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To: meandog
Not worth quibbling over the little stuff (FDR vs. Reagan, though I'd personally rank FDR far lower).

From the worst list, I'd take off 41 -- that sounds too much like a personal vendetta on the writer's part. Coolidge sounds like a similar, smaller grudge to me.

I'd also take off Ford. He didn't do much, granted, but I think the pardon of Nixon ended something that would have hurt the American psyche so much that Carter's malaise would've been cock-eyed optimism in comparison. Ford sacrificed his political career for the good of the country when he pardoned Nixon -- and still managed to almost get re-elected.

My top Three:

1. Washington. Established the Presidency
2. Reagan. Re-established the nation's strength. Essentially won the Cold War without too much baggage being left over.
3. Truman. Made the hard decisions to drop the bomb; then to stand up to communism.

Lincoln and FDR have too much baggage for me to put in my top three. Honorable mention to John Tyler, for no other reason than he's one of my wife's ancestors. Well, he did establish that a President who comes to power, through the VP position, has all the powers of the Presidency; I suspect there could have been some major and destructive power-struggles when later Presidents died, if that had not been established.

My Worst 3:

1. Carter. Let America be kicked, then said, "Please, sir, may I have another."
2. Buchanan. I think this article states it well enough.
3. JFK. Whether or not Eisenhower planned it, with the Bay of Pigs, JFK started the American "tradition" of half-a'ing military actions. Either do what it takes or don't do it at all. Every President since then has done the same -- even Reagan ducked on Lebanon. I'm hoping that 43 breaks the tradition, but we've yet to see, one way or another.

Clinton was a morally corrupt, possibly even murderous, President. However, once the Health Care plan collapsed, he was content to do what it took to stay alive politically. His Presidency was sickening, but not, life-threatening to the nation, as I think Carter, Buchanan, and JFK's were.

55 posted on 01/21/2003 10:52:26 AM PST by Celtjew Libertarian
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To: Celtjew Libertarian
Afraid I have to disagree with Truman.

The only thing he did was drop bombs on Japan to end the war. Notice it took two bombs before Japan decided to call it quits. However, this was more of a continuation of a procees fully in place before he took over. He also started the Cold War because of his naivete at Potsdam and was the Father of Appeasement in both postwar Germany and Korea and would have done the same in Japan had not MacArthur been in charge there. By putting limitations on the military about when and where they could fight in Korea, he probably inspired LBJ to do the same in Viet Nam.

94 posted on 01/22/2003 6:02:47 AM PST by N. Theknow
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