhower wanted out and he secretly muscled China with threats of invasion and the use of nuclear weapons. The Soviets also wanted to end the war and Stalin’s death strengthened their resolve even more.

So, Eisenhower got what Nixon never really did get with Vietnam, peace with honor. The two Koreas signed an armistice that more or less kept the borders the same as they had been before. It didn’t end tensions between the two countries (even today, they technically remain at a state of war), but they do have an uneasy peace and the American troops were able to come home.

The Red Scare was still front and center on the domestic front as Senator McCarthy was swinging wildly accusing everyone of being a Communist and scaring the average American to death. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, meanwhile, became a cause celebre as they were convicted of spying and sentenced to death. Many people thought they were innocent (Ethel actually was, Julius, not so much). When they were executed, the public outrage was quite evident.

As for McCarthy, Eisenhower, for the most part, stay tight lipped despite his utter disgust of the man. For political reasons, he had to hold his tongue during a campaign stop in Wisconsin when McCarthy trashed his friend, George Marshall. Later, as President, Eisenhower remained quiet as McCarthy’s popularity was reaching an all-time high.

Then came the Army-McCarthy hearings of 1954. Now McCarthy was going after the United States Army; Eisenhower had enough. He instructed his staff to find information that would discredit McCarthy and it wasn’t hard to find. Another way to thwart McCarthy was to invoke Executive privilege so his aides wouldn’t be forced to testify in the McCarthy circus. And, while Eisenhower invoked it for all the right reasons, it would be abused by Presidents in the future, especially with Nixon and Trump.

Even with all the maneuverings in the Eisenhower White House, they weren’t able to take McCarthy down, nor was respected newsman Edward R. Murrow able to eliminate this great scourge. No, as it turned out, the man who took McCarthy down would be a somewhat meek older lawyer named Joseph A. Welch. After McCarthy accused one of Welch’s aides of having ties to a Communist organization. Welch was taken aback, but calmy responded with the famous words, “Have you no decency?” The Red Scare was over, and McCarthy was forever disgraced.

Now that people could live their lives with a booming economy and an increase in consumerism, Eisenhower could concentrate on other things. In 1953, he made what he thought might have been his biggest mistake when he appointed Earl Warren as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Warren, a Republican, would prove to be one of the most liberal justices in history, arguably even an activist, and it was he who authored and engineered the unanimous decision in Brown v Board of Education which declared the segregation of schools unconstitutional. That combined with the Montgomery Bus Boycott that launched Martin Luther King, Jr. into prominence sparked the beginning of the Civil Rights movement.

Eisenhower didn’t really have a problem with that decision (it would be future Warren decisions that would get his goat), but he would have likely preferred to have things go on as usual. Nevertheless, he would act when the time came.

Eisenhower’s forte, of course, was in foreign affairs and he had to deal with at least one major one when the Chinese Nationalists, led by Chang Kai-Shek, occupied the island of Formosa. Red China threated war over the island, and it would take a diplomatic tightrope (Eisenhower was willing to go to war as well) to prevent a full blown war from erupting. Formosa is now the independent nation of Taiwan and Red China still has designs on the island, only the threat of US intervention preventing the Chinese from an all-out attack.

On other matters, Eisenhower enhanced the power of covert tactics by the CIA and ramped up the production of nuclear weapons to deter would be attackers. He was a firm believer that it was preferable over conventional warfare as, by the nuclear bombs’ destructive nature, there would be fewer wars to begin with. It’s possible he would come to regret the nuclear arms race he helped to instigate later.

Health would become an issue for President Eisenhower as he would suffer the first of many heart attacks. He would survive, of course, but it did raise questions on whether he would run for a second term.

When he returned to the White House he also had to deal with another international crisis, this one involving Gamel Abdel Nasser of Egypt. He had a bit of a feud going with France, Britain, and Israel and he responded by closing the Suez Canal, an important waterway for trade through the Middle East. Israel responded by attacking the Sinai Peninsula. Eisenhower was furious as he though the attack would glorify Nasser. He urged the three nations to stand down and Nasser would eventually reopen the canal in 1957.

Eisenhower had one last domestic gem to introduce in his first term and it is probably the most important thing in his legacy. He had long been an advocate of an uninterrupted highway system that would make it easier to transport military equipment in times of war. With automobile travel being by now the easiest form of transportation, it made sense that the highway system could be used for civilian use as well.

So, on June 29, 1956, President Eisenhower signed the Federal Highway Act which created the vast Interstate System that we have today. Indeed, parts of Interstate 70 (which happens to start in Baltimore) is known as the Eisenhower Interstate Highway.

So, even though it was the not very eventful fifties for the average American, it was an eventful time for President Eisenhower.

And even more was yet to come.



Election of 1956: Because Eisenhower was very adept at keeping things behind the scenes, letting Americans enjoy their television and tv dinners and the like, he was an immensely popular President by 1956 and his re-election seemed be to a foregone conclusion.

Of course, after his heart attack in 1955, there was speculation that he wouldn’t even run again but he allayed the fears when he announced his intention to run in February 1956.

The real issue was then who would be Eisenhower’s running mate. Nixon proved very capable running things during Eisenhower’s convalescence, but he was also seen as partisan. Also, Eisenhower didn’t like him very much.

So, Eisenhower tried to tempt him to take a cabinet post. Nixon twice refused. Eisenhower wouldn’t dump him, however, as the party regulars liked him, so it would be Eisenhower-Nixon again at the August convention.

The Democrats knew they probably had a snowball’s chance in Hell, so they went with Adlai Stevenson again with the esteemed Senator Estes Kefauver as his running mate. Kefauver beat out a young Senator John Kennedy for the VP slot.

Just as in 1952, Stevenson never really had a chance. He did score points with the concern that Nixon could be President if something happened to Eisenhower. But he sealed his fate when he proposed a nuclear test ban, something Soviet Premier Bulganin supported. This gave Eisenhower and Nixon the opportunity to gang up on Stevenson in a nation terrified of the Soviets.

Of course, in the end, none of it really mattered of course as Eisenhower would win in another landslide.

DWIGHT EISENHOWER (Part 2)


Second Term: As Eisenhower’s second term began, the major issues were the strife in the Middle East, the Space race, and at home, civil rights. Eisenhower addressed the Middle east issue with what he called the Eisenhower Doctrine. This one dealt with the Middle east. With this doctrine Eisenhower promised economic and military aid to any middle eastern nation that rejected Soviet Communism. I imagine it didn’t hurt that the Middle East was rich in oil reserves either. In any event, ever since then, the US, Europeans, Russians, Chinese, etc. have been overly involved in Arab affairs and their historical hatred of Israel, who the Christian leaning US blindly allies with, regardless of their politics (Israel has historically wavered from wanting peace to waging World War III on the Palestinians). It’s a quagmire that we have yet to get ourselves out of, so thanks, Ike.

1957 was also the year the Soviets launched the Sputnik Satellite. This especially concerned the Administration, and the American people since it seemed to give the Soviets an advantage in the space race as well. This prompted Congress and the Eisenhower Administration to start its own space program. The US launched their first satellite in January 1958 and created the National Aeronautical Space Agency, or NASA, the following summer. Though initially intended for military use, it would prove to be the leader in space exploration for decades. We can thank Ike for that one too, sincerely this time.

The burning issue in 1957, however, was the Civil Rights movement. In particular was the refusal of southern states to desegregate schools as per the order of the Supreme Court. Virginia responded by refusing to open schools at all.

But it especially got ugly in Arkansas when the Governor mobilized the National Guard to prevent the enrollment of African American students. President Eisenhower may not have been crazy about the Supreme Court decision, but he was a man who believed in the law and as such, would enforce the order. As such, he sent Federal Troops to Little Rock to ensure the students would be enrolled. It wasn’t pleasant as the students were taunted and spat on by those friendly white Christians (yeah, I know, I’m showing my bias here), but they braved the insults and slowly but surely, not only schools, but mostly all institutions would become integrated.

Another milestone was the Civil Rights Act of 1957. It didn’t have the teeth the more famous Civil Rights Act of 1964 would have, but it was nonetheless an important stepping stone in the quest for racial equality. Strom Thurmond knew this, and he did everything he could to block it. He performed with the longest filibuster in Senate history, for over twenty-four hours in fact. In the end, he failed, and the bill passed and would be signed by President Eisenhower.

The remainder of Eisenhower’s term dealt mostly with foreign affairs with the exception of a scandal involving his Chief of Staff, Sherman Adams, forced to resign after accepting improper gifts. He also would lose his Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, to cancer.

But again, Eisenhower would deal with mostly international issues. In 1958, Vice President Nixon went on a tour of Latin America and met with a somewhat violent reception. Eisenhower sent a thousand troops to the Caribbean in case the violence went beyond the egg throwing incidents (Fortunately, it didn’t).

Closer to home, there was a revolution going on in Cuba, and the dictator, Fulgencio Batista, was overthrown by a revolutionary army led by Fidel Castro. At first, Eisenhower was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but it soon became obvious the two had different priorities. By the time the Eisenhower Administration had ended, Castro was all but aligned with the Soviet Union and a decades long boycott was placed on Cuban goods. The Cold War was at our doorstep.

Vietnam too was now on our radar and Eisenhower was looking for ways to help the South Vietnamese as well. It clearly became more profound under Kennedy, but the long involvement started with Eisenhower. He had also backed a coup in Guatemala in 1954 on behalf of the United Fruit Company (Folk artists would later have a field day with this).

Of course, none of this mattered to the American public. They were happily watching Leave It To Beaver and keeping up with the latest fads. Indeed, the biggest problem in late fifties America seemed to be the scourge that was rock n roll. Whatever was going on, President Eisenhower gave Americans a sense of security. A false security? Maybe, but there was nothing sinister about it from Eisenhower’s standpoint.

President Eisenhower left office in January 1961 but not before he gave a rather prophetic warning when he warned the public about the military-industrial complex.

And it wouldn’t be very long for the American public to understand what he meant.

Post Presidency: General Eisenhower, as he preferred to be called as opposed to President, left office as one of the most popular Presidents in history. At seventy, he was the oldest President to date, and he decided to retire on his farm in Pennsylvania. Though retired, he was always available to give advice to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.

Though he was able to travel for a time (He visited Normandy with his wife for example), health issues kept getting in the way. He suffered a major heart attack in 1965 and never really recovered. He spent the last nine months of his life at Walter Reed Hospital where he would be visited by his former Vice President, now President Nixon. Eisenhower died peacefully on March 28, 1969.

Odd notes: Eisenhower named the Shangri-La retreat camp David after his grandson

Despite being the Commander of Armed Forces in Europe, Eisenhower never saw active duty

Final Summary: When I think of the phrase the road is paved with good intentions, Eisenhower comes to mind. He truly thought that the best way to keep Americans safe was to build enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world hundreds of times over. Even his penchant for covert actions (Kennedy initiated the Bay of Pigs fiasco but it started under Eisenhower), had the welfare of the United States in mind. Unfortunately, all it did was to encourage future Presidents to initiate their own misadventures, the Vietnam War only being the tragic tip of the iceberg.

Having said that, Eisenhower accomplished a lot of great things starting with the Interstate Highway System. NASA likely would have not transformed into the great reservoir for space exploration without him lighting the match. And, yes, he did drag his feet when it came to civil rights, but when he had to act, he did, and wouldn’t flinch while doing it.

Because Eisenhower was undoubtedly the perfect President for the conservative, laid back fifties, his standing among historians have risen to the point where he is in some top tens. Of course, I can’t rate him that high because of the covert actions mostly.

But when you compare him to the more recent Presidents, the man looks like George Washington. Why? Because he had the qualities that few Presidents have had but we have always wanted, Integrity, honesty, a certain confidence without being arrogant, and trust.

So, no, he certainly wasn’t perfect, but for a General, he didn’t do too bad.

Overall rating: B

https://millercenter.org/president/eisenhower

35. JOHN F. KENNEDY (Yes, we're going to have a wingding)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...o_portrait.jpg

Born: May 29, 1917, Brookline, Massachusetts
Died: November 22, 1963, Dallas, Texas

Term: January 20, 1961- November 22, 1963 (assassinated)
Political Party: Democrat

Vice President: Lyndon Johnson

First Lady: Jackie Bouvier Kennedy

Before the Presidency: John Kennedy was born to a privileged family in Brookline, Massachusetts. His maternal grandfather was Honey Fitz Fitzgerald, a former mayor of Boston. His father, Joseph Kennedy, Sr., also came from a political family and had dreams of his oldest son, Joseph Jr., one day becoming President of the United States.

Jack, as John was called, was the second oldest and he suffered from various ailments as a child. Still, he was a Kennedy and he found ways to toughen up. He grew up not really planning a career in politics and yet, always felt in competition with his brother, something the father always encouraged.

The senior Joseph was something of an entrepreneur and it is said that he gained much of his fortune in the prohibition 1920s as he was involved in the rumrunning business. He was also smart enough to pull his money out of the stock market just before the crash of 1929. He also had political connections and would become friendly with Franklin Roosevelt, who appointed him to several posts, culminating with the Ambassadorship to England.

As for Jack, he studied at Harvard, and it was only there where he learned the devastating effects of the Great Depression. He really did have a privileged life.

In 1938, Joseph Kennedy became Ambassador to England and brought the whole family with him, nine in all. While in London, Jack wrote his Senior thesis which became the book, Why England Slept.

The Kennedys stayed in England until 1940. That year, Joseph would be recalled after a series of anti-Semitic remarks and tensions with the State Department (Joseph was against American intervention). It’s safe to say the Brits weren’t crazy about him either.

Joseph had actually hoped for a Presidential run in 1940, but he proved too controversial to even be considered by the Democrats (or Republicans for that matter). Thus, he turned his attention to his son, Joseph, Jr.

After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, both Joe and Jack signed up for the Navy with the elder Joseph’s approval, knowing the political value it would bring both of them. Joe had an easy time of it and he would be flying bombing missions over Europe.

It was a tougher time for Jack though as he still had his health issues, mainly with his back. Still, he had connections and soon he was commanding a PT boat in the Pacific. Again, his innate toughness hid his obvious pain, and he earned the respect of his men because of it.

In 1943, Kennedy’s PT boat was rammed by a Japanese destroyer. Lieutenant Kennedy proved to be a hero as he physically tugged a badly burned seaman with his teeth, leading ten men to a deserted island, where they languished for days before they were rescued. Despite some criticisms of poor seamanship (nobody was on watch when the destroyer hit), Kennedy was awarded the Purple Heart and Medal for Valor and was seen as a national hero.

Needless to say, brother Joe felt he had to top his brother’s feat even though he was no doubt proud (though competitive, the two were actually quite close). In 1944, he flew a top secret mission. It was an experimental mission that would tragically fail. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. was killed.

So, with the oldest now dead, the elder Joseph’s aspirations now lie with Jack. Like it or not, his political career had begun.

As it turned out, Kennedy proved to be a natural and he enjoyed the political game. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1946. He developed a reputation as a somewhat conservative Democrat and didn’t really distinguish himself during the six years in the House. That would change in 1952, however.

For, in 1952, he was elected to the Senate, and it was there that he would make his mark, defeating the respected incumbent, Henry Cabot Lodge. Kennedy also met Jaqueline Bouvier that year; they would marry a year later, in 1953.

Not that the Senate was easy. Kennedy’s health continued to struggle, and he was diagnosed with Addison’s disease, then considered fatal. But like FDR, though, he was very good at hiding his ailments and he came off as a man with youthful vigor.

Kennedy spent one period of convalescence by writing another book, this one called Profiles in Courage (though accused of being ghostwritten by Theodore Sorenson, a loyal Kennedy aide). The book, profiling eight senators that took moral stands, won Kennedy the Pulitzer Prize.

Despite missing a lot of time in the Senate due to his health, Kennedy was nonetheless in the running for the Vice-Presidential nomination in 1956. In the end, the nod went to Estes Kefauver, but it put the young Kennedy in the national spotlight.

And some fortune came Kennedy’s way as 1960 neared. Doctors were able to get Kennedy’s Addison’s disease under control and, while he would continue to have severe back pain, his health greatly improved. More importantly, Kennedy became a major player in the Senate as an influential member of the Foreign Relations Committee where he was critical of President Eisenhower on what he called the missile gap.

So, in 1960, Kennedy was ready to make his run for the White House, but he would have a lot of competition.


Summary of offices held:

1941-1945: United States Navy, Lieutenant

1947-1953; US House of Representatives, Massachusetts

1953-1961: US Senate, Massachusetts


What was going on: The Cold War, Civil Rights movement, Peace Corps, Cuban Missile Crisis

Scandals within the administration: Sex scandals that would come to light later

Why he was a good President: He had a youthful idealism that fit in well with the optimistic early sixties. He started the Peace Corps and beefed up the space program. He challenged NASA to go to the Moon and they took that challenge. He started the ball rolling for the definitive bill that would guarantee racial equality.

