Who Was President When You Turned 20?

I served in the miliary during Eisenhower's administration, and turned 20 before JFK was elected.

For many of us at the time, Eisenhower seemed stodgy and dis-engaged. Now JFK, on the other hand, was classier than Fred Astaire, read James Bond novels and was married to Jackie. Eisenhower may have been a key player in defeating the Nazis, but JFK took on the Japanese Navy with a dashing PT boat. I can't remember anyone ever liking Nixon, who seemed like the cross between a gigolo and a not very successful used car salesman.

My family had been solid democrats since Andrew Jackson's time, and it took LBJ to shake my political faith. Nixon made the Republican Party look bad, but I thought Ford did a marvellous job of putting the system back on its feet. What we needed, I though, was a truly honest man of high character in the Top Office. Carter was that man, but he was a terrible President. I was a Democrat that ended up voting for that "B" actor, and he surprized me with who well the government could be run. By the time Clinton was in office I had changed Parties, and disturbances in grave yards all over Texas, Florida and Virginia were reported as my ancestors rolled over. Oh well.

My favorite President during my lifetime was Harry Truman. What a man, what a President. The last generation worshiped at the Roosevelt alter, but I never thought that much of FDR. Folks who think that Bush is a cowboy might compare him sometime with Teddy who was a self-proclaimed Imperialist. Oh well ...

Cleveland was a very popular President, though he didn't do much in office. He gained his reputation for cleaning up the political sewer that was Buffalo, NY. Like Clinton, Cleveland's sex life was a common gossip, but it never hurt him politically. He enjoyed the Presidency almost as much as Clinton, and was re-elected after that "dastard" Ben Harrison upset both Congress and the electorate. Cleveland was the first Democrat elected to the Presidency after the Civil War. Being on a reform platform against Chester Arthur didn't hurt. Arthur, who succeeded to the Presidency after Garfield's assassination, was part of the Tammany machine. To be fair, in office Arthur made a real attempt at Civil Service reform, but Congress wasn't buying it.

Ike warned about the military-industrial complex who are inundating this forum.

I turned 20 during Clinton's first term. I have always leaned (unenthusiastically) toward the Democrats.

My dad turned 20 while Nixon was in office, and he usually votes Republican (just to piss me off, I think). Surprisingly, he has become pretty disgusted with the Bush administration.

That is a favorite remembrance of Ike's words. However, his actions can best be judged as to what he actually believed where the rubber meets the road, and once he became president, he authorized a strong defense including further development of nuclear weapons as part of a very firm and aggressive stance against communism as part of the cold war. He was also instrumental in beginning the space race, although that is not altogether military but it has military considerations embedded in it.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy....sigh!

me too, never expected the world to be around much longer

not american so don't know what else to say, except i'd never vote for a reagan or bush

Eisenhower, but I've always registered as a Democrat.

Bush Sr...but I was already a firm Righty long before turning 20....yes, that's right, I was born without a heart.

But obviously born with a brain.

Ike, mostly dem but try to vote for the best man.

I actually turned 20 a lttle less than three months before the '72 elections. I had originaly registered as an independent when I turned 19. When Nixon beat McGovern in a landslide, even after the Watergate scandal came to light, I decided the Dems needed me and I switched. It was a unique time to come of age in politics.

I watched the Army McCarthy hearings with my family when I was twelve. That was some sort of primer..

Osso, I should think so! It's amazing how close we have returned to McCarthyism, but this time as an expression of an administration, not just a nut within the government. Am I right in assuming that McCarthy was a free-lance nut rather than a bureaucratic one?

Welllllllll. Free lance but not all all alone on the deep blue sea.

Mao Tse-Tung

Bush was in office when I turned 20.

I turned 20 in 1980. I think that was Jimmy Carter.

I was twenty in 81.

Ronnie Ray Gun.

Loved him (in his third year.).

Thought he was Satan Incarnate in his first and second.

Ah, politics.

Ashermans post on the previous page that highlights the ups and downs of various administrations almost makes me hopeful that the US actually WILL be able to overcome the damage Jr. has done.

Thanks, Asherman.

Only one problem with Asherman's post..... he used Raegan to switch parties? Obviously he hasn't taken a look at all the corruption, lying, and other BS that went on during the Raegan's administraton. He was almost as corrupt as bu$h junior.... just not as brazen and in your face.


I turned 20 when JFK was in office