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Best, worst President

 
 
cjhsa
 
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Reply Wed 30 Apr, 2003 02:13 pm
But he wasn't the president.
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cjhsa
 
  1  
Reply Wed 30 Apr, 2003 02:18 pm
The worst president ever had to be Washington. I mean, comon, he threw US currency into the Potamac, chopped down the cherry trees that lined the avenues of our nations capital, and posed for some really, really bad paintings. Not to mention he only got himself on the $1 bill.

Ben Franklin rules. Wink
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Sofia
 
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Reply Wed 30 Apr, 2003 02:21 pm
I guess what I'm tiptoeing around (because I'm not used to disagreeing with you) is JFK would have been up a **** creek without a paddle if Bobby hadn't pulled his butt out of that particular fire.
(Good Lord! I am a metaphor mixing junkie!!!)
JFK deserves credit for the f -up of Bay of Pigs, the near miss of the Cuban Missle crisis-- not the resolution of the Crisis.

So, this has him relenting to Robert on many key Civil Rights landmarks, being saved by Robert re: Cuban Missle Crisis, and a key role in the Space Race. While ALL was not bad, it hardly puts him near the top on acheivement of any well-thought out list, IMHO.

A read of friends of the Kennedy brothers, who were in the administration would show who was responsible for what. If you haven't read this stuff, it really is interesting and eye-opening.
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New Haven
 
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Reply Wed 30 Apr, 2003 02:31 pm
BEST: Harry Truman Very Happy
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Frank Apisa
 
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Reply Wed 30 Apr, 2003 02:58 pm
I'm a registered Independent -- so I can't abide completely by the rules. I will stick as closely to them as my situation allows.

But this is the first chance I've had to agree completely and without reservation with New Haven -- and at the risk of getting New Haven to reconsider, I would like to second Harry S Truman as the greatest.

Now to say some things that I'm sure New Haven will not agree with.

I think Bill Clinton did the most with the least amount of help from the congress -- and I think he was a much better president than Reagan or either of the Bush mistakes. Considering the barrage of invective he had to deal with and the animosity of the congress to almost everything he proposed, he managed to get enough done so that I suspect history will recognize him as an extremely effective president in the upper percentile of the lot. All this despite the fact that he enjoyed getting blowed and often lied about sexual indiscretions -- which seems almost unimaginable for a politician.



I will not identify the president I think is the worst of the lot until after his term expires.
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edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Wed 30 Apr, 2003 04:52 pm
I love Carter as a man, but, he was never meant to be president. I think the only reason I did not pick him as worst Democrat is because his moral compass was far superior to that of the others.
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dyslexia
 
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Reply Wed 30 Apr, 2003 05:03 pm
which i think, provides us with evidence that ethics and politics can't mix.
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cjhsa
 
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Reply Wed 30 Apr, 2003 05:03 pm
Sophia, I'm basing this on my own lifetime, so I had JFK, Johnson, Carter, and Clinton to choose from. Out of those four, why can't I pick JFK as the best of the other side? Smile

I mean, at the worst of it all, JFK was doing Marilyn Monroe, while Bill was with Monica (yikes!).
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Sofia
 
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Reply Wed 30 Apr, 2003 05:04 pm
You know, I'd never thought about it before, but Carter is a very good argument against 'character counts.'

He probably did have more character than all the others, with IMV, the possible exception of Washington, who I deem:
The Most Underrated President.
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Sofia
 
  1  
Reply Wed 30 Apr, 2003 05:05 pm
Depp-- Re: why you can't pick Kennedy...

You may, my dear.
Sincere apologies if my comments were untoward.