And, most important of all, because of his restraint without giving in, he likely saved the world from nuclear annihilation. It’s hard to top that.

Why he was a bad President: Well, the other side of Kennedy was that he was probably a little narcissistic and even arrogant. He was a womanizer, and one doesn’t know what really happened in the case of Marilyn Monroe (it is assumed she did, in fact, have an affair with Kennedy). Politically, though he did advance the cause of civil rights considerably, it took a lot of prodding from civil rights leaders and even his brother to get him to do it. Speaking of his brother, Robert Kennedy is absolutely one of my favorite all-time people, but you don’t appoint family to an important administrative post, especially when he had next to no experience (luckily, Bobby turned out to be a damned good AG).

What could have saved his Presidency: Advocating Civil Rights from the onset. Telling Allen Dulles to stick it when he pushed the Bay of Pigs invasion. But mostly, cancelling the Dallas trip which not only would have saved his presidency (maybe) but also his life.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: Not taking responsibility for the Bay of Pigs fiasco may have ruined his presidency from the get-go. Otherwise, the obvious answer is botching the Cuban Missile Crisis as that could have not ruined Kennedy’s legacy, but just about anyone who was living in 1962.

Election of 1960: Kennedy did indeed have some competition starting with the Senate Majority Leader, Lyndon Johnson of Texas, who also had his hat in the ring. His biggest competitor, though, was Senator Hubert Humphrey, a classic New Deal liberal from the Midwest. Kennedy did well in the primaries, but it was thought that he would hit a roadblock in the working class state of West Virginia. Kennedy was a Catholic and there was a lot of anti-Catholic sentiment in that state in particular.

Kennedy campaigned hard in that state, assuring West Virginians that he wouldn’t be taking orders from the Pope. Thanks to the organizational skills of the Kennedy clan, JFK won the state and Humphrey was forced to abandon the race. That left Johnson as his main competitor. Kennedy won the nomination on the first ballot and tabbed Johnson as his running mate, not because he liked him (he didn’t and brother Bobby loathed him), but because it would make Kennedy attractive to Southern voters. This irked the more liberal Midwest Democrats who preferred Humphrey or Stuart Symington, but in the end, Kennedy got his way, as would all major party nominees from then on.

The Republicans had an easier time of it, going with Vice President Nixon, the first sitting Vice President under the modern two party system to win the nomination in his own right (Humphrey, Bush I, and Gore would follow in Nixon’s footsteps). Nixon also chose his candidate, Henry Cabot Lodge, the man Kennedy had defeated for Senate in 1952.

Kennedy and Nixon were friends, and they had a civil contest for the most part. Kennedy painted himself as a Cold War liberal and promised to lead America out of what he called the “conservative rut”. He also, after helping to get Martin Luther King out of jail, won the support of African Americans, who have been staunchly Democratic as a whole ever since.

By now television was the main medium and Kennedy and Nixon staged four debates. Nixon, as a seasoned debater, had all the confidence in the world and experts who listened on the radio think Nixon won. But Nixon was not the most handsome of candidates. He refused to wear makeup and it showed. He looked like he hadn’t shaved for two days, and he seemed stiff compared to Kennedy. And while Nixon may have had a better grasp on the issues, Kennedy had a much better delivery. When the debates were over, the polls were at a dead heat.

And it reflected the finally tally on Election Day as well. Kennedy won the popular vote by a razor thin margin, and he won the Electoral vote as well. But there were accusations of voter fraud in both Texas (Johnson territory) and Illinois (Richard Daley ran the Chicago machine like a dictator and he, of course, supported Kennedy). The Texas fraud is disputable at best but there is evidence that Daley may very well have pulled some mischief in Chicago. In any event, Nixon decided not to challenge the election and graciously conceded.

And one of the most storied Administrations was underway.


First term: After giving one of the most famous inaugural speeches in American history, President Kennedy went to work on his vision of a New Frontier. One of the first things he did was to establish the Peace Corps, an organization where Americans volunteer to help people in third world countries in areas such as education, agriculture, and other areas of importance. It is a goodwill organization that is admired to this day.

Of course, Kennedy was indeed a Cold War liberal, and he was made aware of a clandestine operation in Cuba. The idea was that a group of Cuban freedom fighters, backed by the CIA, would invade Cuba, and ultimately topple Fidel Castro. Kennedy went along with the plan. That plan was called the Bay of Pigs operation and it was a disaster. When the press made the fiasco public, Kennedy admitted his error. He also learned a major lesson not to automatically listen to the hawks, something that would probably save the world a year later.

One thing Kennedy had going for him in the early stage of his Presidency was the space program. In May 1961, Alan Shepard, Jr. became to first American to fly in space. If Kennedy was an avid Cold Warrior, he was also an idealist when it came to the space program. As the space program met with more success with each liftoff, Kennedy made a vow that the United States would go to the Moon by the end of the decade. And, indeed, despite a couple setbacks (notably the Apollo 1 disaster in 1967), man would indeed land on the Moon in 1969.

The Bay of Pigs, meanwhile, while on the back burner for most Americans, was not for Soviet Premier Khrushchev, who erroneously saw Kennedy as a weak President. He decided to take a shot at taking Berlin once again. Of course, the talks failed, and he would build the infamous Berlin Wall, preventing East Germans from trying to escape into West Berlin and maybe isolating the American led enclave. Kennedy was cautious, not wanting war to break out obviously, but in the end, he dispatched a symbolic number of troops into West Berlin to assure that the US would defend them at all costs. As a result, the wall stayed up, and Khrushchev backed off on his other demands.

An even more major crisis would rear its ugly head and, if not for some strategic restraint, you might not have been here to read this. In 1962, it was discovered that Cuba was housing nuclear missiles sent by the Soviets. Cuba is ninety miles away from the US mainland (Florida to be exact). Needless to say, this did not go well with anyone in the Kennedy Administration and certainly not with the military. Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of Cuba and for thirteen days, Soviet and American ships were engaged in a very tense standoff. The Americans were made aware of all of this by Kennedy himself and they were on pins and needles for the next two weeks.

Meanwhile, in the war room so to speak, military leaders were pressuring Kennedy to invade Cuba while aides were pushing for negotiations to get the missiles out of Cuba. Kennedy had learned a valuable lesson from the Bay of Pigs, and he wasn’t going to get drawn into a nuclear war that nobody could win. And, as it turned out, Khrushchev felt the same way.

So, now realizing Kennedy had a lot more resolve than he thought, Khrushchev made a secret deal to get the missiles out of Cuba if the US removed their missiles from Turkey. That worked for Kennedy since they were obsolete anyway and Khrushchev was able to save face. The missiles were removed from Cuba, the world breathed a sigh of relief, and Castro threw a temper tantrum. But at least he didn’t have to fear a US invasion anymore.

So, Kennedy had established himself as a very strong President when it came to foreign affairs, but what about the domestic front? Economically, things were going pretty well, and except for lowering taxes and standing up to US Steel when they wanted to raise prices, Kennedy didn’t have to do much. Civil rights, on the other hand, was another matter.

By the time Kennedy became President, Civil Rights became a hot issue and Martin Luther King had a direct line to the President. But, despite the support from Black America, Kennedy was reluctant to do much more than enforcing existent laws, such as ensuring James Meredith would be enrolled at the University of Mississippi.

That all changed in 1963, however, after the legendary bigot police chief of Birmingham ordered the police and firemen to unleash firehoses on peacefully protesting African Americans. With the television camera on for all the world to see, Bull Connor inadvertently did more for the advancement of civil rights than Martin Luther King ever could.

Because President Kennedy saw it too, and so did his Attorney General brother, Robert (yeah, there was a little nepotism in the administration but at least Bobby was a good soul) and it was he who pushed his brother to finally do something.

And thus, the far reaching Civil Rights Bill was introduced which prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, race, religion, or ethnic origin. Basically, it was designed to do away with Jim Crow altogether. Kennedy would push hard for this bill despite Southern opposition. Unfortunately, as most of you probably know, something tragic would get in the way.

In the meantime, 1963 was the year that Martin Luther King became about as well known as the President himself and Kennedy gave his blessing to the March on Washington in August 1963.

1963 was also the year that President Kennedy went to Berlin to a throng of cheering fans as he spoke bad German with the words, Ich Bin Ein Berliner. Not that they cared, mind you.

There was one more thing going on in the foreign theatre of course and that was Vietnam. Kennedy also inherited the issues of the Reds taking over the country and would increase US involvement by sending what were referred to as military advisors. It also turned out that South Vietnam wasn’t exactly what you would call a Democratic paradise. Ngo Dinh Diem was nothing short of a dictator. So, the US backed an assassination attempt, which succeeded. What happened next would be up to the Vietnamese, or maybe President Johnson.

Because President Kennedy was not going to live to see the results of the Diem assassination nor of his civil rights bill.

35. JOHN F. KENNEDY- PART 2


Assassination: The 1964 election season was already underway in November 1963 and Kennedy decided on a goodwill political trip to Texas, accompanied by First Lady Jackie and Vice President Johnson. It was already assumed that Barry Goldwater would get the 1964 Republican nomination and the President made speeches that were critical of the potential candidate in San Antonio and Houston. Dallas was next after a speech in Fort Worth on the 22nd.

Kennedy had been cautioned not to go to Dallas by various people, especially United Nations Ambassador Adlai Stevenson, who had been heckled and assaulted in Dallas. Dallas authorities were also concerned, but Kennedy insisted on going to Dallas anyway.

On the morning of November 22nd, President Kennedy and the First Lady attended a breakfast at Fort Worth before embarking on the short flight to Dallas. There, at Love Field, he was greeted with a warm reception before occupying the Lincoln Continental Convertible with the top down with Governor Connally and his wife in the middle seats and the Kennedys in the back. The motorcade drove into downtown Dallas and there seemed not to be a hostile being in sight, just cheering crowds as the motorcade went by.

The motorcade turned on Houston and Elm streets. As the car was turning, Mrs. Connally remarked to the President, “You can’t say Dallas doesn’t love you.”

Kennedy agreed. Then shots rang out. One bullet reportedly missed but another hit Kennedy in the neck (it is assumed it went through and also hit the Governor). As the President clutched at his throat, a third shot rang out. This one was a bullseye as Kennedy’s head exploded. The motorcade rushed to Parkland Hospital but there wasn’t really much anyone could do. The President was pronounced dead at one PM, Central Standard Time.

You would think that would be it after the funeral obviously, but the fun was just beginning. Vice President Johnson, at the protest of the Kennedy aides, had himself sworn in on Air Force One with a stunned (because of losing her husband, not because of Johnson) First Lady as a witness. It was a savvy move of course, but we’ll talk about that more in his profile.

As for the investigation, the assassin had actually gotten away for a couple hours. Maybe he would have gotten even farther had he not been stopped by a Dallas police officer, who he shot and killed. Next thing you know, the world knew all about Lee Harvey Oswald and the Dallas Police spent the next two days parading him around for the press to see.

And that proved to be the biggest bonehead thing to do ever because, on Sunday, November 24th, and in front of live cameras, Lee Harvey Oswald would be cut down himself, by girlie club owner Jack Ruby, starting endless conspiracy theories that ranged from the Russians and Cubans to the Mafia and even the Vice President. None of the theories have been proven and while the Warren Commission, arranged by President Johnson, had what you could call a sloppy investigation (which was at least less sloppy than the autopsy), no one could prove anything other than Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone with no support from any entity.

So, John F Kennedy lives on as the greatest martyred President since Lincoln. It would be well over a decade before tales of affairs that would make anyone but Bill Clinton blush and a conspiracy that he had an affair with Marilyn Monroe and had a hand in her suicide in some way. And, of course, there were the Mafia rumors too (we didn’t mention he was buddies with Frank Sinatra and Rat Pack member Peter Lawford was Kennedy’s Brother-In-Law).

But whatever the truth may be, he goes down as one of the most idealistic Presidents in American history.

Odd notes: Kennedy’s father, Joseph Kennedy, made much of his fortune running illegal liquor in the 1920s.

Then Senator Kennedy got into a car accident with a young Larry King (https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/...john-f-kennedy)

Final Summary: Jack Kennedy is not the first, nor the last President to have two different lives, one that was the President, and one that was, well, a scoundrel. No, Kennedy certainly wasn’t the worst human being ever to reside on this Earth, even among our Presidents, but he no doubt felt a bit entitled because of his upbringing and, if I were to judge him on his character alone, frankly, he wouldn’t rate very high.

But Kennedy the President is a different matter. He inspired us to be the best we could possibly be, and he always seemed to have a knack at doing the right thing such as when he finally found the courage to introduce the Civil Rights Act. When he did screw up, such as with the Bay of Pigs, he was the first one to take responsibility. He obviously took Harry Truman’s buck stops here to heart. He inspired the space program, and the Peace Corps remains one of his greatest legacies. And it should also be noted that it was Kennedy, along with Khrushchev (and it probably cost him his premiership) that said enough of the nuclear arms race after the near miss of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and they were in the process of the first arms reduction treaty.

But there will always be one lingering question concerning Kennedy. What about Vietnam? Would Kennedy have escalated the war the way Johnson would? Or would he have found a way out? Yes, Kennedy was a Cold Warrior, but he was also a realist when he had to be. Maybe he would have seen the writing on the wall long before Johnson did. I’d like to think that given how he handled the Cuban Missile Crisis.

But thanks to a whack job in Dallas, we’ll never know.

Overall rating: B+

https://millercenter.org/president/kennedy

Disclaimer


From this point on, if I haven't done so already, my liberal bias may start to be showing as we cover the more recent Presidents, starting with Lyndon Johnson. These are the Presidents who have, for the most part, helped me to form my own political views so if you happen to be a fan of Ronald Reagan, or think Donald Trump is the greatest US President since Julius Caesar, be forewarned!

36. LYNDON B. JOHNSON (We're on the Eve of Destruction)


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Born: August 27, 1908, near Stonewall, Texas
Died: January 22, 1973, Johnson City, Texas

Term: November 22, 1963- January 20, 1969
Political Party: Democrat

Vice President: Hubert Humphrey

First Lady: Lady Bird Taylor Johnson

Before the Presidency: Lyndon Johnson was the oldest child of struggling farmer Sam Johnson. Sam wasn’t much of a success as a farmer, but he gifted with the gift of gab, and he served five terms in the Texas Legislature before returning back to farming. The family moved to Johnson City when Lyndon was five. There, Lyndon seemed to want to follow his father’s dreams and, at one point, told a classmate he wanted to be President of the United States.

Johnson’s family struggled throughout his childhood, and it gave the young Lyndon a resolve that he wouldn’t let farm prices drop to the point where working class families, like his own, were ruined. He graduated as President of his six member Senior class and his family managed to get enough funds together so Lyndon could attend summer courses at Southwest Texas Teachers’ College. However, his grades were poor, so he was rejected.

So, he decided to sow his wild oats instead. He took off for California with some friends. He drifted a bit between California and Texas, working odd jobs along the way. It got so bad that he would be arrested in 1927. This woke Lyndon up, and this time, the teachers’ college accepted him.

Johnson wasn’t the best student, but he involved himself in extracurricular activities and excelled in his student teaching. He ended up being assigned to teach a small Hispanic school in a poor area. This was during the Great Depression. Johnson excelled in his position and did well financially considering the times, but he really yearned for a political career, so the teaching period was brief.

In 1931, he became an aide to a Congressman of Corpus Christi. There, in Washington, he proved to have a strong work ethic, answering every inquiry from the Congressman’s constituents.

In 1934, while visiting Texas, Lyndon would find love when he met wealthy Claudia Alta Taylor. They would be married within three months, and she would be better known later as Lady Bird Johnson.

Still in Washington, Johnson was clearly a fan of President Roosevelt’s New Deal and was able to procure an appointment as Texas Director of the National Youth Administration, which helped young people find employment. He excelled there as well.

Then fate stepped in. The congressman in his home district died in 1937 and Johnson jumped at the chance to run for his seat. With help from his wife’s inheritance, and being a strong advocate of FDR’s New Deal, he won election at the age of twenty-eight.

Congressman Johnson, due to his age mostly, was somewhat undistinguished at first though he was able to get some housing projects and dams for his district. He also was able to secure electrical power to his old Texas Hill country, something he would consider as his proudest achievement.

One of Texas’ US Senators died in 1941 and Johnson tried for the seat. He was pitted against “Pass the Biscuits, Pappy” O’Daniel. Both were accused of fraudulent methods but O’Daniel proved to be better at it. Johnson returned to the House.

By now, the US was in World War II and Johnson persuaded FDR to give him an officer’s commission in the Naval Reserve. Johnson was appointed as congressional inspector of the war progress in the Pacific which enabled him to keep his seat. He even went on a bombing mission and won a Silver Star. As such, Johnson was able to help out with the war effort and use his political savvy at the same time.

After the war ended, America had entered a different world. Now it was the Cold War against Communism. Johnson, as a New Deal liberal, seemed to be on the wrong side of politics by 1948. This was an issue for him as he went up against Texas Governor Coke Stevenson for the Senate seat.

