My dad asked me what I thought of the results of the Historians Presidential Leadership Survey .
I agreed that the Top Five are deserving, even though I believe FDR's policies were detrimental in the long run. But I had no idea what Kennedy was doing at no. 6. Does anyone remember the Bay of Pigs?
And why isn't Reagan in the Top 10? If it were my list, he would be in the No. 3 or No. 4 position but reasonably one could argue that the Iran-Contra scandal brings him down a notch or two.
And Lyndon Johnson at no. 11?! Get real. He shouldn't have made the Top 20. Does anyone remember The War on Poverty that created a serious welfare situation we are still dealing with?
Gerald Ford shouldn't have been ranked in the top half. And George W. Bush should not be ranked below Hoover and John Tyler. In fact, I think history will be kinder to him in the future and give him some credit for keeping the country free from terrorist attacks after September 11.
While I remember why some are at the bottom, I don't know much about the middle. Need to beef up on the Presidency. Anyone else have thoughts?
2 comments:
I want to know who they asked when making this list... I'm with you, this is NOT how I would rank the Presidents.
I think Kennedy's successful handling of the Cuban missile crisis makes the Bay of Pigs count against him less (even though it was almost a comedy of errors that got us into/out of the entire situation). Not to mention he was at the helm during the formative years of the space program which is very important to our scientific/technology efforts. And while history may treat Pres. Bush more kindly (and should out of respect), he probably knows best how little control he actually had over any and all peaceful days post 9-11 (at least in the US). Lets not forget about the international costs (ie Spain, England, etc) which are just as tragic...but I doubt we'd have invaded an historically violent country because of those incidents.
Wow, that makes me sound like a raving liberal! and I am so not, LOL!! Oh well, hey, you asked for thoughts!
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