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Tough call, many have made admirable and repulsive decisions. Some highlights and lowlights from my own perspective:
Eisenhower did a great job of moving the country forward after WW II, and gave us a sense of purpose in a rather new and hostile environment. On the other hand, he let internal divisions fester, and didn't proactively take on the folks such as Joe McCarthy, allowing some folks to be humiliated and blacklisted without sufficient cause.
Kennedy wasn't around long enough to have much impact, but he did a good job of handling the Cuban Missile Crisis after screwing up the Bay of Pigs. I know some posters give the credit to the USSR, but I disagree.
Johnson had the courage to sign and back up the Civil Rights Act, but really was incrementalized into a no-win situation in Vietnam.
Nixon tried to establish relations with China, helping to marginalize the communist block as just the USSR and satellite countries. To his credit, he also attempted to manage inflation, though the program really didn't work. His paranoid personality created a process that was unacceptable, and eventually terminated his presidency in disgrace.
Ford only had a couple of years and was a bit of a calming influence with a lot of personal integrity, which was critically needed at that point in time. He had little in terms of leadership skills, being a personality who operated well in an Congressional environment, but not really suited for the national public stage.
Carter doesn't get enough credit for really being the individual who had the courage to take the major step needed to break the back of the inflationary spiral that was ruining our economy, working with Paul Volker (Fed Reserve) to allow interest rates to rise to whatever level necessary to make saving attractive, breaking the psychology of "spend now" inflation. His lack of broad leadership skills, and need to micromanage processes, made him an ineffective large organization manager, creating many inefficiencies as bureaucrats spent too much time evaluating and justifying programs, and too little time executing them.
I'll drop it at this point, many others will comment on Reagan through Bush.
So many president's practiced detente` when Reagan stepped up as a radical and challenged on all levels an out of control military industrial complex hell bent on destroying capitalism.
It was not so much him as he was the spokes person. His ability to pick the right people for the job was untouchable.
I wish GWB would get more credit but in reality what it takes is time for people to understand fully how a president impacted us.
Oh, sorry, the two mentioned above by me were not in my lifetime. I guess I'd cast my vote for Jimmy Carter--he's my idea of a man who tried his best to do good for us, and even better, he continues to do good after his presidency through his peace-making and negotiation skills. Seems to me, he and Roslyn have true compassion for their fellow humans with whom they're sharing the journey...he left the White House a poor man, maybe he didn't have his hand in the cookie jar, either...
I have always said President Carter has had more impact for this country as a former President than he ever did as President. I like the man, but I wasn't real thrilled with his term in office.
Good to see Carter getting some positive remarks here. He has qualities that are rare for a president, wished he had better economic advisors and plan to get us back on track in those days (if that was possible). Of Coarse Reagan would not have been able to do what he wanted with such a free hand, without Carter's misfortune.
The economy is what Americans vote on, so when its broken and we get someone like Reagan that turns it around, we glorify him. He deserves top billing for being tough but not foolish, and making the right decisions to get us back on track.
Bush Sr. should also get more credit for knowing what had to be done, but not overdoing it. He did such a wonderfull job for us in desert storm, gaining international support first, and knowing when to stop. It must of been tough for him to raise taxes, but the deficit demanded it be done. Reagan's deficit gave us a hangover, and Bush Sr. fixed it at great political risk to himself. This put us on the final step to recovery that was not visible at the time, but Clinton benifited greatly from. I think Clinton just lucked his way into a great economy.
Good to see Carter getting some positive remarks here. He has qualities that are rare for a president, wished he had better economic advisors and plan to get us back on track in those days (if that was possible). Of Coarse Reagan would not have been able to do what he wanted with such a free hand, without Carter's misfortune.
The economy is what Americans vote on, so when its broken and we get someone like Reagan that turns it around, we glorify him. He deserves top billing for being tough but not foolish, and making the right decisions to get us back on track.
Bush Sr. should also get more credit for knowing what had to be done, but not overdoing it. He did such a wonderfull job for us in desert storm, gaining international support first, and knowing when to stop. It must of been tough for him to raise taxes, but the deficit demanded it be done. Reagan's deficit gave us a hangover, and Bush Sr. fixed it at great political risk to himself. This put us on the final step to recovery that was not visible at the time, but Clinton benifited greatly from. I think Clinton just lucked his way into a great economy.
Carter was probably the most honest and decent president we ever had - shows how far that goes in the Oval office.
Tough call, many have made admirable and repulsive decisions. Some highlights and lowlights from my own perspective:
Eisenhower did a great job of moving the country forward after WW II, and gave us a sense of purpose in a rather new and hostile environment. On the other hand, he let internal divisions fester, and didn't proactively take on the folks such as Joe McCarthy, allowing some folks to be humiliated and blacklisted without sufficient cause.
Kennedy wasn't around long enough to have much impact, but he did a good job of handling the Cuban Missile Crisis after screwing up the Bay of Pigs. I know some posters give the credit to the USSR, but I disagree.
Johnson had the courage to sign and back up the Civil Rights Act, but really was incrementalized into a no-win situation in Vietnam.
Nixon tried to establish relations with China, helping to marginalize the communist block as just the USSR and satellite countries. To his credit, he also attempted to manage inflation, though the program really didn't work. His paranoid personality created a process that was unacceptable, and eventually terminated his presidency in disgrace.
Ford only had a couple of years and was a bit of a calming influence with a lot of personal integrity, which was critically needed at that point in time. He had little in terms of leadership skills, being a personality who operated well in an Congressional environment, but not really suited for the national public stage.
Carter doesn't get enough credit for really being the individual who had the courage to take the major step needed to break the back of the inflationary spiral that was ruining our economy, working with Paul Volker (Fed Reserve) to allow interest rates to rise to whatever level necessary to make saving attractive, breaking the psychology of "spend now" inflation. His lack of broad leadership skills, and need to micromanage processes, made him an ineffective large organization manager, creating many inefficiencies as bureaucrats spent too much time evaluating and justifying programs, and too little time executing them.
I'll drop it at this point, many others will comment on Reagan through Bush.
I can only comment about Ford through Bush, I was born when Ford was in office. But I would have to say Reagan. Although I wasn't voting at the time of Reagan, and didn't care at all who was president, looking back now, I think he was the best in my life time. He didn't mess around, and he didn't cater to our enemies. He stood up for our country, and the world knew who he was, and what he was all about.
I am thrilled that this subforum is so active, it means people are genuinely concerned and care about this great country.
As the views and politics on this forum vary greatly, it would be interesting to see who was your favorite US President in your lifetime and why. No Abraham Lincoln or John Adams, unless you lived during their terms. Who is the President you think, "if only President X could have served a few more terms", or "I wish President X was here to fix this mess'".
No Obama or McCain answers.
Just wax eloquently on who was great in your lifetime, and why.
Well I was Born in 79, so I have few to choose from. I guess before I knew better, Reagan. Seeing him on TV just felt good as a kid, not sure why. Guess it felt like watching grandpa?
Clinton of those that I had an opinion on. Reagan was a disaster, and set up many of the failures that lead to our problems today. And President Bush didn't help anything, in fact he made things worse. President Obama is par for the course that Bush laid out, following the same course economically and foreign policy, and the wars.
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