Who is likely the most morally grounded President?

"Ketchup is a vegatable" - Ronald Reagan

Wasn't Carter hamstrung by Reagan promising the terrorist something if they held the prisoners until after the election?

Rocket River

 

I love that Barbara Jordan speech. That's one of my all time favorites.

 

Not denying at all that he was corrupt LBJ and many other presidents in their private moments also said some very crude and hateful things. Many accounts of Bill Clinton say that he has a very brutal temper and if Whitehouse tapes of Clinton come out are not going to be very flattering.

As I said before Nixon's downfall was that he was primarily concerned with power and really lacked a vision about how he was going to improve the country. That said he did do a lot of big things and governed pragmatically. You can give credit to the Democratic Congress but he was smart enough to understand how those things would help the country. Compare that to the current crop of Republicans and that is saying a lot. He is on the lower end of Presidents but not in the category of the Harding and Pierce.

 

Bill Clinton

 

Maybe Nixon did all of his great things because he was a paranoid nutjob who wanted to stay in power, and Johnson did all of his great things because he wanted to change the country for the better.

I don't care. I've said it before on this forum when we discussed Romney, but I really don't value "inspiration" or "vision" or those terms which are used at best to mobilize the masses in a certain direction and more likely is just empty fluff. When it comes to government, I care about results. Nixon destroyed the remnants of the gold standard, opened China. I don't care why he did those. I cared that he did, and it left this country in a stronger position. That's what matters. The very concept of this thread to me deals with Presidents who were morally sound, who had very good moral intentions like Carter who wanted to bring more human rights in foreign policy or Bush who wanted to bring democracy and freedom in the Middle East, but only resulted in screwing things up. The road to hell is paved with good intentions and all that.

As for my argument on Watergate, let me begin by asking a simple question, especially since as I put it, I barely remember Jordan, much less being around for Nixon: what ramifications? He did do bad things, I acknowledge that, he got tossed out for them. But some of you have argued that Watergate had real long-term consequences as a result, but don't explain that bit. So what was it? If it was a "government needs to be not as corrupt", I would argue that Vietnam also should share a fair amount of responsibility given the incompetence and arrogance that occurred there.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_surprise#1980_Carter_vs._Reagan

 

Carter and Ford have the reputations of being among the most honest modern presidents.

Ford gets flack for pardoning Nixon, but it was a messy situation no matter how it turned out.

Bush Sr. ran the CIA, so I'm guessing he held a lot of secrets. I'll always admire how he took principled stands even against his own party. Perot and the recession had a lot to do with his 1 termness.

 

One obvious consequence, Kojiro, was a serious increase of distrust of government within the body politic. Americans, in general, used to have a rather trustworthy view of the Federal government. Nixon destroyed much of that trust, IMO, and I think that's a big deal, and that we're still dealing with the aftermath. Ike was well liked by Americans, and trusted. Jack Kennedy and his family were adored by the American public. It's fashionable today to tear down the man, but those of us who lived that era have a different view. LBJ, before Vietnam became his albatross, was liked and trusted by a majority of Americans. Look at the size of his victory in 1964. Nixon? He twisted and perverted the political process, and it was laid out before the American people on a platter. Politics here hasn't been the same since, in my opinion.

I'm sorry you missed out on Barbara Jordan. She was a brilliant person and a brilliant speaker. A trail blazer for Blacks in Congress. I wish Jordan had had better health. We lost her too soon.

 

Bush Sr straight up lied about not knowing anything about Iran-contra.

 

Washington