Was FDR the best President in American history?

[Charles Stucker]

or how does he rank?

I read a book called the "forgotten man" about the great depression & FDR. Overall--FDR very smart man--much more so than we have today--actually spent 6 months in office, prior to cutting 100 MILLION out of the budget--something that was huge in the 1930's.

Some claim that by his spending actions he actually ended up extending the Great Depression--others or should I say liberals & this administration that he brought us out of it.

My opinion after reading this book--we had our little pops in employment gains that were not prolonged--& then we they would see unemployment rise again. In reality the only thing that brought us out of the great depression was WW2.

It's been my experience that the vast majority of historians credit FDR with ending the Depression. Only recent wingnut conservatives are arguing the opposite.

I suppose the next "fact" you will relate to us is how you are a respected historian specializing in FRD and the Depression and KNOW better than anyone else on this board possibly could exactly what occurred during FRD's reign.

One fact you must be conveniently misremembering is the old adage about how it is impossible to fairly evaluate a president until at least 50 years after they leave office. Let's see 1945+50 = 1995. So the "recent" historians are the only ones who might have an accurate picture; and the one they universally paint is not so rosy for FRD. Go figure.

 

[rightwinger]

I read a book called the "forgotten man" about the great depression & FDR. Overall--FDR very smart man--much more so than we have today--actually spent 6 months in office, prior to cutting 100 MILLION out of the budget--something that was huge in the 1930's.

Some claim that by his spending actions he actually ended up extending the Great Depression--others or should I say liberals & this administration that he brought us out of it.

My opinion after reading this book--we had our little pops in employment gains that were not prolonged--& then we they would see unemployment rise again. In reality the only thing that brought us out of the great depression was WW2.

It's been my experience that the vast majority of historians credit FDR with ending the Depression. Only recent wingnut conservatives are arguing the opposite.

I suppose the next "fact" you will relate to us is how you are a respected historian specializing in FRD and the Depression and KNOW better than anyone else on this board possibly could exactly what occurred during FRD's reign.

One fact you must be conveniently misremembering is the old adage about how it is impossible to fairly evaluate a president until at least 50 years after they leave office. Let's see 1945+50 = 1995. So the "recent" historians are the only ones who might have an accurate picture; and the one they universally paint is not so rosy for FRD. Go figure.

Only right wingnuts writing revisionist history claim that FDR made the Depression worse. Somehow in a recent surey of distinguished historians, FDR finished third behind Lincoln and Washington

 

[BasicGreatGuy]

In my opinion, he was one of the worst.

 

[Modbert]

As this thread progresses, my earlier prediction holds more true.

 

[Liberty]

second worst president by far. totally shitting on the consitution does not yield greatness.
#1 worst president is lincoln, easily.

 

[rightwinger]

second worst president by far. totally shitting on the consitution does not yield greatness.
#1 worst president is lincoln, easily.

Amazing how our Conservative wingnuts manage to turn history on its head as they revise 200 years of history to match their convoluted economic and social agenda.

Lincoln and FDR are the worst while Harding Coolidge and Hoover are the cream of the crop.

Not surprising from the group that wants Creationism taught as science and still deny global warming

 

[Big Fitz]

harding was a great president for he undid a lot of what wilson did in his "return to normalcy" presidency. But his greatest achievement was choosing "silent cal" coolidge as his veep, who went on to be the reagan of the roaring 20's.

omg!

I can't believe someone seriously posted this. Are the Conservatives really that dense? Harding and Coolidge Great Presidents?

Got Depression?

You couldn't name 2 of the real causes of the great depression if you were spotted 1 and 7/8ths of em.

Just cause you hate capitalism doesn't make you right. Makes you an impoverished fool.

 

[Liberty]

second worst president by far. totally shitting on the consitution does not yield greatness.
#1 worst president is lincoln, easily.

Amazing how our Conservative wingnuts manage to turn history on its head as they revise 200 years of history to match their convoluted economic and social agenda.

Lincoln and FDR are the worst while Harding Coolidge and Hoover are the cream of the crop.

Not surprising from the group that wants Creationism taught as science and still deny global warming

nice strawman, dumbass.

 

[Big Fitz]

FDR didn't make sure that we were bankrupt.

Actually he did just that. Socialist Security and the entire entitlement mentality can be laid squarely at the feet of FDR. Remove the cost of those monstrous infringements on our personal liberty and business profitability and you would see the US with both a far stronger economy and lower prospects of going bankrupt.

Right, we've just been pretty successful in outrunning that beast, till now.

 

[Big Fitz]

Well, I am a moderate and have listened to people who lived through the Hoover and FDR years and most of the people who lived during that period though he was GOLD. He was handed a disaster, in some ways what we had in 2009, and he made the most of it.