Stevenson was considered a rather popular Governor due to his more conservative views. The two battled it out for the Democratic nomination, but this time, Johnson was older and wiser, and he knew all the tricks to get elected in Texas. Despite three suspicious vote tallies in South Texas, Johnson edged Stevenson for the nomination and easily defeated his Republican opponent. Lyndon Johnson was now a Senator.

And it was in the Senate where Johnson would truly make his mark and then some. Johnson’s strategic skills made him one of the most powerful Senators in America by the end of his first term. Indeed, he was named the Majority Whip in 1951, after only two years in the Senate. later, when the Republicans took back the Senate, Johnson was named Minority Leader. He was now the most powerful politician in his party.

In 1954, the Democrats were able to take the Senate right back and Senator Johnson was now the Majority Leader. And few would have the power and influence that he had in the fifties. And, though he supported military preparedness, he preferred to use his clout when it came to domestic issues, particularly on spending bills that would help the less advantaged. Johnson was a populist, ultimately, though at least he tried to use it for good.

It is argued that Johnson may have been the most powerful Senate Majority Leader ever. No, he didn’t manipulate the Senate the way Mitch McConnell would, but he knew how to influence other Senators to see things his way. It was called the Johnson treatment in which, basically, Johnson would lean over you as if he was stalking his prey. No one was better at the art of persuasion than Lyndon Johnson.

He also supported President Eisenhower where he could even though he was of the opposite party. As such, he helped push through the Civil Rights Act of 1957, managing to calm Southern nerves along the way. He also helped to get America into the space race after the Russians launched Sputnik.

Johnson’s ambitions and hard work would come at a physical cost, though. In 1955, Johnson suffered a massive heart attack and was sidelined for a time. Like Eisenhower, heart issues would be a major health problem throughout his later life. Johnson did address it though by stopping smoking, lost weight, and tried to delegate some of his work.

By 1960, Johnson felt that he did all he could in the Senate and now it was time to go for the big prize, the Presidency.



Summary of offices held:

1937-1949: US House of Representatives, Texas

1941-1942: United States Naval Reserve, Lieutenant Commander

1949-1961: US Senate, Texas

1951-1953: Senate majority Whip

1956-1957: Senate Majority Leader

1957-1961: Senate Majority Leader

1961-1963: Vice President of the United States


What was going on: Vietnam War, Civil Rights movement, the Beatles, Space program, the Great Society, the assassinations, student protests

Scandals within the Presidency: Bobby Baker corruption charges

Why he was a good President: Only FDR can boast of a stronger domestic agenda than LBJ. Because of Lyndon Johnson, we have the Civil Rights Act that criminalized discrimination, the Voting Rights Act (or at least the part that the Supreme Court allows), Medicaid and Medicare, the Fair Housing Act, and a few other things as well. If we judged LBJ on this alone, he’d probably get an easy A.

Why he was a bad President: One word: Vietnam. While almost a savior domestically, he stubbornly waged the war in Vietnam and over 35,000 American Servicemen would die on his watch alone (Another 20,000 would die under Nixon). He had to deal with protests at home and abroad and, while Nixon would handle them worse, Johnson couldn’t have been prepared for the divide he was causing.

What could have saved his Presidency: Staying out of Vietnam is the easy answer of course. Without Vietnam, he could have been Teddy Roosevelt.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: Well, Vietnam pretty much did, but it could have been worse had he reverted back to the old segregationist policies.

How he became Vice President: Johnson’s Presidential ambitions dated back as early as 1952 when he tried to get on the ticket with Adlai Stevenson. He again would try in 1956. Now it was 1960 and this time, he was going to go for all the marbles.

But he faced long odds, on one hand you had the popular Midwest liberal, Hubert Humphrey (who would later be Johnson’s VP), and, even worse for Johnson, there was that young charismatic idealist from Massachusetts named John Kennedy. All three were Senators.

This was not going to be Johnson’s year either. Kennedy outmaneuvered everybody, even the crafty Johnson, and would secure the nomination. The only question now is who he would pick as his running mate.

Johnson and Kennedy weren’t exactly buddies and Kennedy didn’t expect Johnson to accept the bid for Vice President (Kennedy was pressured by certain Democrats, including some of his closest advisors as a way to attract the South). To Kennedy’s surprise, Johnson accepted, and he was on the ticket. It turned out to be a pleasant surprise as Johnson campaigned hard for the ticket. In fact, it may have very well been Johnson that made the difference in one of the closest elections in American History.

So, Johnson was Vice President, but he would be frustrated that the Kennedy Administration would keep him on the back burner. In fact, it would even be rumored that Johnson would be dropped when 1964 came around. Still, Kennedy nabbed him as head of the Space Program. He also was a key advisor on military affairs, and he also chaired the President’s Committee for Equal Employment Opportunity. Overall, though, he was generally shunned by Kennedy aides, something that grew more frustrating as time went.

On November 22, 1963, Vice President Johnson accompanied President Kennedy to Dallas, Texas. It was a political trip (It looked like LBJ would be on the ticket after all), and Johnson was ready to shake some hands and secure some Texas endorsements, starting with Governor Connally no doubt.

Vice- President Johnson’s car was two vehicles behind Kennedy’s convertible as the motorcade started just before noon.

Two hours later, Lyndon Johnson was President of the United States.

First term: The events of November 22, 1963, are controversial for a variety of reasons and not just because of the assassination. One of them involved the new President, Lyndon Johnson, who insisted he be sworn in on Air Force One. This drew protests from the Kennedy camp, especially after he asked the still shocked first lady, Jackie Kennedy, to witness the proceeding which was also going to be a photo-op. He was sworn in by judge Sarah T. Hughes, a friend of the new President. More controversy occurred as the plane landed at Andrews Air Force Base as Kennedy’s casket was hurriedly removed from the plane. President Johnson gave a quick speech lamenting Kennedy and the country and, while sincere, lacked the charisma of any Kennedy speech. People worried for the immediate future.

But after the mourning period of President Kennedy passed, the new President went right to work starting with the formation of the Warren Commission to investigate what happened in the Kennedy Assassination. That too would prove controversial as they never really had all the information they needed (probably more the fault of zealous Kennedy aides and a sloppy autopsy than anything Johnson did), and a slew of conspiracy theories would soon arise. One of the members of the Warren Commission happened to be Congressman Gerald Ford of Michigan, who would also become an accidental President one day.

One thing Johnson was determined to do was to finally get Kennedy’s Civil Rights bill passed. Johnson had been something of a segregationist, being a product of the South, though not as blatantly racist as the likes of Strom Thurmond for example. But he knew that the African American vote was an important bloc and he always had sympathy for the less fortunate. So, the Civil Rights Bill became his priority in 1964.

Of course, it drew a lot of hostility from the Dixiecrats, and Johnson would later say that it probably cost the Democrats the South for a generation (as it turned out, a lot longer than that). Still, he felt it was the right thing to do and, with the use of his legendary Johnson treatment, he was able to get the groundbreaking bill that banned discrimination in most shapes and forms (the LGBTQ movement wasn’t in play yet). Thus, in many ways the Civil Rights Bill is much more Johnson’s legacy than Kennedy’s.

The other issue he inherited, of course, was Vietnam and this would be the issue that would ultimately sink Johnson’s presidency. Kennedy had been very involved in Vietnam of course, but he also used a bit of restraint even as he had hawks like Defense Secretary Robert McNamara who wanted to go all in. Johnson agreed with McNamara and felt that a quick military intervention was all that was needed to stem the tide of Communism in Vietnam.

Johnson needed an excuse though and he found it in what was called the Gulf of Tonkin incident. There actually was a confrontation between North Vietnam and covert operations in the Gulf, but the second confrontation, the one that sparked direct American involvement in the war, never actually happened. It would later be blamed on miscommunication. The Congress fell for it in any event and passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving the President authority to essentially wage war, which he would do after his inauguration the next year.

The Vietnam war was not to be blown sky high just yet and Johnson would go into the 1964 election with a lot of goodwill. The Civil Rights act along with Johnson’s other domestic ideas were very popular and he would be very difficult to defeat in 1964.


Election of 1964: Johnson was all but coronated as the Democratic nominee in 1964. He had a lot of goodwill post-Kennedy and even with a strained relationship with his Attorney General, Robert Kennedy, who nonetheless supported him, there was absolutely no one that was going to try to deny Johnson his bid for a term in his own right.

It was a different story on the Republican side. Barry Goldwater remained the frontrunner, but he was said to have rather extremist views, something that concerned the more moderate members of the party. No one knew it then, but Goldwater had started a movement that would shift the Republican Party much more to the right and eventually give America the gift that was Ronald Reagan.

Of course, there were other candidates to consider. There was talk of a Nixon comeback, but he had been stung by his loss for Governor of California and he really wasn’t ready for a comeback- yet. There was a stop Goldwater movement that lobbied for the nominations of either Nelson Rockefeller or William Scranton. As it was, Goldwater, who was ultimately nominated, would have to pick Liberal Republican William Miller as his running mate.

Goldwater’s style of Libertarianism didn’t sit well with American voters and his speech about Extremism in the name of liberty being no vice didn’t help matters much. The Johnson campaign exploited this with a devastating TV commercial known as the Daisy girl ad which suggested Goldwater would lead us to nuclear war.

So, it was to no surprise that Johnson would win by the largest popular vote margin in history. Some white Southerners did vote for Goldwater given he opposed the Civil Rights Bill (though for libertarian reasons, not because of any hatreds), but for the most part, it was pretty much a rout with Goldwater carrying only six states, his own state of Arizona and five in the Deep South. Lyndon Johnson had a mandate.

36. LYNDON B. JOHNSON (part 2)


Second Term: With the election behind him, President Johnson set on his ambitious domestic agenda that promised to be the most reaching since the New Deal. He pushed for what he referred to as his Great Society programs. First though, he needed to get through the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that Martin Luther King was pressuring him to do. Johnson was concerned that getting a voting rights act through now might derail his domestic agenda in general, but again, dumb white racists made the decision for him.

For there was an incident in Selma, Alabama known as Bloody Sunday. A peaceful march across the Edmund Pettis bridge was halted by Alabama state troopers. The marchers did indeed halt, but it didn’t end there. The troopers attacked the marchers with tear gas and nightsticks and, of course, the event was televised.

So, Johnson had his cause to act, and this time it wasn’t manufactured. He made a speech imploring white Americans that the Black Americans’ cause was theirs too. The bill passed with great bipartisan support, and it banned literacy tests among other things as well as allowing the Justice Department to intervene where discriminatory practices kept less than half of eligible voters from being able to do just that, vote. Yes, some of the bill would, decades later, be ruled unconstitutional simply because times had changed (and, of course, after George Floyd, we know that things haven’t really changed at all, thanks, John Roberts). Some of the bill survives though and it is a great companion bill to the Civil Rights Act of the year before.

With the Voting Rights Act behind him, President Johnson began work on his other projects, starting with Medicare and Medicaid, something that would guarantee at least some health insurance to the elderly and the poor. Of course, the conservatives, whose idea of helping people is to let them starve, were freaking out (You should listen to Ronald Reagan’s album, Ronald Reagan speaks out against Socialized Medicine, it’s a comedy classic). The bill passed anyway, and the Supreme Court hasn’t outlawed that as of yet (and, after okaying Obamacare twice, they probably won’t), so, along with Social Security, older people have at least a little bit of security.

Lesser known, but equally important accomplishments in the Johnson Administration, include the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD for short, the National Endowments for the Arts, the National Endowments for the Humanities, the Public Broadcasting Act (PBS, if you’re wondering), and the Consumer Protection Agency, and these are just the ones I can think of right off the bat.

These great accomplishments would put any other President in the far upper tier to be sure, but sadly, Johnson’s foreign policy was a downright disaster.

For the Vietnam War was, to the doubt of no one, President Johnson’s war. The US began to bomb North Vietnam in February 1965 and soon troop levels were increasing faster than today’s gas prices. By the end of 1965, nearly 200,000 US troops were fighting in Vietnam. That number doubled by the end of 1966 and more than half a million troops were in Vietnam by the time Johnson left office.

And the war was going nowhere. Young American men had to live in fear of their lives being interrupted at best and maybe ended at worst. More and more troops were coming home in body bags and colleges were erupting in protests throughout the country. Even worse, there was still racial strife domestically as Martin Luther King was now getting resistance, first by a white mob in Chicago, then with more radical black activist groups such as SNCC and the Black Panthers that advocated violence instead of King’s non-violent approach. King even alienated Johnson for a time when he spoke out against the Vietnam War.

And as such, the last two years of Johnson’s presidency would end up in two of the worst years in American History. In 1967, despite some positive goings on such as the Summer of Love, there would be race riots in Detroit and Newark as well as more escalation in Vietnam. The ongoing war in Vietnam had an even bigger impact on the young as protests dominated throughout the year, some of them violent. The most notable protest however was very peaceful when protestors descended on the Pentagon in October 1967, remembered mostly for Allen Ginsburg’s attempt to “lift the Pentagon.”

1968 would even be worse as it wouldn’t even have a summer of love. Instead, the year started out with the Pueblo Incident off North Korea where a US spy ship was captured, and the personnel were imprisoned for almost a year.

But that paled to what would happen in Vietnam the next month. In February 1968, the Vietcong pulled a surprise attack on what was called the Tet Offensive. By now, the Vietnam War was on the TV news daily the same as if you were watching a rerun of the Flintstones. So, it was to no surprise that the horrors of the war were seen by just about everyone, with a street execution shown as the exclamation point.

This was the last straw as Walter Cronkite publicly spoke out against the war on his newscast. This, along with the entry of Robert Kennedy in the Presidential Race drove President Johnson to this fatal announcement.

“I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President”.

(We’ll cover the rest of 1968 in a special post before we get to Nixon)

Post Presidency: The few years of Johnson’s post presidency were somewhat quiet as he retired to his ranch. His heart was failing, and he never really got over the guilt of sending thousands of young men to their deaths in Vietnam. Still, he wasn’t a broken man as he kept busy writing memoirs and overseeing the building of his Presidential Library. He died in January 1973, just two days after the Paris Peace Accords officially ended US involvement in the Vietnam War.

Odd notes: Before the Presidency, Johnson was a noted segregationist

Johnson had a propensity to show off his scar from a gall bladder operation.

He grew his hair out after the Presidency

Final Summary: In some ways, you can compare Lyndon Johnson to Woodrow Wilson as something of a Jekyll and Hyde. Wilson of course did his own great things, but his blatant racism ruined his legacy. Johnson, on the other hand, did so many great things domestically and African Americans can actually congregate with White Americans freely (even if some of the whites don’t like it much). Johnson is the one most responsible for that.

But then there is Vietnam and that’s the Hyde side of LBJ. Believe it or not, as a Cold Warrior, he did it with all the best intentions, but he was too much of a cowboy President (I didn’t mention it earlier, but he ordered Marines into the Dominican Republic in 1965 to protect American Citizens), and that was his downfall when it came to Vietnam. He also was easily hurt as he felt betrayed when Martin Luther King went against him on Vietnam.

So, like Wilson, it would be easy to give Johnson and A on domestic policy and an F on Vietnam, but somehow, I think because of the domestic gains, I think LBJ deserves a little better than that.

So, I’m giving him a few bonus points.

Overall rating: B-

https://millercenter.org/president/lbjohnson



NOTE: Stay tuned as we post a special entry on Friday concerning the pivotal political year of 1968 that started the US on the slow descent that we enjoy to this day.

1968 SPECIAL (and it's not the Elvis Presley Comeback Special)


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“I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.”

I’d like to say the troubles of the Johnson Administration ended there but, unfortunately, it was only the beginning.

The Presidential campaign was already underway as it had been obvious Johnson was not going to be coronated this time. Between Vietnam and the racial tensions, not to mention the anti-war protests at home, which was already sparking a law and order backlash, it was to no surprise that Johnson would have competition in this election.

And it came in the form of anti-war candidate Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota. His insistence to get out of Vietnam hit a note with younger voters and other liberal minded Democrats were attracted to his positions as well. And, with everything going on, Johnson had every reason to fear a rejection at the Democratic National Convention, especially after Johnson barely won the New Hampshire primary.

But Johnson was about to get an even bigger headache. For the good part of a year, there was a draft to get Robert Kennedy, now a Senator from New York, to run. Like McCarthy, he was a vehement opponent of the Vietnam War, but he also emphasized programs to help the poor and disadvantaged, even visiting an economically challenged town of white folks in Appalachia. He was also visiting African American towns in Mississippi as well and people could see the genuine emotion in his face as he visited these areas. After his brother had been assassinated, Kennedy took a reassessment of himself and out of it came a compassion that has rarely been seen in anyone in politics, quite frankly.

So, after the New Hampshire primary, and realizing he had the best chance to defeat Johnson, Bobby Kennedy announced his candidacy for President.

