So who were the best Presidents?

[al76slc]

With the passing of President Ford, the consensus seems to be that he was a decent guy, but not going to be included in the all time greatest list.

So who will be?

The top 3 are easy (at least IMHO): Washington, Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt.

I'll leave the rest to you all. (Apologies to supporters of Jeff Davis.)

[Wodnek]

In my lifetime:
I was never as well off finantially as when Clinton was in office.
Inflation was the worst I can remember when Carter was in.

[Txjake]

R. Reagan, for the cold war victory

T. Roosevelt, for being a man's president

A. Lincoln, for preserving the Republic

[GermanStar]

Think highly of the Spanish-American War, do you? You can have Mr. Roosevelt.

[Txjake]

Originally Posted by GermanStar

Think highly of the Spanish-American War, do you? You can have Mr. Roosevelt.

I could care less about the SAW, more focused on his quotes regarding doers and his conservation efforts.

It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."


"Citizenship in a Republic,"
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

Below are additional quotations related to the more famous and later quote. These quotes taken from a cdrom - The Works of Theodore Roosevelt - National Edition, A PRODUCT OF H-BAR ENTERPRISES COPYRIGHT 1997

"...the man who really counts in the world is the doer, not the mere critic-the man who actually does the work, even if roughly and imperfectly, not the man who only talks or writes about how it ought to be done." (1891)

"Criticism is necessary and useful; it is often indispensable; but it can never take the place of action, or be even a poor substitute for it. The function of the mere critic is of very subordinate usefulness. It is the doer of deeds who actually counts in the battle for life, and not the man who looks on and says how the fight ought to be fought, without himself sharing the stress and the danger." (1894)

[Txjake]

And women's rights:

Viewed purely in the abstract, I think there can be no question that women should have equal rights with men."..."Especially as regards the laws relating to marriage there should be the most absolute equality between the two sexes. I do not think the woman should assume the man's name."
"The Practicability of Equalizing Men and Women before the Law"
Senior thesis at Harvard, 1880

"Much can be done by law towards putting women on a footing of complete and entire equal rights with man - including the right to vote, the right to hold and use property, and the right to enter any profession she desires on the same terms as the man."..."Women should have free access to every field of labor which they care to enter, and when their work is as valuable as that of a man it should be paid as highly."
An Autobiography, 1913

"Working women have the same need to protection that working men have; the ballot is as necessary for one class as to the other; we do not believe that with the two sexes there is identity of function; but we do believe there should be equality of right."
Speech, National Convention of the Progressive Party, Chicago, IL, August 6, 1912

[Txjake]

The afore-mentioned conservationism:
Conservation

"Optimism is a good characteristic, but if carried to an excess, it becomes foolishness. We are prone to speak of the resources of this country as inexhaustible; this is not so."
Seventh Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1907

"We of an older generation can get along with what we have, though with growing hardship; but in your full manhood and womanhood you will want what nature once so bountifully supplied and man so thoughtlessly destroyed; and because of that want you will reproach us, not for what we have used, but for what we have wasted...So any nation which in its youth lives only for the day, reaps without sowing, and consumes without husbanding, must expect the penalty of the prodigal whose labor could with difficulty find him the bare means of life."
"Arbor Day - A Message to the School-Children of the United States" April 15, 1907

"There can be no greater issue than that of conservation in this country."
Confession of Faith Speech, Progressive National Convention, Chicago, IL, August 6, 1912

"Defenders of the short-sighted men who in their greed and selfishness will, if permitted, rob our country of half its charm by their reckless extermination of all useful and beautiful wild things sometimes seek to champion them by saying the 'the game belongs to the people.' So it does; and not merely to the people now alive, but to the unborn people. The 'greatest good for the greatest number' applies to the number within the womb of time, compared to which those now alive form but an insignificant fraction. Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations. The movement for the conservation of wild life and the larger movement for the conservation of all our natural resources are essentially democratic in spirit, purpose, and method."
A Book-Lover's Holidays in the Open, 1916

"The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem it will avail us little to solve all others."
Address to the Deep Waterway Convention, Memphis, TN, October 4, 1907

[t walgamuth]

TR's greatest accomplishment may well be the panama canal. he also was instrumental in taking on huge business and cutting them down to size at a time when they threatened our country's well being.

something to think about now.

i never had it so good as under clinton either. low inflation, low interest rates, stability. it was a very good time for regular folks. he probably will not go down as a great though.

washington, lincoln and FDR of course.

you can have reagan, but ending the cold war was good. it was until clinton that we dug out of his tax cut hole. of course we are back in it now.

tom w

[al76slc]

What's interesting is that TR was thought of very highly in his time. Look at who's on Mt. Rushmore.

I wonder if it's possible to have a similar consensus for any current leader when viewed during his time. My guess is that we'll be splitting 50-50 at best (and usually much worse) for any of our last 5 (post-Ford).

[GermanStar]

Originally Posted by al76slc

What's interesting is that TR was thought of very highly in his time. Look at who's on Mt. Rushmore.

Yup, despite the fact that he orchestrated what some consider the greatest moral blemish in the entire history of our nation.

[GermanStar]

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

you can have reagan, but ending the cold war was good. it was until clinton that we dug out of his tax cut hole. of course we are back in it now.

tom w

Reagan is definitely on my list. To appreciate the man, it is important to understand the cards he was dealt when he took office, that being the miserable failures of the Carter administration and a Democrat-controlled congress. He was the right man in the right place at the right time.

[t walgamuth]

RRR popularized selfishness.

yuppies.

tom w

[dynalow]

My $.02

1. Washington. First among greats. Had it all and walked away.
2. Lincoln. As stated, saved the Union. Gave his life.
3. Tie: FDR and RWR. Led the nation to victory in the two big wars of the
20th Century.

For the record, it's Ronald Wilson Reagan.

[Botnst]

G Washington

T Roosevelt

R Reagan

All of them are a mixed bag, none without flaws and each did some dumb things in office. But their over-all efefcts have been good for the USA.

[Larry Delor]

John Hanson

Who the heck is John Hanson?? The very first, but unofficial, president of our country. Looks like he lasted about a year, but accomplished a LOT.

http://members.tripod.com/~earthdude1/washington/washington.html