Yet honest economists agree, FDR's policies extended the depression by a minimum of 4-8 years due to government interventionalism and strangling business through the Hawley-Smoot tariff act, among other things.

 

[MIPS]

second worst president by far. totally shitting on the consitution does not yield greatness.
#1 worst president is lincoln, easily.

Amazing how our Conservative wingnuts manage to turn history on its head as they revise 200 years of history to match their convoluted economic and social agenda.

Lincoln and FDR are the worst while Harding Coolidge and Hoover are the cream of the crop.

Not surprising from the group that wants Creationism taught as science and still deny global warming

OOPS there he goes again with that "H" word......

First off...I refuse to even discuss Harding. He was an embarassment to the office and one of the most corrupt presidents in history

 

[Big Fitz]

I read a book called the "forgotten man" about the great depression & FDR. Overall--FDR very smart man--much more so than we have today--actually spent 6 months in office, prior to cutting 100 MILLION out of the budget--something that was huge in the 1930's.

Some claim that by his spending actions he actually ended up extending the Great Depression--others or should I say liberals & this administration that he brought us out of it.

My opinion after reading this book--we had our little pops in employment gains that were not prolonged--& then we they would see unemployment rise again. In reality the only thing that brought us out of the great depression was WW2.

It's been my experience that the vast majority of historians credit FDR with ending the Depression. Only recent wingnut conservatives are arguing the opposite.

Really?

How did he do it?

.

Let Japan bomb Pearl Harbor some conspiracy nuts say. But they'd only be partially wrong.

 

[Modbert]

Let Japan bomb Pearl Harbor some conspiracy nuts say. But they'd only be partially wrong.

Anyone who actually pays attention to history knows that war between Japan and the U.S. was going to happen at some point. FDR was never going to allow Japan to take the indies and with it, all the resources that they would need for war along with helping Hitler.

FDR probably figured after talks broke down that a attack was going to occur, not at Pearl Harbor though.

 

[Big Fitz]

second worst president by far. totally shitting on the consitution does not yield greatness.
#1 worst president is lincoln, easily.

Just had an odd thought. Would it possibly be a fair question to ask that Lincoln's assassination caused him to be viewed by many as one of the worst presidents ever, because he never finished the job of re-integrating the states and that was left to the terminal fuckup Andrew Johnson who wanted to punish the South, and did quite effectively through Reconstruction?

Just thinking out loud here, because although Lincoln's obvious violation of the constitution is a valid point on many areas, his plans may have been much better than what was carried out.

Just something to consider.

 

[Liberty]

second worst president by far. totally shitting on the consitution does not yield greatness.
#1 worst president is lincoln, easily.

Just had an odd thought. Would it possibly be a fair question to ask that Lincoln's assassination caused him to be viewed by many as one of the worst presidents ever, because he never finished the job of re-integrating the states and that was left to the terminal fuckup Andrew Johnson who wanted to punish the South, and did quite effectively through Reconstruction?

Just thinking out loud here, because although Lincoln's obvious violation of the constitution is a valid point on many areas, his plans may have been much better than what was carried out.

Just something to consider.

all of those American deaths were still on his watch. Can't forgive him for that. I think the whole idea of forcing the states back into the Union was unlawful and unconstitutional. Radical? Maybe, but that's what I believe.

 

[JWBooth]

Was FDR the best President in American history?

No

 

[Kalam]

Anybody who herds people into concentration camps simply because of their identity is automatically out of the running for "best president."

 

[Big Fitz]

Let Japan bomb Pearl Harbor some conspiracy nuts say. But they'd only be partially wrong.

Anyone who actually pays attention to history knows that war between Japan and the U.S. was going to happen at some point. FDR was never going to allow Japan to take the indies and with it, all the resources that they would need for war along with helping Hitler.

FDR probably figured after talks broke down that a attack was going to occur, not at Pearl Harbor though.

Right. That's why I said what I did.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

second worst president by far. totally shitting on the consitution does not yield greatness.
#1 worst president is lincoln, easily.

Just had an odd thought. Would it possibly be a fair question to ask that Lincoln's assassination caused him to be viewed by many as one of the worst presidents ever, because he never finished the job of re-integrating the states and that was left to the terminal fuckup Andrew Johnson who wanted to punish the South, and did quite effectively through Reconstruction?

Just thinking out loud here, because although Lincoln's obvious violation of the constitution is a valid point on many areas, his plans may have been much better than what was carried out.

Just something to consider.

Actually Johnson wasn't responsible for Reconstruction, the Radical Republicans in Congress were.

 

[Ame®icano]

Reagan keynoted Goldwater's '64 convention, distrusted both Nixon and the Bushies, and ran against east coast neocon tool Gerry Ford....Fake.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXBswFfh6AY]YouTube - "A Time for Choosing" by Ronald Reagan[/ame]