This was likely the last straw for Johnson. He had threatened to resign before but this time, with McCarthy and Kennedy running, and Cronkite now against him, Johnson decided he had enough and wasn’t going to run again. Instead, he would back his Vice President, Hubert Humphrey, as he at least shared some of his Vietnam policy, even actively campaigning for his election.

So, as April began, it looked like a three way contest for the 1968 nomination while the Republicans were trying to figure out who would hold their banner. At this point it appeared to be between Michigan Governor George Romney and, guess who, Tricky Dick Nixon, who was ready for his comeback tour. As of early April, Nixon already had the decided edge.

Now, you may ask why I’m doing 1968 as a separate chapter. It’s quite simple really; there were events in 1968 that frankly went beyond politics and, in some cases, even the political events went way beyond just some mention in a Presidential bio.

For just four days after Johnson’s announcement that he wouldn’t run, Martin Luther King was shot and killed in Memphis. King had been there to support a garbage workers’ strike and had made an inspiring speech at a church the night before pledging that “We will get to the mountaintop.” He also admitted that he likely wouldn’t get to the mountaintop with them. It proved to be tragically prophetic.

Because King was now dead, and the inner demons of anger rose. Cities like my own city of Baltimore erupted in violence. Forty-three people were killed, thousands were injured, even more thousands were arrested, and there was enormous property damage in what was seen as the worst violence since the Civil War. President Johnson sent in Federal troops to quell the violence as he needed to do but worried that local authorities would use unnecessary force. He was even reported to say, “What did you expect? I don’t know why we’re so surprised. When you put your foot on a man’s neck for three hundred years, and then you let him up, what’s he going to do? He’s going to knock your block off.” Legislatively, Johnson was able to respond by getting the Fair Housing Act passed, the last of his many great domestic accomplishments.

By May, the riots had passed, and it was back to Vietnam and the primaries. Kennedy was doing well at first, but hit a roadblock when McCarthy pulled an upset win in Oregon. It was assumed that if Kennedy had any chance of winning the nomination, at this point being reserved for Humphrey’s to lose, he would have to win the California Primary in June.

Meanwhile, there was now an attempt to finally try to get the US out of Vietnam as the Paris Peace talks were getting underway. Long story short, the talks would never get very far, and it is even rumored that Nixon may have meddled in an effort to improve his own election chances. In any event, the talks failed, and the war went on.

By June, Bobby Kennedy’s campaign was beginning to take flight. It had been an idealistic campaign to be sure as he was still remembered for his comforting speech in Indianapolis the night Martin Luther King was killed. Yes, he lost in the Oregon primary, but it looked like he had a fighting chance in both California and South Dakota. The primaries were on June 4 and Kennedy had won both. At the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, Kennedy gave what would be his last speech finishing with the words “It’s on to Chicago and let’s win there.”

As Kennedy as his entourage were exiting through the kitchen, shots rang out. After the melee was over and the assassin being held on the floor as a reporter screamed, “Get the gun,” Robert Kennedy lain on the floor with a bullet wound to the head, barely conscious as a busboy tried to comfort him. Kennedy was rushed to Central Receiving Hospital. By then he lost consciousness. He then was transferred to Good Samaritan Hospital where they operated on him, listing his condition as grave as to life.

On June 6 at 1:44 AM, Robert Kennedy was pronounced dead and the idealism that in some ways started with the Kennedys died that day as well.

The summer of 1968 contrasted with the positive vibes of the previous summer. We were still mired in the Vietnam War, and we just went through two major assassinations, what else could possibly go wrong?

Well, your friendly neighborhood mayor Richard Daley of Chicago was happy to give the answer. For, the Democratic National Convention to coronate Hubert Humphrey was underway and Daley wasn’t going to let a bunch of unkempt hippies ruin Chicago’s week in the spotlight.

Of course, those unkempt hippies were in Chicago to protest the war and planned peaceful, if vocal protests in Lincoln Park. Daley, of course, had a problem with that and a violent confrontation between the Yippies, as they called themselves, and the more than willing Chicago Police took place. This and a few other skirmishes set up what would become a night where the whole world was watching.

On the night of August 28, protestors marched in front of the Convention Center. The police responded the best way they knew how, with violence. Tear gas was thrown, protestors were beaten in front of a live audience. Word of the violence got into the convention as well as Senator Abe Ribicoff of Connecticut accused Mayor Daley of using Gestapo tactics. Even more telling, as a reporter was being roughed up by Daley’s security, Walter Cronkite called the security personnel a bunch of thugs. By the time Hubert Humphrey came on for his acceptance speech, he was reduced to making a desperate plea for harmony.

The rest of 1968 was relatively calm as Humphrey ran up against Nixon and his Law and Order campaign (more on that with the next post) and a third party bid by traditional segregationist, George Wallace, who would have some success in the South. Needless to say, with the damage done in Chicago, Humphrey was not to be the next President which is a shame for a couple of obvious reasons, but also because he was, even with his support of the war, a basically decent guy. In any event, after 1968, the United States would never be the same.

And not for the better.

RICHARD M. NIXON (Here's to the State of Richard Nixon)

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Born: January 9, 1913, Yorba Linda, California
Died: April 22, 1994, New York, New York

Term: January 20, 1969- August 9, 1974 (resigned)
Political Party: Republican

Vice President(s): Spiro Agnew, Gerald Ford

First Lady: Patricia Ryan Nixon

Before the Presidency: Richard Nixon grew up in a small town in California. He was the son of an odd mix of parents. His father was a bit of a boor while his mother was, as he would famously put it, a saint. Young Richard was ambitious from the start and excelled at school and would excel at Whittier College and Duke University law school. Even with his impressive academics, however, he couldn’t get into the FBI when he applied in 1937.

Nixon settled in Whittier, California where he met and married Pat Ryan, destined to be his long suffering wife. The Nixons moved East as opportunities began to present themselves. Nixon got a job with the Office of Price Administration in Washington.

After Pearl Harbor, Nixon enlisted in the Navy. It wasn’t an especially distinguished stint, but he left with an Honorable Discharge in 1945. When he got home, his political career started when he was approached by a group of Southern California Republicans.

Nixon learned the art of negative campaigning and dirty tricks from the get-go, and he set his eyes on Jerry Voorhis, the Congressman from California’s 12th District. Voorhis was a New Dealer who was also an avowed anti-Communist. No matter, Nixon’s men was able to come up with a document linking him to a PAC, not a Communist backed PAC mind you, but enough to scare the votes enough to go with Nixon. Richard Nixon was going to Washington.

This was the period of the Great Red Scare and Nixon would exploit it as hard as he could. Next in his crosshairs was Alger Hiss, a prominent employee at the US State Department. He was under investigation by the House Un-American Activities Committee in which Nixon was a member. Nixon went after Hiss like a pit bull, all but destroying his career (though later documents suggest that Hiss was, in fact, passing information to the Soviets). Nixon had reached National prominence.

Buoyed by the success in the Hiss case, Nixon then went for the Senate seat. This time the victim was Helen Gahagan Douglas. He came up with a “pink sheet” that compared Douglas to a Communist Party member, calling it the Douglas-Marcantonio Axis. This not only won Nixon the Senate seat in 1950 but also the derisive moniker, Tricky Dick. Yes, Richard Nixon was a despicable man even in the early days, but in the paranoia days of the early fifties, he was the next best thing next to Joe McCarthy.

And as such, he was being touted as a possible Vice Presidential candidate in 1952. Eisenhower would go with Nixon after Nixon guaranteed some California delegates. Eisenhower may have regretted it though as it wasn’t much long before Nixon became the news in not a good way. A news article accused Nixon of taking illegal gifts and Eisenhower was ready to dump him. Nixon knew this too.

So, with TV now the rage, he arranged what we would now call an informercial that we know now as the Checkers speech. Here, Nixon highlighted his dog, explaining that Checkers was a gift given to him for his daughter and he wasn’t going to give the dog back. It was pure manipulation at its best as Nixon came off as a warm family man. Nixon saved his place on the ticket.

And, despicable as Nixon was, he did have a soft spot for his family. His wife was devoted to a fault and his two daughters adored him. This would come into play later when his political career came to a spectacular end.

Eisenhower won the election easily and Nixon was the youngest Vice President in history. As Vice President, Nixon would become an expert in foreign affairs, visiting dozens of countries. There were two notable trips in particular. On the Latin America Trip in 1958, Nixon was met with protests and a mob in Caracas stoned his motorcade. This only made Nixon more popular.

The incident that gave him real glory happened in 1959 though when he met Nikita Khrushchev in the Soviet Union. There the two staged what was called the Kitchen Debates as they traded words about the merits of their two respective countries. Both parties looked quite positively, and it gave Nixon a reputation of being able to stand up the big boys.

Nixon even had some Presidential experience when he had to fill in as Acting President when Eisenhower suffered his heart attack in 1955. Nothing major happened and, for all extensive purposes, Nixon didn’t do anything to embarrass Eisenhower when he returned.

So, when 1960 rolled around, Nixon was a prime candidate for President, and he would be nominated by the Republicans. Nixon wouldn’t be ready for the glamour that was Kennedy though and this time, the same TV that saved his political career would now be his Achilles hell. The two candidates, who were also personal friends, decided on four televised debates. Kennedy was a handsome man and was able to show his charm in front of the cameras. Nixon, on the other hand, looked like he hadn’t shaved, and while he may have had a better grasp of the issues than Kennedy, his delivery seemed off and people were turned off by his general appearance. As such Kennedy won the debate.

And, despite some controversy, Kennedy also won a close election. It’s true Nixon could have contested it, and no one could have really blamed him, especially in the case of Illinois, but Nixon decided not to contest the election and conceded gracefully. Nixon figured he’d just try again in 1964.

But first, he would try a stab at California Governor in 1962 after writing his book, Six Crises. Nixon ran as a moderate against the staunch conservative, Joseph Shell, in the primary, and won the nomination easily. The general election was a different matter though as the Democratic Governor, Pat Brown, was quite popular. Nixon felt the press liked Brown a little too much too and, when Nixon lost big in the general election, he announced that they wouldn’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.

Nixon instead spent the bulk of the sixties campaigning first, for Goldwater, then for Republicans in the 1966 midterms. For somewhat who had been supposedly retired from politics, he seemed to be ready for another Presidential run in 1968

Summary of offices held:

1942-1946: United States Navy, Commander

1947-1950: House of representatives, California

1950-1952: United States Senator, California

1953-1961: Vice President of the United States


What was going on: Vietnam War, The Apollo Space program, Kent State, relations with China, Energy Crisis, Watergate

Scandals within the Presidency: Agnew tax fraud trial, and, um, Watergate

Why he was a good President: He was surprisingly strong on the environment, creating the EPA among other things. It took him long enough, but he did finally get us out of Vietnam. And the space program flourished under him. Plus, he handled the inflation issue about as well as anyone could have in the early seventies. And, of course, he was very adept at foreign diplomacy, forging relations with China and signing the SALT nuclear arms agreement with Russia.

Why he was a bad President: Well, Watergate of course, but his paranoia sometimes would go amok as he wasn’t afraid to curtail the civil liberties of those who protested his policies, particularly when it came to Vietnam. Plus, who remembers his infamous enemies list?

What could have saved his Presidency: A lot less paranoia and more of where he did best, with foreign diplomacy and moderate domestic policy. Oh, and a little more honesty and openness wouldn’t have hurt either

What could have destroyed his Presidency: Oh, I don’t know, maybe a political scandal? You know, like, WATERGATE????

Election of 1968: Nixon came into 1968 as the Republican front runner with George Romney and Nelson Rockefeller on the left and Ronald Reagan on the right. Reagan, at this point was a former actor who was now Governor of California (he did what Nixon couldn’t do, defeat Pat Brown). Reagan had taken the mantle of Goldwater conservatism and it was he who would transform the United States into the wonderful wasteland it is today. For now, though, he was just beating up hippies in California.

Despite the loyal competition, Nixon’s nomination never really was threatened. Romney dropped out after he turned against the Vietnam War and Rockefeller was way too liberal for these Republicans. On the other hand, Reagan’s conservatism scared the pants out of them. They much preferred someone close to the center, in other words, Nixon.

So, Nixon was up against Humphrey in the general election (see the 1968 chapter for the fun on the Democratic side). A third candidate also had his hat in the ring. Mr. Segregation Now himself, George Wallace, was running on the third party American Independent ticket, and he would indeed make some noise, though he probably would hurt Nixon more than Humphrey.

As for Nixon, he ran on a law and order campaign, essentially a reaction to both the civil unrest of recent years and the student protests that were getting out of control, such as in Chicago. He also had a secret plan to get out of Vietnam (he didn’t but people are pretty gullible sometimes). And, oh yeah, he also had as his running mate, Governor Spiro Agnew of Maryland. Great, so Nixon would not only embarrass himself a few years later, his Vice President would embarrass my home state as well (In 1973 for sure but one can argue he started to embarrass us in 1969).

Anyway, even though Humphrey was gaining on Nixon in the days before Election Day, it was too little too late. Nixon won with a razor thin plurality (yep, yet another plurality), though he fared a little better in the Electoral Vote with Wallace gaining most of the Deep South. Nixon took the rest of the South which fulfilled LBJ’s prediction from four years earlier. Hatred doesn’t die very easily.

First term: Buoyed by the support of his “Silent Majority,” President Nixon embarked on the first of his international trips, the first one being to Europe. Back at home, Nixon would concentrate on two things in his first year, scaling back the war in Vietnam, though not ending the involvement, just that fewer men would have to go. He also had to deal with the political unrest at home as young protesters were now being attacked by groups that called themselves Hard Hats. When you say Hard Hats, think of a lot of violent Archie Bunkers on steroids. Nixon, not a fan of the protestors, was certainly favoring the Hard Hats, at least in secret.

When it came to foreign policy, Nixon was a hands-on President, keeping his Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense out of the loop. He had a group of trusted aides around him from Chief of Staff HD Haldeman to security advisor Henry Kissinger. As such, he was often commanding the Vietnam War from the White House.

Domestically, things started out well, but inflation was becoming a major problem. By 1971, and despite Nixon’s best efforts, it had spiraled out of control to the point that Nixon ordered Wage and Prize freezes over the next year in hopes to get the inflation under control. It didn’t really work though as domestic policy really wasn’t Nixon’s forte, but he would sign off on the Environmental Protection Agency and signed the Clean Air act.

Nixon was President when NASA had its greatest moment. John Kennedy’s dream of a man on the moon before 1970 had been realized as Neil Armstrong took the first steps off Apollo 11 in July 1969. More moon missions would follow throughout Nixon’s first term.

But like Johnson before him, Vietnam was ultimately Nixon’s Achilles Heel. Even though Nixon was now slowly withdrawing troops from Vietnam, there was still a draft, which was now a televised lottery (Congratulations to those born on September 14th, you win a free trip to Vietnam), and the withdrawal was much too slow for not only the young, but for middle America as well as many of them had now turned against the war (The 1968 Tet Offensive being the turning point for many). On top of that, Nixon replaced troop withdrawals with bombing missions in North Vietnam. By 1970, it had spread to Cambodia and Nixon announced that US planes had bombed that country as well.

College campuses all over the country erupted in protest over the Cambodia bombing and it reached a boiling point when National Guardsmen fired on protestors at Kent State University in May 1970. Four people were killed, two of whom were only observing the protests in between classes.

Nixon, to his credit, didn’t overreact as now colleges were shutting down in the wake of the Kent State tragedy (another shooting incident also happened at black college Jackson State later that month). Instead, he tried to talk directly with a group of anti-war protestors at the Lincoln memorial. Yes, it was as bizarre as it sounds, and Nixon was no doubt feeling out of place as he tried to get with it.

Nixon ultimately was quite the paranoid, especially when it came to Vietnam. He had the Oval Office secretly bugged as a way to use it against those that may oppose him. Needless to say, that backfired spectacularly. He also would go back into his bag of dirty tricks as the Pentagon Papers were being published in 1971. His Attorney General, John Mitchell, was something of a pit bull and he would be used to discredit people and, in the case of Daniel Ellsberg, even try to prosecute. Mitchell also would take initiatives on his own as when he tried to deport John Lennon in 1972.

Even with all the fun and games going on around him, Nixon still had a bit of political capital going into 1972, and his trip to China would prove to be the most lasting achievement of his administration. He struck a diplomatic relationship with Chou En Lai and Americans were seeing Red China in a positive light for the first time. Critics called it Ping Pong diplomacy, but it worked. Nixon would also have talks with Brezhnev later and he would be credited with toning down the rhetoric of the Cold War quite a bit.

1972 was, of course, election season, but it was also the year of the Paris Peace Accords. Henry Kissinger even went as far to say that pace was at hand, though that proved to be premature. North Vietnam, having the upper hand really, was still playing hardball, so Nixon ordered more bombings of North Vietnam as 1972 ended, after all Nixon was already re-elected, what could they do to him now? In the end, North Vietnam signed the accords, and the US was finally getting out of the war as Nixon’s second term began.