I became giddy and excessively verbal................again. Embarrassed
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Sofia
 
  1  
Reply Wed 30 Apr, 2003 05:08 pm
I mean, at the worst of it all, JFK was doing Marilyn Monroe, while Bill was with Monica (yikes!).
-----------------------

A good point. Kennedy gets much higher marks for choice of women. Award for stamina, as well.
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Gala
 
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Reply Wed 30 Apr, 2003 05:13 pm
truman's story is one of the more interesting of presidencies. he was foisted into the position during a cataclysmic time and successfully led the country out of many difficulties. considering he had no college degree and was a salesman before going into politics, it's to his credit he was a no frills president. i mean, this guy hung out with churchill and stalin, he oversaw two wars, he renovated the decaying white house, he adored bess, he started ( i believe ) the u.n., he got israel going... all these things are debatable as to whether they are positives or not, nonethless, significant accomplishments for a farm-boy from missouri.

one of truman's complaints in later years was the kennedy administration was too "image" conscious.

worst presidents: the bush duo.
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dyslexia
 
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Reply Wed 30 Apr, 2003 05:18 pm
and Ford rates a "president who?"
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cjhsa
 
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Reply Wed 30 Apr, 2003 05:20 pm
I think some folks might need to go back and reread the original question. Wink
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cjhsa
 
  1  
Reply Wed 30 Apr, 2003 05:21 pm
Dys, if it wasn't for Ford, the world would never have known Chevy Chase.... Smile
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dyslexia
 
  1  
Reply Wed 30 Apr, 2003 05:32 pm
chevy who?
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BumbleBeeBoogie
 
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Reply Wed 30 Apr, 2003 07:44 pm
BumbleBeeBoogie's rankings
BumbleBeeBoogie's rankings:

BEST: Republican Abraham Lincoln
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/al16.html

WORST: Democrat James Buchanan
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/jb15.html

------------------------------------------------------
Volume 31, No. 9 October 2000
What makes a president great?
Psychologists' research identifies the secrets of success.
BY DEBORAH SMITH - Monitor staff

What will it take for George W. Bush or Al Gore to become a great president? If they take a lesson from their forebears, the first step to greatness in the Oval Office is an open mind and a taciturn manner, according to a study presented at APA's 2000 Annual Convention.

The research, which examined personality traits of all U.S. presidents, found that the most successful presidents tend to be hard-working and achievement-minded, be willing and able to speak up for their interests and value the emotional side of life.

"They tend to trust in the traditional sources of moral authority, yet are willing to bend the truth and to bully or manipulate people to get their way," said psychologist Steven J. Rubenzer, PhD, of Houston, who conducted the study with Thomas Faschingbauer, PhD, of Richmond, Texas, and Deniz S. Ones, PhD, of the University of Minnesota, as part of the Personality and the President Project.

To determine the personality traits of each American president, the researchers analyzed questionnaires on individual presidents, which were completed by more than 100 historical experts. The historians rated presidents on their character for the five years before they became president. (The researchers did not take into account a president's behavior while in office because the pressure of the presidency might change his behavior.)

Rubenzer and his colleagues measured each president's psychological characteristics by using the Revised NEO Personality Inventory. Then they correlated these psychological characteristics with the degree of a president's greatness, determined by referencing generally accepted lists of America's greatest presidents. In order, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, Andrew Jackson, Dwight D. Eisenhower and James Madison ranked as the 10 greatest U.S. presidents.

Openness to experience produced the highest correlation between personality and greatness. The researchers hypothesize that openness and presidential greatness correlate at least partially because individuals with higher cognitive abilities may have more open minds. Unfortunately, even though cognitive ability may be one of the best predictors of presidential success, there is no direct measure of cognitive ability for all presidents to statistically test the idea.

In addition to open-mindedness, great presidents were rated as attentive to their emotions, willing to question traditional values and try new ways of doing things, imaginative and more interested in art and beauty than less successful presidents. They tend to be stubborn and ready to fight if picked on, the study said.

Most presidents are clearly extroverts, the study found, although earlier presidents were less so than those who have served since the rise of the media. Some facets of extroversion correlated moderately with presidential greatness; the single most powerful indicator was assertiveness.

"Presidents who succeed set ambitious goals for themselves and move heaven and earth to meet them," the authors noted.

The study also revealed a slight correlation between a president's disagreeableness and greatness. Interestingly, "tender-mindedness," or concern for the less fortunate, had a moderately large correlation with attaining historical greatness. The researchers also found that being a bit disorganized, as Lincoln was, is somewhat of an asset for attaining historical greatness.
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