A Conversation with Doris Kearns Goodwin

[midcan5]

Definitely worth a read.

Who is your favorite president, 1900 till now and which president accomplished the most for America? My picks LBJ and FDR.

A Conversation with Doris Kearns Goodwin

Great presidents build support for transformative change. What can the next president do to revive a sense of common purpose? Robert Kuttner December 19, 2007

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=a_conversation_with_doris_kearns_goodwin_

 

[midcan5]

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Who is your favorite president, 1900 till now and which president accomplished the most for America? My picks LBJ and FDR.

 

[CrpRavens30]

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Who is your favorite president, 1900 till now and which president accomplished the most for America? My picks LBJ and FDR.

LBJ was a horrible president.. Let me guess what side of the asle Doris is..

 

[ReillyT]

LBJ was a horrible president.. Let me guess what side of the asle Doris is..

I'm not saying the it was all peaches and cream during the Johnson adminstration, but the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Medicare are some solid accomplishments. Can't think of anything this momentus and positive that either Clinton or Bush have done.

 

[jillian]

LBJ was a horrible president.. Let me guess what side of the asle Doris is..

Horrible? Well, certainly his policies in Vietnam turned out to be failures. But I doubt one would consider LBJ "horrible" if the Civil Rights Act was important to them.

Let me guess what side of the aisle *you're* on.

 

[Shogun]

My choice for post-1900 would be Bill Clinton. I wish he could have a third term in office.


pre-1900 would probably be Lincoln. I'm currently on the hunt for a good biography on Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt.

 

[jillian]

Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns Goowin, for Lincoln. Supposed to be amazing, though I haven't gotten to it yet.

Seems like her next one is on Teddy, so should be interesting.

 

[Shogun]

Thank you for the suggestion. I will check it out. Ditto on an upcomming Teddy bio. I have to say, the more I read about Roosevelt the more I might have to rethink my vote for Bill. He seems like a very interesting guy despite all the Nordicism crap.


Have a great evening, Jillian.

 

[Annie]

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Who is your favorite president, 1900 till now and which president accomplished the most for America? My picks LBJ and FDR.

Maybe it's the times, with all the quick ways of getting information and smearing others, though I don't really think that's all of the answer. People were much more 'into' politics in the 19th and 18th C. For whatever reasons, the 20th C had presidents that I find it hard to pick a 'favorite' or 'worst'. Seems they were mostly failures in one form or another.

While most had some redeeming factors, and a few had some great moments, there was an overall lack of either perceiving the future or recognizing the moment. Anyways, here's the list of them:


# Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-1909 Great for open space and trustbusting. Not so good on keeping his party together. I must admit though to a preference for the name "Bull Moose." Very good though in transition between the centuries and eras. He may be my best president for the century.
# William Howard Taft, 1909-1913

It has to suck having TR breathing down your neck as soon as he tires of his hunting safaries. He never was going to be the executive progressive Teddy thought and that cost him everything.

# Woodrow Wilson, 1913-1921

Personally I think Wilson the most overrated President in this century. The level of hubris he exhibited at the conclusion of WWI can be argued as a cause of WWII. Yet he always played 'victim.' Actually this may be the very beginning of professional victimhood in our country.

# Warren Gamaliel Harding, 1921-1923

Not much to say about him. Some hanger ons from Ohio, but nothing spectacular for corruption or success. He died and let in Coolidge.

# Calvin Coolidge, 1923-1929

He maintained office. He didn't seem to get Mussolini and was quite surprised when Italy and France rebuffed talks of how to keep navies from escalating in growth. I know, it would have been funnier if it had been Germany and Japan, but such were the times Coolidge lived in.

# Herbert Clark Hoover, 1929-1933

Poor Hoover, talk about timing. Talk about a guy that was 'perfect' for the moment of election and just sucked nearly to minute of taking office. Hoovervilles anyone? I mean how stupid can one get, to attack WWI vets?

# Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933-1945

Ah my best and worst president. Most of the presidents of the 20th C resemble the above, didn't do much, what they did do, good or bad wasn't permanent. Not so with FDR. Quite the contrary, he single handedly restored American belief in the future and goodness of America. (Few realize the depths of his fears of the country turning to communism or socialism). He also was the creator of the original paradigm of progressive government, not just a movement of political activists, he infused the government into society, it still is so today. He did not end the depression. He did not 'allow' the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He really was quite brilliant regarding the war, until shortly before Yalta; now that was a disaster, which we are still living with.

# Harry S. Truman, 1945-1953

Well if ever their was a guy that was clueless at the opening of his presidency, it was poor Harry. FDR's penchant for secrecy extended to his veep. Yet, Harry managed to make decisions in crisis, usually correctly. He should not have let his anger at MacArthur allow the Korean War to slide, but he did.

# Dwight David Eisenhower 1953-1961

Well considering that the country and Ike himself were very tired of war, one of his first acts was to go for a truce, not a win. Bad precedent that continues to this day. On the other hand, he pretty much comes off as a caretaker and building the domestic front kind of guy. Rarely though, is it recognized until recently how much he had to do with setting the table on the Cold War, Truman really only had bought the tablecloth buy the time he left. The beginnings of Vietnam and problems with Cuba, well that was Ike. On the other hand, the expressway system begun and named for Ike, show just how good the Progressives were from TR forward.

# John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1961-1963

One of the worst presidents in my opinion, though a very good 'what if he had lived' game could be made. He had seemed to 'grow' in office and learn from his mistakes. He also seemed to have very good instincts, demonstrated during the Cuban Missile Crisis, then again there wouldn't have been a crisis, if...But he was killed when he was and he did create the scenario with Vietnam that Johnson was going to inherit.

# Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1963-1969

Like FDR the best and the worst. Very savvy Congressional leader that should have known better than to try and wage two extremely costly and divisive wars at one time. He couldn't run for that second term, but his legacies live on.

# Richard Milhous Nixon, 1969-1974

Another worst and best. Opened China, had some of the most innovative ideas regarding the poor in US, such as 'rent to own' which Clinton would years later argue for. Then there was Watergate and the stonewall. Nixon Agonistes : The Crisis of the Self Made Man is still one of my favorite presidential biographis.

# Gerald Rudolph Ford, 1974-1977

A truly good man. A necessary president. The pardon was it, there could be no more.

# James Earl Carter, Jr., 1977-1981

Absolute. worst. president. ever.

# Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981-1989

Perhaps the best communicator president, though it's a toss up between him and FDR. In a way their themes were similar; America and her people are good, as long as they are move forward, don't worry, all will be well. Also like FDR, he saw and prepared for enemies, while not letting it overwhelm all other considerations. On the other hand, the across the board cuts gutted the census bureau, leaving us with serious questions about our really population and make-up.

# George Herbert Walker Bush, 1989-1993

No new taxes and broken promises sealed his fate.

# William Jefferson Clinton, 1993-2001

Dwarfed only by the greatness of Reagan and FDR, Clinton is close to those as communicator. His real attempt at a 'co-presidency' with his wife, nearly derailed his presidency by 94. He managed to get that under control and really pushed his rhetoric, though not getting much actual work done after losing so many Congressional allies in the 94 mid-terms. The gods smiled upon him and the growth of the tech industries and the people chose to credit him with the 'good times.'

I guess my favorite president would be TR.