RICHARD NIXON (PART 2)


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Election of 1972: Despite the problems with inflation, everything else seemed to be going quite well and President Nixon was relatively popular. After his goodwill trip to China his popularity swelled even more and there didn’t seem to be much doubt he’d win re-election.

But Nixon was also, arguably, the most insecure President in history as well, at least before Trump, anyway. So, his campaign group, the Committee to Re-elect the President, or CREEP for short, went back into their bag of dirty tricks.

And the biggest victim was Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine. The former Vice Presidential candidate was considered the Democratic frontrunner in February 1972. So, Donald Segretti and Ken Lawson forged a letter, known as the Canuck letter, that suggested Muskie was prejudiced against French Canadians. This was printed in the Manchester Union Leader and Muskie was forced to respond. He was a bit emotional as Americans learned the important lesson that you’re not allowed to cry in politics, or you’ll be considered a loony bird. Muskie never recovered from the dirty trick.

Muskie did hang on until May, though, as other candidates vied for the Democratic nomination such as George Wallace, Shirley Chisholm, Hubert Humphrey, and George McGovern. The Nixon camp badly wanted the liberal, but flighty, McGovern as he seemed to be the easiest candidate to beat in November. The Democrats knew this too as they tried to do everything they could, short of a stop McGovern movement, even trying to deny him the California delegates that would have put him over the top.

Before the fun and games at the Democratic Convention though, a couple of matters of significant importance occurred. In Laurel, Maryland, George Wallace, still pushing his law and order against blacks mantra, was shot, and paralyzed by a weirdo not unlike John Hinckley really. Wallace would win the Maryland and Michigan primaries, but his presidential aspirations were over (and, on the positive side, a lot of that hateful racism was too).

The other major event didn’t get a lot of press at the time, but it would ultimately lead to the downfall of Nixon. On June 17, 1972, five men connected with CREEP were caught breaking in to the DNC offices at the Watergate Hotel. Nixon, through G. Gordon Liddy and others, tried to cover the incident up with mixed success, but enough to get them past November. This, of course, marked the beginning of the Watergate scandal.

But back to the election. After McGovern won his court battle, he was awarded the California delegates and he won the nomination. He then picked Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri as his running mate- for a week. Seems that he had been treated for depression in the past which is another lesson learned: Never see a psychiatrist or people will think you’re a loony bird, just kill yourself instead. The nervous nellies of the Democratic Party dumped Eagleton as a result and went with Sargent Shriver as the running mate instead. Shriver was a Kennedy in-law so what could possibly go wrong there?

As it turned out, nothing, but it didn’t matter. Nixon won in the biggest landslide to date with more than 60% of the popular vote, McGovern winning only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.

So, America went with Nixon, and they got what they wanted, whether they liked it or not.

Second Term: The second term started out promisingly enough for President Nixon as he signed the Vietnam Peace Accords. There would still be some non-combatants in Vietnam for the next two years, but the fighting part of the war was over for Americans. Plus, the POW’s were all coming home.

The glad handing that the Vietnam War was over didn’t last very long, however, because after the Watergate burglars were sentenced to prison, the press, then Congress, began to jump on the scandal that was now becoming full blown. Several aides were connected to the break-in including Chief of Staff Hadleman and Attorney General (now former AG) Mitchell. Nixon too got involved by trying to cover up the cover up. He invoked Executive Privilege, ostensibly to protect his aides, but really, to protect himself. When that didn’t work, he threw his aides under the bus, notably his White House lawyer, John Dean, who was willing to tell the truth about the whole mess.

And, indeed, as the Senate held their Watergate hearings, it would be John Dean that would expose the scandal for what it was as he told the committee that he told Nixon that it was a cancer on the Presidency. Even worse, it was confirmed that Nixon had been taping practically everything in the White House. By now a special prosecutor had been assigned to the Watergate case and there was a battle between Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, Congress, Judge John Sirica, and the White House, for rights to hear the tapes. Needless to say, the White House was stonewalling.

Meanwhile, Watergate wasn’t the only crisis brewing. In 1973, Israel was at war with Syria and Egypt again, this time in the Yom Kippur War. Again, Israel won out, but this time, the Arab nations decided they were going to stop selling gas to the West, thus, the Energy crisis had begun.

And yet, there was another scandal in the Administration, and it had nothing to do with Watergate. You see, Vice President Spiro Agnew of Maryland (don’t remind me), was being investigated for taking kickbacks from when he was a County Executive. As a result, he pleaded Nolo Contendre and resigned as Vice President.

Now, after Kennedy had been assassinated, they pushed through an Amendment giving the President the right to pick a new Vice President upon confirmation by the Senate. Nixon got to be the first President to do just that, but he also had to have the approval of the Democratic controlled Senate, so he wasn’t going to get one of his buddies in, that was for sure.

So, upon the advice of fellow Republicans, he made what may have been the best decision of his Presidency. He chose House Minority Leader Gerald Ford of Michigan, a conservative to be sure, but also a man of impeccable character. He would win confirmation easily.

Now back to Watergate and the beginning of the end. Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox was still demanding the tapes and Nixon continued to stonewall to the point that Cox took him to court. Cox was also defying Nixon’s orders to basically lay off and drop the subpoena.

So, on October 20, 1973, Nixon ordered his Attorney General, Eliot Richardson, to fire Cox. Unfortunately, for Nixon, he appointed an honest man and Richardson refused and resigned. Likewise, so did his deputy AG when he was ordered. Finally, he got Robert Bork to do the dastardly deed. This act even outraged some Republicans and for the first time, serious talk of impeachment was on the table.

And impeachment hearings were the rage in 1974. The House now had their own special committee. Hillary Rodham was actually one of the aides. They were spirited hearings to say the least as the Republicans were split between Nixon loyalists and the ones more outraged at his behavior. Even the Democrats had a couple of Southern sympathizers (Nixon still held some popularity in the South).

After some back and forth between Nixon and the courts, the Supreme Court finally ordered Nixon to give up the tapes. He did, but not before the House Judiciary Committee recommended impeachment. It was a foregone conclusion he would be impeached.

And, after hearing the tapes, it was pretty obvious the Senate was going to remove him from office as well as not only did most of Nixon’s defenders turn on him, but Senator Goldwater also told Nixon that there were only four Senators that would vote to acquit him- he was not one of them.

So, on August 8, 1974, Richard Nixon announced he would resign the Presidency the next day. As such, he became to first President to truly leave the White House in disgrace.


Post Presidency: After leaving Washington, the first thing people wondered was if he would be prosecuted. A pardon by President Ford would answer that question and, after a serious bout of phlebitis, Nixon set on his way to redeem his image. In 1977, he did a series of interviews with David Frost where he infamously said, “It’s not illegal when the President does it” Still, he was reluctantly accepted as an elder statesman and often would be asked about international issues, sometimes by the President of the day.

Though never fully regaining his dignity, Nixon would die less broken than he had been twenty years before.

Odd notes: Nixon had a bowling alley installed under the White House

Nixon almost won Charles Manson a mistrial

Nixon was in a photo op with Elvis Presley



Final Summary: Okay, this one is a little tough. It would be easy to give Nixon an F just for Watergate and the enemies list alone, but he does have some foreign policy accomplishments. He did do things to make the environment a little better (the first Earth Day was during his Presidency).

Still, even without Watergate, I don’t seem him rating better than a C (conservatives will probably disagree with me on this). He was paranoid to a fault, and it did affect how he ran the White House (it’s also probably why we got Watergate to begin with). He encouraged secret files on those he didn’t like, and he did play dirty when it came to politics, just ask Edmund Muskie.

But it is ultimately Watergate that not only brings Nixon down as a President, but as a man. And, really, when you rely on destroying people’s lives to get what you want rather than relying on your own strengths (which he actually had in abundance, he just never trusted himself), you just come off as a little man.

And, in the end, that’s what Richard Nixon was, a little man.

Overall rating: D

https://millercenter.org/president/nixon

38. GERALD FORD (I beg your pardon...)

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Born: July 14, 1913, Omaha, Nebraska
Died: December 26, 2006, Rancho Mirage, California

Term: August 9, 1974- January 20, 1977
Political Party: Republican

Vice President: Nelson Rockefeller

First Lady: Betty Bloomer Ford

Before the Presidency: Gerald Ford was born as Leslie King, Jr., in Omaha, Nebraska. His father was a wife beating alcoholic and the mother moved to Grand Rapids Michigan when Leslie was three. There she met Gerald Rudolph Ford who raised young Leslie as if he were his own son. He only learned as a teenager that the elder Ford was not his biological father. It didn’t matter to him, though, and he would change his name to Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr.

Ford excelled well in school, starring in football, and finishing in the top five percent of his class. He worked his way through college, majoring in economics. He was also one of the better football centers in the country and it won him a scholarship to the University of Michigan. He excelled at football and both the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions offered him a contract. He turned them both down because he wanted to enter law school. He ended up being an Assistant Coach at Yale so he could attend law school there. He graduated with honors in 1941. While at Yale, Ford became acquainted with a who’s who of future politicians including Robert Taft, future Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, and future Secretary of State Cyrus Vance among others.

Ford returned to Michigan in 1941 to open a law practice. Of course, this was also the time World War II broke out in the Pacific and, like most of the Presidents of his generation, he joined the Navy. He proved to be a dependable officer, being involved in a handful of naval battles with the Japanese. He was awarded ten battle stars and came away with the notion that the US must stay engaged in international affairs.

When Ford returned home, he got involved in politics. He met and married Betty Bloomer and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1948.

Ford was a popular congressman within his own district as he would be re-elected twelve times. He also gained importance in the House as the years went, first becoming a member of the House Appropriations Committee. He was a staunch anti-Communist and supported both Republican and Democratic Presidents that hoped to contain Soviet and Chinese power.

Congressman Ford also developed a reputation for being able to work with both parties. He was known as a hard worker with a lot of integrity and gained the trust of his congressional colleagues. Of course, he was a Republican and he supported the Presidential bids of Eisenhower and Nixon. Ford, in fact, was one of Nixon’s biggest defenders when Nixon was embroiled in controversy in 1952.

Heavy losses in 1962 and 1964 meant changes in the Republican Party and Ford would benefit from it. As one of the most respected people in Congress he served on the Warren Commission that investigated the Kennedy Assassination. In 1965, he won the election for House Minority Leader where he quickly became one of President Johnson’s biggest critics on his Great Society programs. A moderate conservative, he endorsed George Romney for President in 1964 but happily switched to Goldwater when he procured the nomination.

Ford also supported the Vietnam War, his biggest criticism being that Johnson didn’t prosecute the war vigorously enough. Ford, of course, and like most Republicans, supported Nixon’s bid for President in 1968 but the Nixon White House viewed Ford as an intellectual lightweight (and they should know, right?). Ford, nevertheless, supported Nixon’s policies, notably, Nixon’s initiatives for welfare reform. He also supported the détente with the Soviet Union and stronger relations with Red China.

Ford won his last election in 1972 and had decided he would serve two more terms then retire in 1977. He had served Congress as honorably as one could, and he had nothing else to prove.

But Spiro Agnew got in the way.

Summary of offices held: 1942-1946, United States Navy, Lieutenant Commander

1949-1973: House of Representatives, Michigan

1965-1973: House Minority Leader

1973-1974: Vice President of the United States.




What was going on: Post-Watergate, Fall of Saigon, Swine Flu vaccine fiasco, Energy crisis

Scandals within his administration: Earl Butz racist comments

Why he was a good President: He healed the country after Watergate, pure and simple.

Why he was a bad President: Though he certainly meant well, he made some tactical errors, plus he was very reluctant to open the purse strings making one think in another time, he could have been Herbert Hoover.

What could have saved his Presidency: A stronger economic backbone maybe. He failed at getting the US out of a recession just like Nixon and later Carter.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: He could have been Spiro Agnew

How he became Vice President: Watergate was the dominant news event of 1973, of course, but another scandal was also emerging. This had to do with Vice President Spiro Agnew. He resigned as part of a deal to avoid prison for accepting bribes as County Executive, Governor of Maryland (I could have a field day with corrupt Governors of Maryland), and Vice President. Under the 25th Amendment, the President could appoint a new Vice President with confirmation by the Senate and the House. Of all the men on Nixon’s short list, Ford was the only one that a majority of both houses would deem worthy, so, he was tabbed as the new Vice President with an overwhelming majority of both houses confirming him. He took the oath on the House floor.

As Vice President, he would at first vigorously defend the President, but as more information came to light, he would temper his remarks. As it was, Ford was able to stay distant from the Watergate controversy itself. Ford, in fact, was one of those who urged Nixon to release the tapes. He finally broke with Nixon days before his resignation noting it was impossible for Nixon to claim it wasn’t an impeachable offense.

Ford, now seeing the writing on the wall, spoke with his advisers in anticipation of becoming President upon Nixon’s resignation or removal. On August 8, 1974, Nixon announced his resignation.

And, on August 9, Gerald Ford was the 38th President of the United States.

First term: As Ford was sworn in, he announced that, “Our long national nightmare is over.” Deep inside, he knew he had only one job to do, and that was to restore faith in American Government. In some ways, he got off to a rocky start, however, when he decided to pardon Nixon. This especially upset the Democrats and they held hearings to determine if something improper had been done. President Ford himself testified before the committee, the first President to ever do so, and he acquitted himself quite well, saying that the country had to heal. It was easily his most controversial decision, and some think it may have ultimately cost him the presidency in 1976.

Nevertheless, Ford was able to get Watergate into his rear view mirror, and he was able to address the immediate needs of the country. For starters, the US was still in an energy crisis and he, along with Congress, found ways to alleviate the pain by keeping Daylight Savings Time throughout the winter for example. Ford also granted a limited amnesty to draft evaders on the condition they perform alternative service. Unfortunately, not many would take that olive branch and it would be his successor, Jimmy Carter, that would make amnesty more palatable.

Ford, like Nixon before him and Carter afterwards, struggled with inflation. He was no more successful than Nixon had been with his Whip Inflation Now program and by the time he left office in 1977, the United States would be in the throes of a recession.

Other domestic issues that Ford failed to address included busing, and the racial violence that surrounded it and the New Yok City bailout, which Ford opposed to the point that one paper’s headline read: PRESIDENT FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD. Ford would eventually relent, however, and New York City was saved from default.

President Ford fared better when it came to foreign affairs. He favored détente with the Soviet Union and signed the Helsinki Accords in 1975. Like Nixon’s pardon, it grew plenty of criticism, this time from both parties, but it did put us another step away from nuclear war.

A bigger headache though would be Vietnam. Yes, the American troops were home, but the US was still economically supporting South Vietnam’s military, though on a limited basis. By 1975, the North Vietnamese were making its final drive on Saigon. Ford asked Congress for more military assistance, but they offered humanitarian aid only.

It wouldn’t have mattered anyway; Saigon fell in late April 1975 and the US was out of Vietnam once and for all. A month later, the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia seized the cargo ship Mayaguez, creating an international incident. Ford ordered a commando raid to free the crew and 40 Americans died as a result, but the Khmer Rouge did ultimately release the vessel.

While President, Ford learned that the CIA was not quite the squeaky clean organization that he thought. He appointed Vice President Rockefeller to do an investigation. Meanwhile, the Senate had a select committee of its own. In no real surprise, Rockefeller cleared the CIA while Senator Frank Church more or less condemned them. Ford took the middle road, firing director William Colby and replacing him with George Bush.

In popular culture, Ford garnered quite a bit of sympathy. He seemed clumsy at times, tripping on the Air Force One steps for example, and Chevy Chase in particular, savagely lampooned him. Ford took it in stride, however.

In more serious notes, Ford would survive two assassination attempts in September 1975 and even be involved in an auto accident the following month. It seemed like the poor guy was cursed. But he took it in stride; he knew how to be the President when it really mattered.

Ford’s last year in office had him partly busy with battling Reagan and Carter for the Presidency but it was also the year of his last political blunder, that of the Swine Flu vaccine. There was a bit of a scare with the swine flu virus and President Ford, well to be fair, everyone really, was pushing for everyone to take the new Swine Flu vaccine. Unfortunately, it had some pretty severe side effects and 32 people died before the vaccinations were stopped.

So, it wasn’t the luckiest two and half years for President Ford, but he did manage to bring trust and integrity back to the office. That has to count for something.



Election of 1976: Ford, wanting to be elected in his own right, announced his candidacy in late 1975. One would have though the Republicans would have been behind him since he essentially followed their policies, albeit with not a lot of success.

But Ronald Reagan, who we’re going to hear a lot about from now on, decided that maybe 1976 was his time. Indeed, he had a lot of backing from conservatives who disagreed with Ford’s détente policies as well as his economic policies (their mantra was, America, drop dead). It promised to be a rough and tumble contest.

In the end and after a closely fought primary season, Ford narrowly won the nomination, but Reagan left with quite a bit of clout as he okayed Ford’s pick for Vice President, Bob Dole of Kansas (Rockefeller had more or less been pushed out).

