Best United States President to Date

at least for another; Washington himself stepped out of office, as he knew when to do so..........

I see T has put in a word for Sarah yep I agree, throw out the potential contenders for both sides and ............... ooooooooooops yes too far ahead as well

 

God bless and long live, Ronald Reagan. Need I say more? ;-D

 

Surprisingly, I'd rate FDR in the lowest quarter. His fiscal and economic policies prior to WW 2 were horrible. In his first two years in office unemployment increased from 20% to 35% and recovery looked like it wasn't happening.
His New Deal was struck a major blow by the Supreme Court that ruled almost 90% of it unconstitutional (ie., Socialism is illegal in the US). He then tried to pack the court by forcing Congress to make an amendment to the Constitution to increase the number of justices seated from 7 to 13. This would have allowed him to push the New Deal through using shills on the court. That failed.
I have come to believe that FDR was sufficently unsure of himself and his generals that he allowed the British and to a lesser degree the Soviets to buffalo him into some pretty mediocre strategic policy regarding the European theater. I think very firmly that Torch was a mistake. Sledgehammer could have succeeded and the US / British would have been back in France in late 1942.
It was only British policy that prevented it. Churchill prefered the normal British policies of sniping at the periferrial edges of the German empire and naval blockade to land warfare as had been done for centuries. The US having the luxury of being a land power could confront Germany on land directly but, the British were not prepared nor desirious of such a course of action.
Given that the US was the senior partner in terms of material and manpower they could have easily forced Britian to go along with the invasion plan had they had the political will power at the top of the heap.
This is one reason that the Pacific War ran so smoothly. It was not nearly as much of a coallition effort as Europe was. Wars run by committee rarely show brilliance and often fail due to the division of effort and inevidable undermining bureaucracy that committee management brings. FDR was not enough of a leader to force policy. Instead he allowed inferior but safer decisions to rule in Europe.

 

I hope this does not get me shot by a fellow rogue but I don't see how President Reagan can be considered the greatest president ever. Better than many, yes. The best, no way. Indeed, the man was in serious mental decline by the end of his presidency and his wife and staff had to conceal that from the rest of us as best they could.

I acknowledge that the Reagan presidency was a factor in the Fall of the Iron Curtain but it was only a Factor, just as the Czech uprising 20 years earlier was a factor, as were a host of other events over the 50 years prior to 1989. The Soviet Curtain had to fall because the people of the Soviet Union could not be shielded from the information that was coming in from Europe and the USA. It was the need for Western consumer goods and information that brought down the Iron Curtain and dispersed the the various elements of the Soviet Union, not Star Wars.

Now, please, I defer to wiser, better informed minds to tell me why I am wrong.

 

Yup, TR for me.....For Some reason I have the urge to watch the Great Escape....Why could that be

 

hello, Im new to forum Im Japanese student and I think that Abraham Lincoln is the undisputed choice. His famous quote bears testimony to this fact:
"I am a firm believer in the people. if given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts."

 

Ronald Reagan

 

I voted for Ronald,

IMO a lot of people especially the Americans seem to have forgotten on how down they were after Vietnam and during the Carter administration. Almost every country was looking down, having a laugh on the US.

Ronald managed to retrieve the US image by not even resorting to wars (let aside the Contras) he was respected by most countries due to his open promotion of American Way of Live - some might have had a small grin on their faces, but nevertheless they respected him and as such the US.
That he is also the one who ended the cold war by pushing Russia into bankrupcy and as such also terminated the 40 years of a nuclear holocoust vision is another benefit to mankind that no President before him ever achieved.

Regards
Kruska

 

I think Best can be described in many ways and is a difficult question, so I have gone ahead and voted for my favorite. IMO it is John Adams. Only the second US president back when the country had many questions to be answered, he fought an undeclared war with France, who up untill that point had been just about the US's only ally. He helped establish the United States navy. Of course he signed the Alien and Sedition acts, but at that time it was felt to be nessesary since war seemed iminent. He was able to aviod an all out war however. Before his preidency he sat under Washington for 8 years (who better to learn the job from) and pushed for the Decleration of Independance from the Continetal Congress. As much as he is overlooked by history he is still my favorite.

