Pierce won a rapid rise in politics because of his father, NH Gov. Benjamin Pierce.
As president, Pierce mainly tried to appease Southern Democrats as a "uniter, not a divider."
Pierce's good looks and inoffensive personality caused him to make many friends, but as president he subsequently made decisions which were widely criticized and divisive in their effects, thus giving him the reputation as one of the worst presidents in U.S. history.
After his presidency, Pierce continued his lifelong struggle with alcoholism as his marriage to Jane Means Appleton Pierce fell apart. His reputation was destroyed during the American Civil War when he declared support for the Confederacy, and personal correspondence between Pierce and Confederate President Jefferson Davis was leaked to the press. He died in 1869 from cirrhosis.
Historians reflected the views of many historians when they wrote in The American President that Pierce was "a good man who didn't understand his own shortcomings.
He was genuinely religious, loved his wife and reshaped himself so that he could adapt to her ways and show her true affection. He was one of the most popular men in New Hampshire, polite and thoughtful, easy and good at the political game, charming and fine and handsome. However, he has been criticized as timid and unable to cope with a changing America." Pierce has been consistently ranked by scholars as one of the worst U.S. Presidents.
Bush's failure is that he could not finish the war that he started because he relied on a limited warfare strategy in both Afghanistan and Iraq due to his promise of keeping the tax cuts--there is a tried and true economic principle that you can have guns or butter but you cannot have both. IMO, his legacy will depend on the success of Iraq and Afghanistan. If Iraq becomes another Bahrain, amid a successful and thriving democracy and economy with tourist pouring in to sample the history of Babylon, then Bush's legacy will be restored. However, if Obama's pulling the rug out from under the fledgling country means that it sinks into anarchy with warlords ruling the various providences, Bush goes down with Pierce which is my belief.
I like Bush. I didn’t agree with him on immigration, but I think he’s a genuine, honest, and caring man. Unlike Obama.
After a few months of that, Bush is going to look better. Ex-Presidents, for one reason or another usually do, if only because they're finally out of office.
The man did some good, and he had a tough job. He certainly had a tougher job than Bill Clinton did.
But really, as presidents go, he just wasn't one of the best. I'd like to say otherwise, but just can't. He didn't seem to want to job or to bring his best to it. And he had a hard time winning people over and keeping them won over.
If you had told me back in the 1980s -- and even perhaps as late as 1992-93 -- that within the next 15 years NATO would be adding former Warsaw Pact countries such as Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia . . . as well as former Soviet Republics such as Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania . . . I would have thought you'd be nuts.
I truly believe that when we look back at this era some decades from now, the expansion of U.S. influence into eastern Europe -- even past the crumbling Iron Curtain itself -- will be remembered as one of the most far-reaching developments in modern history.
And I'm not a huge fan of George W. Bush, BTW. But I always have a tendency to take a very "big picture" view of things.
Bush was a decent man in many ways, and he did some good things.
But he was a terrible communicator, a big spender, and completely unable to impose any political control. That last was his worst fault. He completely failed to broom out the top levels of government, he lost control of most of his own agencies, including the FBI and the CIA. He lost control of the Republicans in congress. He didn’t seem to understand that you can’t run a country just by being “nice.”
He made two great SCOTUS appointments, but he was as much responsible as anyone for the election of Obama, who will probably make three or four terrible SCOTUS appointments and completely undo the good Bush accomplished.
Because Bush favored the RINO way, there were no young conservatives on the scene ready to replace him. He didn’t groom anyone to be his successor.
Even the War on Terror will be seen as a disaster, if he is seen as having mismanged it politically, failed to explain it to the people, and as a result helped to elect the man who may pull out our troops, destroy our military, and get involved in misadventures worse than any clinton achieved in Bosnia and Kosovo.
Finally, he named Paulson and a gang of traitors to the treasury and the Fed. He failed to follow through on controlling the economic bubble he inherited from clinton. He didn’t have a clue what was happening when Paulson pulled his October Surprise. Dodd, Paulson, Pelosi, and Obama ran rings around him—and around McCain, when he tried to jump in.
Even last month, he kept the removal of 500 tons of yellowcake from Iraq to Canada, which would have demolished the Dem story that Saddam wasn’t working on WMDs. Why? Because it was supposedly classified “secret.” Oh, sure, that’s why it was known to everybody, including al Qaeda. The only people he kept it secret from were ignorant voters. That was just one incident, but it was absolutely typical of his absolute cluelessness as a political fighter.
W will float back up to the middle of the pack in 20 years or so. Even Nixon was belatedly praised by some historians for his foreign policy (imperfect for sure, but far superior to LBJ’s or Dhimmi Qarter’s).
It doesn’t matter what we think; we are the Fringe, and our voices mean nothing.
He will be revised by the New Order for all time.
I’m not going to read the thread because I know that it will be wall-to-wall Bush bashing, but history will treat George W. Bush very well.
Mrs. Pierce died nearly six years before her husband. Their first two children died very young. Their only surviving child was killed at the age of 11 in a train accident two months before Pierce was inaugurated as President.
Yes!
Here’s the terrifying thing. All those wonderful things from the Patriot Act? Now Obama is going to have all of those tools at his disposal.
I didnt know about this there was no warning, my deleted post at link said “Go now Mr President, you have done enough” very respectful. I am worried GWB will cut another deal with Pelosi with lame duck session and said so. I honestly think the failure of some to grip reality will get the best of us. Dont make the same mistake I made. If he had passed away I wouldnt have put him down but he can still cause trouble until January.
#15
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2128854/posts?page=8#15