We’ll cover the Democratic side a little more when we cover Jimmy Carter, but he would prove to be a formidable opponent. Carter was not really a liberal, actually he was more like a born again moderate but, like Ford, he oozed with integrity. And America needed a fresh face after the Hell that was Watergate.

It was a civil but hard fought campaign on both sides. Both sides also agreed on debates, starting a tradition of sorts as there have been debates in each election cycle since then. For the most part, the debates were draws, except for the one gaffe Ford is always remembered for when he asserted that there was no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe. Of course, he later recanted that comment, but he never really got out from under that gaffe. And that, along with the pardoning of Nixon, likely was the difference as he lost a relatively close election to Carter.


Post Presidency: Ford was more or less retired after leaving the White House in 1977, which had been his original plan as a congressman anyway. He stayed publicly active, however, lecturing on college campuses and even doing commentary for NBC briefly. In 1980, he was boosted as Ronald Reagan’s running mate, but the deal went sour when Ford insisted on a stronger presence. Reagan rejected that and went with George Bush. Ford, nonetheless, remained a respected elder statesman in the GOP. He also served on various commissions and corporate boards. He also would make occasional appearances with former President Jimmy Carter, who he would ultimately become friends with.

In 1999, President Clinton gave Ford the Presidential Medal of Freedom for “binding the nation together after the nightmare of Watergate.” He died in 2006 with no one ever questioning his sense of basic decency.

Odd Notes: He once locked himself out of the White House (https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/...ut-gerald-ford)

Chevy Chase doesn’t look a bit like him.


Final Summary: Honestly, Ford isn’t remembered for a lot of personal accomplishments. He obviously wasn’t an economic wizard. He had to sit idly as helicopters were dumped in the South China Sea. There were other things he seemed powerless to accomplish as well.

And, yet he wasn’t an ineffective President. He made the controversial decision to pardon Nixon, not because he deserved it, or he owed him somehow. But it was because it was the right thing to do. He was desperate to heal the country whatever it took and, while it seemed to divide the country more at first, healing was exactly what it did. Even Ted Kennedy, perhaps his biggest detractor, acknowledged that Ford did the right thing.

And Ford was self-depreciating at a time when it was needed. We didn’t get much of that out of Lyndon Johnson and we got none whatsoever from Nixon. But most importantly, he brought a sense of integrity and decency back to the White House not seen since, quite frankly, Eisenhower.

I caught a TV show on the Presidents where Ford had hoped he would leave the country in better shape than when he entered the presidency. So, I guess the question is, did he leave the country in better shape in the end, putting politics aside, of course?

Absolutely.

Overall rating: C+

https://millercenter.org/president/ford

39. JIMMY CARTER (Smile, though you're heart is aching)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...rPortrait2.jpg

Born: October 1, 1924, Plains, Georgia
Died: At 98, he’s still with us. The oldest ex-President in American history

Term: January 20, 1977- January 20, 1981
Political Party: Democrat

Vice President: Walter Mondale

First Lady: Rosalyn Smith Carter

Before the Presidency: James Earl Carter was the son of a peanut farmer. He grew up in the small town of Plains, Georgia where he learned the value of a hard work ethic from his father, who was a successful businessman. His mother, Lillian, was trained as a nurse and counseled poor African American women on health care matters at a time when whites and blacks were not allowed to mix.

Young Jimmy knew the value of hard work and saving money at a young age. He sold produce from the family farm as early as age ten. At age thirteen he was able to buy five houses that were sold on the cheap. The family then rented the houses out.

Teenage Jimmy became enamored with joining the Navy after receiving letters from his uncle. In 1941 he submitted an application to the United States Naval Academy. That same year, he graduated at the top of his small high school class.

Though World War II had broken out, Carter had to wait two years before being admitted into the Naval Academy. Three years later, he would graduate in the top ten percent of his class.

Carter, now married to Rosalynn Smith and with family, had figured on a career in the Navy. Lieutenant Carter served in the submarine service. An incident in Bermuda gave a glimpse of Carter’s character when British officials offered a party invitation to white crewmembers only. Lieutenant Carter refused the invitation and his crewmembers followed suit, giving a glimpse at both the respect he garnered as well as his basic support of civil rights, something that seemed unusual for a Southerner.

Carter later worked under the famed Admiral Hyman Rickover. Rickover was something of a brutal taskmaster, but Carter came to admire him, even comparing him to his own father (stern but loving basically).

Carter’s naval career was cut short due to tragedy in the family. His father was dying of cancer and the fam was in decline. Carter resigned from the Navy so he could help on the family farm.

Carter returned to Georgia at a critical time in civil rights history. Brown v. Board had been decided by the Supreme Court in 1954 and the Montgomery Bus Boycott would begin over a year later. Times were changing in the South, whether the whites liked it or not. Carter was one of the few whites that actually did like it. As such, he was the only businessman in town to refuse to join the White Citizens Council and it cost him quite a bit of business as he was boycotted. But he stuck to his guns and the boycott slowly fizzled out.

With the farm back up and making a profit, Carter was able to serve on local boards for hospitals and the like. In 1962, he decided on politics and ran for the Georgia State Senate. He initially lost until it was discovered that Carter was the victim of fraudulent voting. A court overturned the election and Carter was in the Georgia Senate.

During his two terms, Carter was known as a hawk when it came to wasteful spending. He also voted with his convictions as a born again Christian as he helped to repeal discriminatory laws against African- Americans. He went even farther as, while his church in Plains voted to keep African Americans out almost unanimously. It was the Carters and a third person that prevented the vote from being totally unanimous.

In 1966, Carter was considering a run for Congress. He opted to run for Governor instead. By now, there was a large white backlash and Carter would lose the nomination to the controversial Lester Maddox. Carter, though, gave it another try in 1970. This time, he knew he had to get some segregationists to vote for him if he was going to win and he distanced himself from African Americans to the point that the Atlanta Constitution called him a racist. It’s something of a sad commentary that you had to be labeled a racist to win in Georgia, but it worked. Jimmy Carter was now the Governor of Georgia.

And imagine the surprise of the segregationists when it turned out Carter wasn’t a racist at all. He called for an end to segregation at his inaugural speech, making national news as a result. He was seen as the symbol of the New South, a much more tolerant version that rejected groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. Carter was definitely a progressive as blacks were much more prominent in state government under him. He also hated wasteful spending as he streamlined a number of state agencies. It wasn’t perfect, as he often clashed with the State Legislature. Indeed, Carter was also seen as a bit arrogant among his peers, but the intentions were always good, and he still was able to make great strides in the environment and education.

Carter would develop National ambitions as he studied the George McGovern campaign in 1972. He was saddened that McGovern had been successfully labeled as an extremist and realized that a new Democrat would be needed in 1976 with maybe more views closer to the center but still nowhere near the right.

And maybe Jimmy Carter was that man.

Summary of offices held:

1946-1953: United States Navy, Lieutenant

1953-1961: United States Navy Reserve, Lieutenant.

1963-1967: Georgia State Senator

1971-1975: Governor of Georgia


What was going on: Energy crisis, Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown, Iranian Hostage Crisis, Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Begin-Sadat peace talks

Scandals within the administration: Bert Lance banking scandal, Debategate

Why he was a good President: Like Ford before him, he brought honesty and integrity back to the White House. His ideals on energy and human rights remain timeless to this day. And, of course, there were the Camp David Accords

Why he was a bad President: He was in over his head with Iran. He also had a rocky relationship with Congress. And maybe he was a bit too hands on for his own good.

What could have saved his Presidency: A successful end to the Iranian Hostage Crisis a little earlier might have been enough.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: A failed Camp David Accords. He could have turned out to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Election of 1976: Jimmy Carter came in as a dark horse for the Democratic nomination. The Democrats had held out hope that maybe Ted Kennedy would give it a run, but he wasn’t ready quite yet.

So, the field was ripe with favorites such as Frank Church of Idaho and Henry Jackson of Washington. By now, the parties depended on voter primaries to nominate the candidate, though they were often fixed to favor the preferred candidate or for whoever had the power at the time (such as Hillary Clinton in 2016). And the voters were trying to run away from Watergate, still fresh on peoples’ minds, as far away as they could. They saw in Jimmy Carter, a sense of honesty and decency, almost as if he were an innocent really, and he proved to be a major candidate once the primaries started. His outsider status scored him victories in the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary, perhaps the two most important primaries in any election. Carter campaigned hard as the others slowly dropped out, his only real opponent at the end was the maverick Governor of California, Jerry Brown, and he was a latecomer.

Carter didn’t have enough delegates to win the nomination going into New York City but by now the super delegates were sold on him and he won nomination on the first ballot. He would choose Senator Walter Mondale of Minnesota as his running mate and Mondale, along with a close working relationship with Carter, would revolutionize the Vice Presidential position by making it much more than just being a stone’s throw away from the Presidency.

After a bitterly fought campaign on the Republican side, Carter would square off with the incumbent President, Gerald Ford. It was, for the most part, a civil campaign on both sides as both candidates were beyond reproach. Of course, as in any election, they had their criticisms of each other, but Ford had to carry the burden of Watergate giving Carter a decided edge.

That edge disappeared though as Carter was also pretty adept at making missteps. In one, he admitted having lust for women in a Playboy interview. That only brought the polls to a dead heat. Ford then made his famous gaffe about no Soviet domination in Eastern Europe.

Then there was the October surprise when Carter’s church denied entry to an African American minister despite Carter’s pleas to allow him in (Carter later nearly left the church over the incident).

It was a close election, the closest since 1960, in fact, but when it was over, Carter would win. The future seemed bright with large Democratic majorities in both houses and the Republicans still trying to recover from Watergate.

And, of course, they would.

First term: President Carter started out with a lot of good will. He had planned on accomplishing a lot during his Presidency and started by unconditionally pardoning Vietnam War draft evaders. The US was still mired in an Energy Crisis and Carter was having his own version of fireside chats, urging the American public to turn down their thermostats.

The honeymoon didn’t last very long. Carter would have difficult relations with his own party in Congress as they expected the pork barrel projects to continue while Carter railed against wasteful spending. No, he wasn’t about to slash welfare benefits or anything like that; he just wanted to know where the money was going.

Carter’s popularity slipped rapidly among the public and Congress took advantage of it by shooting down programs they would have ordinarily supported such as a Consumer Protection Bill. They obviously wanted to get rid of Carter that bad (and they asked so hard in 1980, they got it, the dummies).

That didn’t mean Carter didn’t have his accomplishments. Despite dealing with low poll numbers and a political scandal involving his budget director, Bert Lance, he was able to make the US less dependent on foreign oil. And even with his struggling relations with Congress, he was able to get many of his initiatives through, even more than LBJ had in fact, but because of Carter’s basic modesty, he got very little credit for it and publicly came off as a rather inept President.

There was controversy within his family too. His sister, Ruth Carter Stapleton, was a well-meaning evangelist who thought she could somehow convert porn king Larry Flynt into a devout Christian. This drew more than a few laughs.

A bigger problem for him would be his n’eer do well brother, Billy Carter. He, needless to say, was not an evangelist. Indeed, he was everything his brother Jimmy was not, a beer drinking good ol’ boy. Carter cringed wondering what would come out of Billy’s mouth next. Billy became something of a celebrity and was marketing his own beer known as Billy Beer. In the end, Billy would step over the boundaries too far and he would be under investigation for his business dealings with the Libyans (he would later be cleared).

President Carter, for the most part, managed to stay above the family fracas and he would make his greatest accomplishment in 1978. For decades there were wars in the Middle East involving Israel and the other Arab states, notably Egypt and Syria. But by 1977, Egypt’s President, Anwar Sadat, had enough, and offered an olive branch to Israeli PM Menachem Begin. Though a staunch war hawk, Begin accepted the offer and the two began negotiations. Of, course, both sides were far apart and there were accusations from both sides in the press. Sadat, by then, had a bit of a diplomatic relationship with President Carter and he and Begin both asked for his help. Carter, being something of a peacenik, gladly accepted.

And President Carter more or less took charge, practically locking the two leaders in a cabin at Camp David until they could reach an agreement. And, in September 1978, an agreement was reached. The Camp David Accords was the result and, while not perfect (Israel still has skirmishes with the Palestinians in particular), there has been a lasting peace between Israel and Egypt and Middle Eastern wars in general (Save Iran and Iraq maybe) have been in decline. Begin and Sadat would share the Nobel Peace prize in 1978 but many, including Sadat, thought the prize should have gone to Carter.

If the Camp David Accords signaled the Carter administration at its peak, then it was all downhill from there. Carter did have some success when he returned the Panama Canal back to Panama (a pretty controversial issue at the time), but other world events would signal doom for the Carter Presidency in 1979 and 1980.

For decades, the United States had supported the right wing regime of the Shah of Iran. By the late seventies, the Iranians had enough of the Shah and was hell bent on overthrowing him. Their leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini, returned to Iran from exile and the writing on the wall was for all to see, including the Shah.

Carter was no big fan of the Shah, but he felt obligated to honor the commitments of previous Presidents, so when the Shah fled from Iran and was diagnosed with cancer in Mexico, Carter allowed the Shah to enter the United States for treatment. This enraged the fundamentalist Islamists that now ruled Iran, and, in November 1979, a throng of Iranian students stormed the US Embassy in Tehran and took sixty-six Americans as hostages. They demanded the return of the Shah, all assets that the Shah had taken, and an apology from the nation they were referring to as, “The Great Satan.”

Carter did no such thing, of course. Instead, he froze all Iranian assets while staging secret negotiations. Meanwhile, the press had jumped on the hostage crisis like never before and Nightline, an ABC news program, began a running total of days the hostages were held in captivity.

And it got to the point where the incident that probably proved the nail in the coffin took place. Frustrated, Carter went along with a plan for a helicopter rescue of the hostages in 1980. It was not a well thought out plan to begin with and the mission was aborted after the helicopters were well inside Iran. It should have ended there, but one of the helicopters suffered mechanical problems and crashed, killing eight soldiers. After the incident, Iran moved and dispersed the hostages making it virtually impossible for another rescue. Worse, for Carter, it solidified his reputation as an inept President.

Carter had a little better success with the Soviet Union. Taking a page out of Lyndon Johnson, I guess, the Soviets thought they could prop up a Communist regime in Afghanistan, so they invaded the country. This drew international outrage and President Carter called for an Olympic Boycott (the 1980 Olympics were being held in Moscow). It drew a mixed reaction from Americans and a slew of protests from the athletes themselves, but Carter stuck to his guns and the US would not participate in the Olympics that year. And, while it didn’t get immediate results, The Soviets would take an economic hit and when they boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, their ploy would backfire spectacularly. More to the point, Afghanistan became the Soviet’s Vietnam, and they would finally withdraw with their proverbial heads between their legs in 1988.

Despite some accomplishments, Carter’s popularity was rather low. By 1980, the US was in another recession, there was international embarrassment from the ongoing hostage crisis, even as Carter continued to negotiate, and there was a feeling of malaise, as Carter put it in an infamous address in 1979. Re-election did not seem to be in the cards.

But he was going to give it a try anyway.


Election of 1980: Before the election season even started, President Carter would suffer the humiliation that few incumbents had suffered, a credible challenge within his own party. Senator Ted Kennedy had been coy for years about running for President and, with two brothers having been assassinated, you could understand the trepidation. But Kennedy saw the weakness in Carter and saw 1980 as his opportunity at last, so he entered the race. Carter reacted by saying he’d whip his ass. The Democrats were split between the two factions and the New York press seemed giddy when Ted won the state. Indeed, it was a closely fought contest throughout, but in the end, Carter would wind up with the nomination.

Carter’s weak renomination (he had to give up a lot to Kennedy’s platform) contrasted negatively to the practical anointment of Ronald Reagan for the Republicans. Of course, the Republicans had their factions too and one, liberal Republican John Anderson, would break off to run as a third party candidate. Of course, we’ll have a lot more on Reagan (and Anderson) later.

Carter never really had much of a chance as the economy and the hostage crisis kept his poll numbers low. He didn’t do himself any favors either when he boycotted the first debate because he didn’t want Anderson on the podium. When he did get to debating Reagan, it was more or less a disaster as Reagan kept going, “There You Go Again.”

And so, in no real surprise, Carter got thumped in the general election, winning all of six states plus DC. Ronald Reagan was to be the next President of the United States. The Democrats finally got Carter out of the White House and now they had to uh, reap the rewards?

One more note about Carter to show you what kind of man he was. A one term President may have more or less coasted his way out, but Carter didn’t do that. Instead, he was determined to get the hostages out of Iran, and he worked for their release up to the morning of Reagan’s inauguration. And, though the Iranians timed the release for the inauguration as a way of humiliating Carter, history doesn’t work that way. In some ways Carter’s efforts at getting the hostages out was as important as the Camp David Accords had been.

And Jimmy Carter left with his dignity intact.

