Who do you feel is the best American President of All Time, and Why?

Lincoln, FDR and Washington are the most significant presidents because of the challenges they faced. I would go with Lincoln. Washington should get special credit for actually relinquishing power. There was a lot of American King George talk at the time, believe it, or not.

Most underrated: Dwight D. Eisenhower. He presided over peace, prosperity and the creation of the interstate highway system. He also made prescient warnings against land wars in Asia and the military industrial complex.

Most overrated: Woodrow Wilson. One of the great architects of 20th century American foreign policy messianism while crushing dissent at home. No wonder Nixon loved him.

 

Ah. Some things never change. Now we've had a restoration to the throne.

 

Woodrow Wilson = Jimmy Carter...

They both visualized an unrealistic utopian world. Alot of similarities as I vaguely remember.

 

Jimmy Carter actually brokered a peace treaty between Isreal and Egypt. Carter's problem wasn't some sort of unrealistic view of the world (he, remember, escalated the arms build up against the Soviets), but rather a tendency to micromanage and get bogged down in typical Washington muck.

 

TJ. Same Reasons above.

Now, one should also consider the threats to the young republic. Jackson did a good job after the 1812 war was won, but what (for example) of Adams and Madison? That wasn't an easy job.
You never knew when the rug would come out from under you.

Teddy Roosevelt led the state into an unprecedented level of activism and control, IMHO. Shame on him for the sin of pride. Once the state moves in, it never retracts.

Also a Truman fan. And Eisenhower (snoozer book, though) . And Dick Nixon. In retrospect, I think Nixon is a great historical figure, a great president.

End Vietnam
End Gold Standard
Detente
Nixon in China
Space race
Great society administered, not destroyed
Peace at home, in revolutionary times (think Kent State, worse)
Watergate resignation (Yes, it could have been really much worse. True Evil. Think about it.)

Ok, tragically flawed with the paranoia thing, the evil underneath, but accomplished good things.
Maybe we needed him, instead of Humphrey. What kind of country would we have been, with Humphrey? It was a troubled time.

 

WTF? Activism and control as in.....? You don't think National Parks are good? Do you think that we should have no controls on monopolies? Or that making sure people aren't POISONED by consumer goods corporations is a bad thing? Or maybe you believe in a mandatory seven day work week?

Please elaborate...

I'm pretty sure having pride in our country and in one's ability to lead is a prereq for the job.

 

Peace at home? Really? I am not going to completely demonize Nixon, but you can't brush the Costitutional breakdown of Watergate like so much rhetorical dandruff. It's like talking about Stalin and glossing over the gulags. The "could have been worse" scenario *happened*, dude. Spying on political opponents, covering up evidence of a plot and firing special prosecutors investigating you is hardly some historical footnote. He resigned for a reason. His administration was riddled with sleazy characters and dubious ethics (Spiro Agnew, John Dean, Erlichman, Halderman, Chuck Colson and more all were convicted of crimes) and they all took their signal from the top. Put it this way, nothing "worse" from a constitutional standpoint has *ever* happened to this nation, so I don't know what you're talking about here. If you need to refresh your memory all you have to do is listen to the tapes....at least those that haven't been erased.

I think that Watergate was not even the most criminal thing he presided over. The secret bombing campaigns (which in itself is unconstitutional) against Cambodia not only ravaged a neutral country but also destablized the political environment to the point that the Khmer Rouge came to power and almost literally destroyed the nation. If the killing fields of Cambodia weren't True Evil, than I don't know what is.

 

I'm with you, Elvis on the Watergate stuff, but Cambodia was not a neutral country. Its was providing sanctuary for the NVA and Viet Cong's crossing into South Vietnam. And the PRC were full fledged supporters of the Khmer Rouge, going so far as invading Vietnam to get them to pull out of their conflict with the Khmer. It is entirely probable the Khmer would have taken over in Cambodia even had the US not been involved in Vietnam at all. As for whether or not it was 'unconstitutional,' that is hardly a settled point. The bombing of Cambodia was no different than actions taken by Kennedy (CMC) or LBJ (Vietnam), or Clinton (Kosovo). The Congress has the power to declare war, but generations of Presidents have had the power to make war on other sovereign nations. The War Powers Act has now codified a brightline based on how long the action takes before Congress must approve. A brightline that would be consistent with Nixon's agreement with Congress to pursue the bombing in Cambodia for a specific amount of time, even though the WPA would not come into play for another year.

 

George Washington -- the man was just a flat out leader...and, as pointed out earlier, was willing to sacrifice self-aggrandizement for his what he believe about self-government.

Teddy Roosevelt -- see posts above...they say it probably better than i could

Lincoln -- the whole suspension of "habeas corpus" thing bothers me...it really does...i know it was civil war...but, wow. nevertheless, Lincoln faced arguably the most difficult test of any president

The internment of Japanese Americans really looms over my opinion of FDR.

 

Don't forget (and I think this thread brings this point out magnificently) that most of the people we consider great presidents are "old" presidents because we are looking at them through the lenses of history. Clearly those "older" presidents mentioned (FDR, Washington, Lincoln, etc...) are great historical figures but, as people have pointed out, each had flaws as well. History just doesn't dwell on the flaws but focuses on the accomplishments - and it even spins those accomplishments in a positive way. Wilson was mentioned as a president with Utopian ideas but one book I have maintains that he was a terrible racist (the Democratic party used to be known as the "white man's party" at one time).

People still remember more recent presidents (Carter, Reagan, etc...) because they were alive when they presided and, therefore, remember all the good and bad things about them (colored by their party affiliation). Future generation, however, will only know about these men through books and some of them, if history and history book authors are kind, will go down as great men too. I believe that Carter and Reagan will be treated kindly by history, Bush, Sr. will probably be a footnote. Clinton and Nixon will probably not be treated very kindly (although Nixon will be treated much worse then Clinton).

 

Well... Polk is the largest President of all time, but I think TR put him up to occasional beatings.

My vote goes to Lincoln. His racist commentary still branded him as an abolitionist regardless of his "rhetoric", and his writings show that he had a strong political sense of his country's priorities that sometimes clashed with his own. Officially, he was willing to keep slavery if it meant preserving the Union. But his mind was far from made. He frequently invited popular abolitionists to the White House, and he rallied the Nortern states under his party. And though he used the Emancipation Proclaimation as a political ploy, he used it when it was the most effective in rallying a nation. He was also the first and only wartime President to have the White House fired upon while he was residing there.

The Republican Party was the party Lincoln built. Interesting how time changes things.

 

Ok, I admit I just threw Nixon in there to get a rise. Nice response, though.

An extra plus for Jefferson is founding the idea of universal public education - something of a novelty in his time. I think that's proven to be one of the great strengths of our country.