Before anyone asks, no my opinion is not based on the recent HBO series. I had my mind made up long before it came out.

 

Well, in your post you mention the reasons why I think he was a great president.

Concerning the rise in unemployment, I don't think it's right to hold that against him at a time when there was worldwide depression/recession.
When nobody has money to buy your products you're stuck, no matter what you do.

You are right about one thing; it's much better to run a show all by yourself without any interference from troublesome allies.
FDR conducted the war in the Pacific successfully, I assume as a president he was the the supreme commander there as well, ending with a total defeat for the japanese.

On the other side of the Atlantic things were different.
You had the stubborned, somewhat egocentric Winston Churchill and the shrewd, unpredictable Stalin.
I don't think they would have appreciated a more chief like "Do-as-you're-told-to-do-and-don't-ask-any-questions!" approach from the US.

The US needed a bridgehead in Europe, and that was England.
Neither "Sledgehammer" nor "D-Day" would have been performed successfully without that.

Churchill and Stalin were old political adversaries and FDR showed a great statesmanlike talent when he managed to balance the uneasy alliance during the war.

Fighting a war successfully against two formidable enemies in two theaters is an unprecedented task no US president have done before him or after him.

I will not name the worst presidents here, but a few decades later a couple of FDR's successors, with all the state of the art equipment you can think at their disposal, failed to conquer a small army of stone age peasants living in underground caves feeding on rats, rice and chicken.

RAM

 

MARTIN VAN BUREN!

 

There are five at the top, but I give the marginal nod to George Washington. GW spent some of his own money to train and equip the American Army. He so believed in the American ideal that spending the money was as natural a thought to him as tithing to a regular churchgoer. He turned down the notion of being "King" and he believed in a peaceful transition of power in a democracy, and as such he only served two terms as Prez.

Thomas Jefferson, I think, might have been a time traveler (him and Benjamin Franklin). These men were so ahead of their time that their ideas are as fresh today as Ipods and hi def TV. TJ doubled the size of the US in a risky, but brilliant move. It is fitting and proper that we have a seperate memorial to him in Washington D.C., and that his face adorns Mount Rushmore.

Abraham Lincoln-a rare intellect and powerful public speaker. In the 1860's, seeing a great orator was considered the best entertainment of the day. During the Battle of Gettysburg, Lincoln's approval ratings were in the dumper. He was only allowed to speak at Gettysburg because he was Prez. Prior to him taking the podium, the greatest orator of the day had spent two hours talking about the greatness of the American soldier. Then, Lincoln took the podium. In two minutes and forty seven seconds, he not only gave one of the greatest speeches of all time,but he also summed up what that orator had spent two hours saying. The crowd was stunned, to say the least.

Teddy Roosevelt-"Walk softly and carry a big stick". Long before anyone else did, Teddy saw that the US was a great power. Teddy believed in technology, innovation, development, and industry. He saw that the US was technologically advanced, compared to most countries, and that American industry was the future. Carpe Diem.

Ronald Reagan-prior to "The Gipper" becoming Prez, the US was a mess. A number of "progressives" had seen to it that the US had lost face, military power, a system of values, and a belief in America. He saw the US as a "Shining Light Atop a Hill" and that were far from our best times and that we had lost focus. Like Moses, he put us on the right path again. Like Lincoln, he was a powerful speaker, and like Jefferson, a visionary. The Reagan Revolution" lasted twenty six years, but isn't dead yet- a female successor stands on the precipice of history. Lastly, the day Reagan left office, I clipped the most appropo political cartoon ever, out of the paper. Reagan is onstage. He is dressed like a rocker (headband included). He is holding a smoking electric guitar. There is smoke coming out of the amplifiers. Reagan is saying:"Take it George". George HW Bush is standing onstage, in a suit, holding a clarinet.

 

I don't have a scanner. I'm a technophobe, barely internet capable. Sorry.

 

Well said Richard, Kruska ;-)) Kruska made a great point or two but one I wan't to point out is that he is correct about Reagan restoring our morale as well as national pride. I was 13 at the time Reagan first came to office and do remember alot of real change happened not long after he took the oath. Too bad obama-lama ding dong, can't take anything that Reagan tought us, and put it to use.

Anyway, Reagan was THE MAN.