JIMMY CARTER (Part 2)


Post Presidency: I like to talk about dual personality Presidents but up to now that was basically a good vs. evil dynamic. Carter is a little different, for while you can argue Carter was a bad President, he was never certainly a bad person.

What he was, and is, though, is a great ex-President, maybe the greatest ever. For Carter didn’t pack his bags and retire to his peanut farm, which no one would have blamed him for. Instead, he put his Christian values where his mouth was and started what became known as Habitat for Humanity. This was an organization where volunteers, including Carter himself, would build houses for the poor and underprivileged. He was often seen on television, and it helped to promote the cause of helping the less fortunate.

He also stayed active with foreign affairs in ways other Ex-Presidents didn’t dare venture. Everyone has an opinion, but Carter actually went to work. He often monitored elections in nations known for their fraudulent practices. When monitoring the Nicaraguan elections in 1990, Daniel Ortega was legitimately defeated. One wonders what may have happened had Carter not been there, but Carter, now a respected elder statesman was, and Ortega accepted his defeat graciously.

Carter would also mediate between countries with their own axes to grind, sometimes at the request of the State Department, sometimes on his own, and sometimes with rebuke from a sitting President such as with Clinton with North Korea for example where he briefly was able to ease nuclear tensions with the rogue nation.

In 2002, Jimmy Carter finally won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Odd notes: Carter was once attacked by a swamp rabbit

Carter has consistently insisted that he has seen a UFO.

Final Summary: If I could judge Jimmy Carter as just a human being, he’d be an easy A. Few ex-Presidents, if any, have been as exemplary as Jimmy Carter. He took advantage of his elder statesman status like no other, using his status to improve the lives of people rather than to try to improve his own personal standing (like Nixon for example).

Even if I were to rate him on just his Vice President, Walter Mondale, who strengthened that office and truly became a partner of the President (See Gore, Cheney, and Biden on that note), he’d get an A.

But, alas, I have to rate Carter just for his presidency and, let’s face it, the guy was in way over his head. There is no doubt he truly wanted to do good, but he learned the hard way, that if you want to make it in Washington, you’re going to have to grease some palms.

When he was able to do good, he could do it spectacularly such as in the Camp David Accords. But the late seventies probably wasn’t the right time for Carter with some of the things going on such as Afghanistan and Iran as well as the Three Mile Island disaster back home. He couldn’t figure out the economy either, to be honest.

But even saying that, the decency that is Jimmy Carter still goes a long way. Maybe he wasn’t exactly Abraham Lincoln, but he wasn’t James Buchanan either. And he sure wasn’t Richard Nixon.

And even if the country wasn’t necessarily a better place because of Carter, the President, the world certainly is because of Carter, the ex-President.


Overall rating: C+

https://millercenter.org/president/carter

40. RONALD REAGAN (Da Doo Ron Ron)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...eagan_1981.jpg


Born: February 6, 1911, Tampico, Illinois
Died: June 5, 2004, Bel-Air, California

Term: January 20, 1981- January 20, 1989
Political Party: Republican

Vice President: George Bush

First Lady: Nancy Davis Reagan

Before the Presidency: Ronald Reagan was born in an apartment in rural Illinois. His father was an alcoholic, though not an especially abusive one. He also came from a family of Democrats and he himself started out as a New Deal liberal. His father, in fact, was named as director of the local WPA by FDR. Reagan noted that his father also forbade his children to see Birth of a Nation and he was very tolerant of other races and religions. Reagan’s mother was known as a do-gooder and was a devout Christian. Reagan admired her so much that he moved her to Hollywood after his father died.

Reagan was rather athletic growing up, playing football and basketball in High School. He also was the Student President. He worked as a lifeguard for six summers and reportedly saved 77 swimmers from drowning. He later attended Eureka College in Illinois. An average student at best, he stayed active with the extracurriculars, excelling in sports as well as joining the drama club, editing the college yearbook, was member of the debate club, and was Student Council President. He also washed dishes at his fraternity to earn his keep.

After graduating college, Reagan landed a job as a radio sportscaster in Davenport, Iowa. He learned much of his speaking skills there and would be hired at WHO in Des Moines, Iowa where he announced recreations of Chicago Cubs games and where he was also a staff announcer.

In 1937, the acting bug hit the handsome Reagan and he moved to Hollywood to start his acting career in films. He found luck when he was hired by Warner Brothers where he would enjoy a substantial twenty year movie career. While never the big box office success of say, Jimmy Stewart or John Wayne, Reagan still enjoyed a successful career in films such as Knute Rockne-All American and King’s Row. Reagan was considered a competent actor known for his punctuality and was very good at memorizing his lines. A man who was good at self-depreciation, Reagan jokingly referred to himself as the Errol Flynn of B- movies. He knew he wasn’t the greatest actor, but he knew how to perform within his limitations.

Reagan was drafted during World War II, but he was nearsighted, so he stayed stateside. He had been a reservist for the US Army Calvary, and he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. He helped to produce and appear in propaganda films for the war effort. He also narrated training films for new recruits during his three year stint.

Reagan had always had an interest in politics, starting out as a New Deal Democrat, but he would become more conservative, staunchly conservative, in fact, as he got older. By the late forties, it was alleged that he was ratting out alleged Communists within Hollywood for the FBI, this while he was President of the Screen Actors Guild.

Reagan had been married to actress Jane Wyman until they divorced in 1948. Four years later, Reagan met another actress, Nancy Davis. The two were married and she would go on to be, perhaps, one of the most devoted first ladies in history.

By 1954, Reagan’s movie career had fizzled somewhat, and he gave TV a shot. He narrated and occasionally acted on General Electric Theatre. He would later become one of the hosts of the Western Anthology, Death Valley Days.

Reagan was a staunch Anti-Communist but even he was concerned about the tide of McCarthyism. He worried that innocent lives were being affected. Though he was responsible for the blacklist that the SAG came up with, he made pains to keep names out that he felt were innocent.

Though now a conservative by the 1950’s, he continued to campaign for Democrats including Helen Gahagan Douglas who ran against Richard Nixon. He changed horses by 1952, however as he supported Eisenhower as a Democrat for Eisenhower. He stuck with the Republicans in the 1960 election, supporting Nixon (though he personally despised him). He finally switched parties in 1962 when he supported Nixon when he ran for California Governor in 1962.

Reagan truly came to the forefront from a political standpoint in 1964 when he campaigned for Barry Goldwater in 1964. Reagan embraced Goldwater’s arch-conservative policies, maybe out of a sense of greed (Now affluent himself, Reagan somehow compared having to pay higher taxes and a loss of personal freedom as the same thing). Goldwater was crushed in the election that year, but he, and Reagan, would succeed in the long run as the Conservative movement had just begun.

And it was that conservative movement that landed Reagan his first office when he upset Governor Pat Brown of California. Reagan was quite the controversial Governor, being somewhat hostile to student protestors in particular. He was also something of a pragmatist, however, and he worked with Democrats to push the most important aspects of his agenda such as cutting domestic spending. He was re-elected in 1970 and he made most of his accomplishments in that second term. In 1971, he got the Welfare Reform Act which tightened eligibility requirements but increased benefits. He also got some property tax relief passed (though the radical Prop 13 movement would make all that moot some years later).

Reagan would have some Presidential aspirations and he first was a factor in the 1968 campaign. That was Nixon’s to lose, however, and Reagan was content to get some more experience as Governor.

By 1976, however, Reagan was a free agent, and he gave President Ford a serious run at the nomination. Indeed, as both candidates stumbled from time to time, the nomination was still in doubt by the time of the Convention in Kansas City. Reagan tried one last hail mary when he picked liberal Richard Schweiker as his running mate but by then, Ford had just enough delegates to put him over the top. The Reagan Revolution would have to wait for 1980.

And by then, they were loaded for bear.

Summary of offices held:

1947-1952, 1959-1960: President, Screen Actors Guild

1967-1975: Governor of California


What was going on: The cold war, AIDS crisis, Challenger Explosion, War on drugs, War on terrorism

Scandals within the administration: HUD scandal, Wedtech, Savings and Loan scandal, Sewergate and, of course, Iran- Contra

Why he was a good President: Reagan was a very persuasive President, and he had a knack of comforting the public during times of tragedy, such as when the Challenger exploded. He also helped to speed up the end of the Cold War.

Why he was a bad President: His policies in general. By his success at shifting the center to the right, he didn’t anticipate that the right would be shifted closer into fascism. He also wasn’t the most tolerant when it came to freedom from religion.

What could have saved his Presidency: A more moderate approach to domestic issues. He certainly should have done more to address the AIDS crisis, but he was betrothed to the Moral Majority, I guess.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: In some ways, the Democratic Congress saved Reagan from himself when it came to Contra Aid. One wonders if he would have gone full blast with American troops in Central America. That would not have gone well. Also, if his rhetoric against the Soviet Union had backfired and we would have had another Cuban Missile Crisis.

Election of 1980: Reagan came in as the favorite to win the nomination despite some trepidation about not only Reagan’s age (He was 69 in 1980), but his views which seemed to be a bit out of the mainstream. As such, Reagan had some stiff competition from liberal Republican John Anderson, who would later run as a third party opponent, and Senator Howard Baker among others. But his toughest opponent would be George Bush of Texas, who came off as a moderate conservative. Bush upset Reagan in the Iowa caucuses and was seen as an alternative to Reagan’s occasionally right wing positions.

Nevertheless, the Conservatives won the day, and Reagan would be nominated on the first ballot. He had impressed Republican voters with his stands against what was being seen as the establishment such as when he insisted that all the candidates be allowed on a debate podium at an event his campaign paid for. There, he famously and sternly said, “I paid for this microphone.” This combative side of Reagan would do wonders for him not only in political campaigns, but as President as well.

Reagan won the nomination easy, then asked the more moderate Bush to be his running mate. This proved to be a solid combination.

Not that it was necessary. Reagan was facing a very unpopular incumbent, Jimmy Carter. The United States was in the middle of the Iranian Hostage Crisis and the nation was in yet another recession. Carter didn’t do himself any favors when he refused to participate in a debate with both Reagan and Anderson (Carter wanted a one on one with Reagan). Reagan went on to debate with Anderson and both candidates basically jumped on Carter.

Carter did manage to close the gap as Reagan was seen by some as too extremist, not unlike Goldwater in 1964. But when Carter did get his one on one debate with Reagan, it would prove to be a disaster for him. While Carter came off as tense and grim, Reagan seemed genuinely affable, not charming like a Kennedy, but more like a kind grandfather. And he had his ammo ready by responding to Carter’s attacks with, “There you go again.” The big moment came when Reagan simply asked the American Public, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” This would also prove to be a successful ploy for Clinton, Obama, and even Biden as well. But Reagan did it first.

And because America wasn’t better off than it was four years before, Reagan ended up winning in a landslide. The United States would never be the same.

First term: The impact of the Reagan Revolution began on practically the first day. The Iranian Hostages came home during Reagan’s inauguration speech, and he was able to announce the good news.

And he had plans to reverse what he saw as a too permissive course. The first things he did was to advocate increased defense spending and to push for massive tax cuts as well as cuts in domestic spending. There was a time he considered maybe even doing away with Social Security until he was convinced by aides that messing with Social Security was political poison.

Reagan’s crusade to cut programs designed to help the poor (a criticism of the Democrats) was put on the back burner briefly. After an appearance at a DC hotel, shots were fired at Reagan’s entourage, one bullet severely injuring Press Secretary James Brady. President Reagan was hit in the chest and was rushed by limo to a local hospital. Reagan, with bravado, was able to walk in on his own before he collapsed on the hospital floor. He regained consciousness soon after and never lost his composure as he cracked jokes such as, “Honey, I forgot to duck,” to a worried Nancy and, to the doctors that operated on him, “I hope you’re all Republicans.” The warm side of Reagan came out through this ordeal, and he was granted a lot of goodwill when he returned to the Oval Office.

And off to work he went. Though known, sometimes derisively, as a part time President (he didn’t really work long hours), he knew what he wanted to accomplish. So, he worked with the Democratic majority in Congress to score compromises on his budget mainly.

Of course, Reagan was something of a strike buster as well. In the summer of 1981, the Air Traffic Controllers went on strike. Reagan threatened to fire them if they didn’t return. When they defied his order, Reagan did, in fact, fire them; few would get their jobs back. It started a trend of union busting and Unions, in general, would have less clout as the years went on.

There was also a Supreme Court vacancy in President Reagan’s first year and he fulfilled a promise to put a woman on the court. He went with conservative Arizona judge, Sandra Day O’Connor. As a justice, she was probably a little closer to the center as she supported abortion rights for example.

Abortion was a major issue in the Reagan Administration. During the 1980 campaign, Reagan had courted the Moral Majority, led by Jerry Falwell. Reagan had promised that he would find a way to get Roe vs. Wade reversed as well as letting the Equal Rights Amendment ratification process expire. Needless to say, Reagan was not popular with the socially liberal set.

On the foreign front, President Reagan was scaring just about everybody. He took a hard line against the Soviet Union, even referring to them as the Evil Empire. In 1983, he sent US troops to Beirut to have a presence in the war torn region. It proved disastrous as two bombings left nearly 300 Marines dead.

Indeed, Reagan was something of a cowboy President, especially when it came to fighting Communism. He was sending aid to Contra Rebels in Nicaragua and El Salvador, and he ordered troops into Grenada to overthrow a military government that had just overthrown a US backed government.

Reagan’s first two years were not his most popular, politically speaking, though people liked him personally. But the economy improved greatly in 1983 and the President’s popularity rose with it. By 1984, re-election looked like it was Reagan’s to blow.

RONALD REAGAN (Part 2)

Election of 1984: There was no doubt as to the renomination of Reagan and Bush as Reagan was now seen as very popular, especially among conservatives and independents and even some of what were known as “Reagan Democrats.” The only question being, how big would his victory be in the general election.

The Democrats would reluctantly go with Walter Mondale, who had the baggage of having been Carter’s Vice President. He did have some competition with upstart Gary Hart of Colorado and activist Jesse Jackson, but the nomination was really Mondale’s to lose.

With not the most popular of candidates, the Democrats needed something to spruce things up. In the end, it was decided that it was time for a woman to be on the ticket and they went with Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro of New York. This may have not been the best choice as her husband would be under investigation for a variety of issues.

But the election was all about Reagan. Economically the country was in the best shape in years, maybe even decades, and only a Reagan stumble in the first debate gave Mondale any hope. That was eradicated in the second debate however when Reagan, now 73, responded to a question concerning his age that he would not exploit Mondale’s youth and inexperience. The audience responded favorably to the joke and even Mondale laughed, but Mondale knew it was all over after that.

And, indeed, Reagan would win in the largest electoral landslide in history, Mondale winning only his home state of Minnesota and DC.

Second Term: President Reagan would make a lot of history this term as the Soviet Union was in a bit of an upheaval. After three consecutive deaths in the early eighties, the Soviets finally went with youth and they nabbed the reformer, Mikhail Gorbachev, as its new Premier. Gorbachev would implement economic reforms as well as Glasnost, or openness. He also wanted to improve relations with the United States, and Reagan responded to the olive branch. The two would hold two spirited summits, one in Iceland which ended in no agreement, and a second one in Moscow, this one much friendlier, and they made an agreement to notify each other before performing ballistic tests as well as some economic agreements. Reagan now considered Gorbachev a personal friend and the Cold War had thawed considerably.

Reagan’s other moves though were more controversial. He bombed Libya after Gadhafi backed a terrorist act that downed a plane in Lockerbie, Scotland. Even more controversial was the support of Contra rebels in Nicaragua still. By now, Reagan had a Republican Senate but even they didn’t really want to go along with more aid. Reagan was also overridden when he vetoed a bill imposing sanctions on Apartheid South Africa, Majority Leader Bob Dole announcing on the floor that Reagan was wrong.

But Reagan’s biggest crisis would be the Iran-Contra scandal. In what was the biggest political scandal since Watergate, Reagan aides were implicated in an arms for hostages deal with Iran as a way to support the Contras. Hearings were held and there was bi-partisan criticism on how the situation was handled. Oliver North became something of a rock star for conservatives as a result of these hearings, but he, like several other people implicated, would later face criminal charges. Worst yet, this also affected prominent cabinet members even though they actually opposed the deal, notably, Secretary of State George Shultz, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, and even Vice President Bush, the latter two who would be investigated by a special prosecutor during Bush’s presidency. As for Reagan, he said he didn’t recall though he admitted that as President, he should have known.

Reagan had another justice to appoint after the retirement of Lewis Powell. First, he managed to get William Rehnquist elevated to Chief Justice. Then he appointed the controversial Robert Bork to take Rehnquist’s spot on the Supreme Court. Bork was the guy who followed Nixon’s orders to fire Archibald Cox in the Saturday Night Massacre. He also had views that were even to the right of Reagan and there was some fallout even from a few Republicans. In the end, Bork would be rejected by the Senate by a surprisingly large margin.

