BuddyRey
Member
- Joined
- May 20, 2007
- Messages
- 11,172
This is a favorite subject of historians (both novice and seasoned). Who do you think would best fit under the banners of "Best U.S. Presidents" and "Worst U.S. Presidents", keeping in mind that one's answers are not restricted to the immediate past (i.e. the last century)?
My picks:
Best U.S. President - After some evaluation, I've come to the tragic but inevitable conclusion that we haven't had a "great" or even "good" U.S. President since Calvin Coolidge. Silent Cal's not talked about very often, because he didn't do very much while in office. But this is exactly what made him so great. He believed in non-interventionism, hesitated to sign on to international agreements, and kept his hands off of the economy. The only blemishes on his otherwise exemplary time in office that I can find were the draconian Immigration Act of 1924, and the Radio Act of 1927, which increased government control of the airwaves through a newly created Federal Radio Commission. Tsk tsk tsk, naughty Cal!
Worst U.S. President - It's hard to overemphasize what a disastrously tyrannical despot Woodrow Wilson was. He was a Democrat, but arguably one of the first neoconservatives too. Everything from making "anti-government" speech illegal with the Sedition Act of 1918, to driving a steamroller over the Constitution with the illegal Federal Reserve Act. The only occasion on which he erred on the side of reason and personal responsibility was when he attempted to veto the Volstead Act. Too bad he failed, because Prohibition, and all the evils it unleashed on society in the forms of organized crime, police corruption, and lives destroyed, could have been completely averted.
My picks:
Best U.S. President - After some evaluation, I've come to the tragic but inevitable conclusion that we haven't had a "great" or even "good" U.S. President since Calvin Coolidge. Silent Cal's not talked about very often, because he didn't do very much while in office. But this is exactly what made him so great. He believed in non-interventionism, hesitated to sign on to international agreements, and kept his hands off of the economy. The only blemishes on his otherwise exemplary time in office that I can find were the draconian Immigration Act of 1924, and the Radio Act of 1927, which increased government control of the airwaves through a newly created Federal Radio Commission. Tsk tsk tsk, naughty Cal!
Worst U.S. President - It's hard to overemphasize what a disastrously tyrannical despot Woodrow Wilson was. He was a Democrat, but arguably one of the first neoconservatives too. Everything from making "anti-government" speech illegal with the Sedition Act of 1918, to driving a steamroller over the Constitution with the illegal Federal Reserve Act. The only occasion on which he erred on the side of reason and personal responsibility was when he attempted to veto the Volstead Act. Too bad he failed, because Prohibition, and all the evils it unleashed on society in the forms of organized crime, police corruption, and lives destroyed, could have been completely averted.