So, Reagan went with another conservative, Douglas Ginsberg. He too was headed for a rocky confirmation hearing, but he would withdraw when it was discovered he had smoked marijuana. In the end, Reagan abandoned his determination to nominate a justice who was just as conservative and settle for the more moderate Anthony Kennedy.

Reagan would also have to deal with other domestic issues of the day such as the AIDS crisis, which he largely ignored, and a brief economic crisis when the stock market crashed in 1987 (it would quickly recover). But all in all, Reagan left as one of the most popular Presidents in history.

At least for some, anyway.


Post Presidency: After the Presidency, Reagan retired to his home in Bel Air, California. He often would visit his ranch in Santa Barbara. For the most part, he stayed out of the public eye except for a controversial speaking engagement in Japan where he was paid two million dollars. After that incident, he no longer gave foreign speeches.

In 1994, Ronald Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. After a heartfelt letter where he sympathized for what his wife, Nancy, would have to go through, Reagan disappeared from the public eye for good, his name only being brought up by Conservatives who thought he was the Greatest President of all time. Reagan died at the age of 93 in June 2004.


Odd notes: Reagan once starred with a chimp. Anyone hear of Bedtime For Bonzo?

Reagan once was a sportscaster who broadcast Chicago Cubs games out of Iowa.

Final Summary: This is a tough one, as my politics are totally opposite to Reagan’s and many of his policies are still with us today and not for the better in my opinion. Reagan was obviously very strong in his convictions, and it showed in both his rhetoric and his actions. On the bright side, he did engage in talks with Gorbachev, and it really did thaw tensions between the two nations. I can even overlook some of his economic policies including the ridiculous trickle down theory (If you give rich people more money, they’re just going to keep it, stupid, even David Stockman knew that).

But his social policies, his refusal to address the AIDS issue both medically and socially and some policies that were detrimental to minorities in general (though he didn’t really reverse the clock; he merely stalled it). I can’t give him a good grade, I just can’t.

Yes, Reagan did have a way with words and I’m sure he was a very nice guy outside of politics. Anyway, I’m pretty sure the average Conservative will give him a much better grade than I will, and liberals like Batty will probably give the guy an F.

But I have to try to be at least a little objective so, with points off for not being moderate enough for my tastes…

Overall rating: C-

https://millercenter.org/president/reagan

41. GEORGE HW BUSH (Watch out for that tree)


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...cropped%29.jpg


Born: June 12, 1924, Milton, Massachusetts
Died: November 30, 2018, Houston, Texas

Term: January 20, 1989- January 20, 1993
Political Party: Republican

Vice President: Dan Quayle

First Lady: Barbara Pierce Bush

Before the Presidency: George Bush was born into a wealthy family. Though wealthy, his parents insisted on modesty and public service. In fact, George’s father, Prescott Bush, would become a well-known Senator from Connecticut.

As a teenager, Bush attended a boarding school in Andover, Massachusetts. There, he excelled at soccer and baseball and was the Senior Class President. Upon graduation from the school on his eighteenth birthday, Bush signed up for the United States Navy.

Bush became a Navy pilot in 1943, earning the distinction as the youngest pilot in the Navy. He flew fifty-eight missions and was even shot down by Japanese fire. Luckily, he was recovered by a submarine and would be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Back home and still in the Navy, Bush married Barbara Pierce. They would raise six children including sons George W. and Jeb, both of whom would follow in their father’s footsteps. After his discharge from the Navy, Bush entered Yale University where he majored in economics. At Yale, Bush captained the baseball team and was a member of the secretive Skull and Bones society.

Bush was an adventurous sort and he moved to Texas in 1948. Two years later, he would form an oil company with a friend of his. By 1954, the company had expanded into Zapata Off-Shore Company. Buoyed by the success, Bush moved the family to Houston.

In Houston, Bush started his own political career as the chair of the Harris County Republican Party. Bush was a conservative and he had a way of working with people. In 1964, Bush ran for the Senate against incumbent Senator Ralph Yarborough, but he couldn’t escape the carpetbagger tag and Yarborough would be re-elected.

Bush fared better in his run for a House seat in 1966. Running as a Moderate Republican, he would be elected to two terms. He could have been elected to a third, but Bush thought he could beat the very liberal Yarborough in the 1970 Senate election. But the Democrats thought so too, and they nominated Conservative Lloyd Bentsen instead. Bush was going home.

He wasn’t home for long though. In December 1970, President Nixon appointed Bush as US Ambassador to the United Nations. He wasn’t very effective as he wasn’t part of Nixon’s inner circle (luckily for him in retrospect) but he was able to make friends and connections on his own and he proved to be quite adept at his position.

Nixon removed Bush as UN Ambassador in 1973 and asked him to be Chairman of the Republican National Committee, mainly because he was what Nixon wasn’t, honorable and with great integrity. Bush tirelessly defended Nixon throughout Watergate until the tapes were released. It was then Bush who advised Nixon that he had lost the support of his own party. Though not the final straw (that was likely Goldwater), it did eventually help Nixon on his decision to resign in 1974. Bush, subsequently, resigned as RNC Chairman soon after.

Bush’s career was far from over, however. President Ford quickly appointed him as the US Envoy to China. Bush was in his element there as he absorbed the culture especially. The liaison position would be short lived, however, as President Ford had a new position for him, CIA Director. The CIA was in desperate need for reform and Bush was seen as someone that could bring integrity back to the organization. Bush’s tenure there wouldn’t be long either as Ford would lose the 1976 election to Carter. So, the Bushes returned for Houston.

But the political career wasn’t over. He was already eying the 1980 Presidential nomination and he announced his candidacy in May 1979. Though considered the underdog to Reagan, he was seen as the more moderate (and thus, more electable) alternative. And, as a dark horse favorite, he surprised everyone by winning the Iowa Caucus and would be Reagan’s toughest competitor in the 1980 primaries.

In the end, though, it was Reagan’s nomination to lose, and he clearly didn’t. But Reagan was also a pragmatist in his own way, and he asked Bush to be his running mate. Bush accepted and the rest is history.

Bush proved to be a loyal Vice-President to Reagan as his own positions began turning to the right, especially on the abortion issue, something that put him at odds with his pro-choice wife. He also became a personal friend of Reagan’s and the two had weekly lunches. The Vice President also traveled widely and was on a number of task forces. He also was involved in foreign discussions and could be influential on such matters.

He also, though likely inadvertently, got tied up in the Iran-Contra Affair. And though there was never any proof, there were suspicions that he was not out of the loop as he insisted, and he would be investigated by a Special Prosecutor during his own Presidency.

In the meantime, Bush was getting ready for a Presidential run of his own.

Summary of offices held:

1942-1945: US Navy Lieutenant Junior Grade

1963-1964: Chairman, Harris County, Texas Republican Party

1967-1971: US House of Representatives

1971-1973: US Ambassador, United Nations

1973-1974: Chairman, Republican National Committee

1974-1975: Chief of the US Liaison Office to the People’s Republic of China

1976-1977: Director, Central Intelligence Agency

1981-1989: Vice President of the United States


What was going on: Invasion of Panama, Fall of the Berlin Wall, The Gulf War, recession, end of the Cold War

Scandals within his Presidency: Post Iran- Contra investigations and subsequent pardons

Why he was a good President: He can get some credit for the end of the Cold War as most of the Communist nations fell during his administration. While it is questionable whether we had a right to go to war with Iraq in the first place, he did show some restraint at the end. And there is also the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Why he was a bad President: He was a social conservative for the most part, and the Clarence Thomas nomination for the Supreme Court is now having some pretty chilling effects on basic freedoms today, all over the abortion issue basically. He also didn’t have a clue on how to handle the economy and seemed standoffish when people told him they were hurting.

What could have saved his Presidency: More of the kinder gentler conservative that he yearned to be at the GOP convention. A better grasp of the economic situation that he seemed to be ill prepared for.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: If the Gulf War turned out to be a disaster. Like it or not, the Gulf War is Bush’s lasting legacy and it saved him from being less than average.

Election of 1988: It was a foregone conclusion that Bush would run for the Presidency in 1988 but the nomination wasn’t etched in stone like it had been for Reagan. For one thing, he had to contend with the strong Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, and he would launch an aggressive campaign against Bush, who had been seen by some as a softie. Evangelist Pat Robertson was also making a quixotic run for the nomination but, realistically, it was between Bush and Dole.

With the help of James Baker, a Chief of Staff of Reagan’s and one of Bush’s closest advisers, and down and dirty campaign manager, Lee Atwater, Bush overcame a slow start and was the clear choice by the time the Republican Convention took place in New Orleans. He picked the youthful conservative, Dan Quayle of Indiana, as his running mate and it would prove to be his only blunder in the general campaign. Bush also hoped to blunt out the harsher aspects of the Reagan Administration as he called for a kinder, gentler, nation. He also made the ill-fated pledge, “Read My lips: No new taxes.”

In the meantime, the Democrats seemed ready to take back the White House and close to a dozen candidates had their hat in the ring ranging from Jesse Jackson to Tennessee Senator Al Gore to Colorado Representative Pat Schroeder among others. Even a young Joe Biden was in the race briefly.

But it was former Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis who had the edge. He was a traditional liberal, but he was also seen as kind of bland. He certainly didn’t have the charisma of Jesse Jackson in particular or even the nerdy appeal of Illinois Senator Paul Simon. But he was strong as a policy wonk and, after what ended up as a three way race between, he, Jackson, and Gore, Dukakis emerged as the Democratic Candidate.

The general campaign was perhaps one of the nastiest in recent memory, not on Dukakis’ end so much, but on Bush’s. They successfully painted Dukakis as an extremist liberal (and, in many ways, a long political war against liberalism was beginning), and Bush famously confronted liberal newscaster Dan Rather in a TV interview.

The lowest point though was the Atwater led advertisement depicting the story of Willie Horton. He had been released under a Dukakis furlough program. Horton went on to rape a woman in Maryland. The Bush campaign jumped on the story and aired a commercial that clearly had racial overtones. It hurt Dukakis badly, but it also set race relations back a bit, even as Bush himself had African Americans in his inner circle.

And Dukakis didn’t do himself any favors either. After an Ill-advised photo op in a tank to prove he’d be tough on defense, he stumbled on a debate question about what he would do if his wife had been murdered. This was asked because Dukakis was an opponent of the death penalty. Dukakis didn’t give a straight answer, he simply iterated his opposition to the death penalty. It proved to be his death knell despite Dan Quayle’s screw up in the Vice Presidential debate when he tried to compare his experience to that of John Kennedy. Lloyd Bentsen, Dukakis’ running mate, pounced on the misstep when he declared that Quayle was no Jack Kennedy. Democrats afterwards wondered if Bentsen should have been their candidate instead of Dukakis.

But, alas, he wasn’t, and Bush would win an easy election in November.



First term: The first year of Bush’s term was very much a transformative year from a global standpoint as there were pro-democracy protests in China that Bush supported and the planned reunification of Germany which saw the Berlin Wall come down late in 1989. He also came up with a bailout plan during the back end of the Savings and Loan crisis that started in Ohio and Maryland in 1986 but by now had gone national. Another issue would be the ballooning deficit from the Reagan years that Bush had to decide how to handle.

But it would be foreign affairs and how to use the military that dominated Bush’s term, or at least the first half of it. By 1989, it was obvious that strongman Manuel Noriega of Panama was using his power to sell illegal drugs to cartels in the United States. Bush wanted to capture and try Noriega on drug charges in the States but that would mean violating International Law. No matter, just before Christmas 1989, The United States invaded Panama and Noriega would surrender just two weeks later. He would be tried in the States and convicted in 1992. He remains in prison to this day.

The most famous, or arguably infamous, period of Bush’s term would concern one Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Neighboring Kuwait was rich in oil reserves and Hussein decided he wanted the reserves for himself and Iraq. So, in the summer of 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait.

The Western World, and Bush in particular, were against the invasion, mainly because they thought it would affect oil prices in general but also because Iraq clearly violated international law. But the US only used invasion of Iraq as a veiled threat while forming a coalition that included not only most of Europe and a Soviet Union in transition, but also some key Arab states. Hussein responded by holding the British Embassy hostage and even, in a sinister way, stroke the head of some poor diplomat’s kid that outraged the British and Americans to no end. Invasion seemed inevitable.

And after one last demand for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait was denied, the Coalition invaded Iraq in what became known as the Gulf War. Bush was able to convince Israel to use restraint if attacked (and Iraq would attack the country with SCUD missiles in a vain hope that Israel would retaliate, and the other Arab countries would join him. Israel didn’t retaliate and the Arab countries didn’t turn towards Saddam). As for the war itself, it was over in a month and Saddam agreed to withdraw the troops from Kuwait. It was the high point of Bush’s Presidency, and he enjoyed record popularity numbers that were even higher than Reagan’s had been.

There was an argument on whether the US should have kept the war going until they had captured Hussein, but Bush and most of his advisors argued against that noting they would then have to win the peace if they actually occupied Iraq. A truly prophetic conclusion in wake of what Bush’s son would do a decade later.

In 1991, Bush’s numbers were at an all-time high, but all good things have to end. If Bush was a master at handling foreign affairs, he was all but a disaster when it came to the economy. He had already reneged on his no new taxes pledge when he signed a tax hike later in 1991. Even worse, the economy was taking such a hit that by 1992, the US was in yet another recession, the biggest since the early eighties. The war hero Bush was now seen as out of touch with the American Public and, despite signing the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act and seeing the reunification of Germany and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Bush’s election chances were not all that high.

Election of 1992: Bush had no trouble winning renomination but there were rumblings from the right wing of the party, who supported Nixon-era firebrand Pat Buchannan. Buchannan, in fact would prove to be a bit of an annoyance to the Bush family for years.

A bigger problem for Bush though would come from the maverick billionaire, H. Ross Perot, who decided to run as an independent. He formed the Reform Party and was gaining popularity as a tell it like it is centrist.

And, of course, the Democrats had their own candidate in former Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton. Clinton was a charismatic sort who had a knack of feeling empathy with the average voter while Bush came off as a bit unfeeling and even cold. It was something that was obvious in the three way debate between Bush, Clinton, and Perot as the differing personalities were front and center in front of a national audience. While Perot confused people with his down home slogans and Clinton looked like he almost wanted to hug people in pain, Bush stuck to his platform instead of empathizing and kept looking at his watch. It didn’t make for good optics. And Quayle, as usual, wasn’t much help either as we learned he couldn’t spell potato and he condemned a fictional character for being a single mother (guess she should have had an abortion then?).

We’ll never know how big a loss it would have been for Bush or if he would have been able to make the election closer thanks to Perot’s strong third party showing, but in the end, Clinton would score a fairly solid victory. President Bush was a one term President.


Post Presidency: After the Presidency, the Bushes returned to Houston where they lived quietly for the most part. That’s not to say Bush didn’t stay active, however. He stayed involved with various boards while also spending time at their Kennebunkport, Maine home.

Bush also would get involved in politics again as two of his sons were now pursuing political careers. Son Jeb seemed to be the one with the brighter future and the elder Bush aggressively campaigned for him in his quest for Governor of Florida, which he would win. George W., in the meantime, was running for Governor of Texas and Bush campaigned for him as well. Soon, he would have two sons as State Governors.

And in 2001, one of those sons would become President after a controversially close election. And though the younger Bush’s policies were sometimes conflicting with the elder’s, the Elder Bush let his son make his own mistakes.

Bush also teamed up with former President Bill Clinton with a campaign for relief after the Tsunami that hit Indonesia in 2004. Bush also had an organization known as the Thousand Points of Light Foundation that specialized in humanitarian endeavors.

In the end, Bush 41, as he was now called, became about as respected an elder statesman as one could possibly be, even going against the Republican tide when he acknowledged voting for Hillary Clinton instead of Trump in 2016.

George HW Bush died on November 30, 2018, at the age of 94.

Odd Notes: George Bush notoriously threw up on the Japanese Prime Minister.

Bush met Babe Ruth while playing baseball at Yale.

Final Summary: Again, I have to admit my liberal bias here, but socially, Bush would not lead my list of favorite Presidents. I’m also not a warmonger, so Bush doesn’t get many points on that score either.

But even if he acted indifferent in the public arena, he really did have a heart of gold. The Americans With Disabilities Act is enough proof of that plus some of his post presidency endeavors. No, he wasn’t exactly Jimmy Carter, but he didn’t just rest on his laurels either. Even when it came to race, as despicable as the Willie Horton ad was (and it may be partially responsible for the civil divide we have today), Bush himself wanted a diverse administration and he was especially close to his Security Advisor, Colin Powell. And he did raise taxes when he knew he’d take a big political hit. With him, America really did come first.

I just wish he had been a bit more moderate.

Overall rating: C

https://millercenter.org/president/bush

Wasn't that oil company tied to the CIA?

Don't know but it wouldn't surprise me.

And he always refused to say why he was in Dallas when JFK got merced.