Who Was President When You Turned 20?

I was only 8 or 9 during the Nixon trials, but I think that had a huge impact in my view of the Republican party. Dad watched the hearings for days, and was very outspoken about his feelings on the matter.

However, I would also have to credit my grandparents in my political beliefs. They were very much Christians (the kind we are supposed to be) and were Dems. Their politics involved holding office as presiding judge, and doing things within local government that assisted the poor, disadvantaged, and generally tried to make things "right." That was also back in the day when one did not discuss politics or ask how someone voted. But, I knew they were Democrats.

That's the picture I still have of the party. Jimmy Carter and Grandpa.

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My Mom told me of people crying in the streets, the day FDR died. Although she did like Eisenhower, in the end, she preferred Democrats. I guess I inherited much of my liberal thought from her.

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Edgar

edgarblythe wrote:

My Mom told me of people crying in the streets, the day FDR died. Although she did like Eisenhower, in the end, she preferred Democrats. I guess I inherited much of my liberal thought from her.

I know its the usual pattern for children to mimic their parent's political (and religeous) ideas. But I didn't. Perhaps because I detested the hypocrisy I saw in them and around me. I seemed to never follow the crowd and did my own thinking. Such a trouble maker.

BBB

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edgarblythe wrote:

My Mom told me of people crying in the streets, the day FDR died. Although she did like Eisenhower, in the end, she preferred Democrats. I guess I inherited much of my liberal thought from her.

Indeed they were.

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Clinton was pres when I turned 20. I voted for Perot in that election.

Oh by the way. For all who care The Baldimo has returned to the states for good. Landed state side about a week ago, now I'm waiting to get stationed in Ft. Living Room.

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Baldimo wrote:

Clinton was pres when I turned 20. I voted for Perot in that election.

Oh by the way. For all who care The Baldimo has returned to the states for good. Landed state side about a week ago, now I'm waiting to get stationed in Ft. Living Room.

Congratulations on making it back.

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Baldimo wrote:

Clinton was pres when I turned 20. I voted for Perot in that election.

Oh by the way. For all who care The Baldimo has returned to the states for good. Landed state side about a week ago, now I'm waiting to get stationed in Ft. Living Room.

So glad you're safe and home.

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hey soz! hey ms. duck! hope yer both doin' well !

sozobe wrote:

Oh, that's interesting!

Bush the first was in office when I was 20. And y'all know how I turned out...

bush I, while i was far past 20 (snifff...), was significant for me in that it broke my habit of voting for republican presidents. in part because of his teaming with dan quayle and the whole "family values" scam...

FreeDuck wrote:

I used to think that family affiliation was more important, too. But I think that it could be that what's going on around the time you come of voting age could affect you too.

jimmy carter was president when i turned 20. i had voted for ford, but tended to vote democrat for governor and usually congress. and carter didn't bother me much at all. so no biggie for me. i may vote for ahnoldt this time, though.

family affiliation was unavoidable in our house as a kid. both parents were life long republicans ( with 2 capital "R"s ! ); they worked very hard for nixon in 1960. i was even presented with 2 goldfish in a bowl from a fundraiser. named appropriately; nixon and lodge. yep, i was a rabid 3 year old republican, awright. 'cause them danged democrats didn't give me any fish... Laughing

however, it was kennedy that inspired me as a little kid and continues to do so today. reagan had his moments, as did/does clinton, but kennedy offered a fairly optimistic view of what the u.s. could become and achieve (beyond simply making money and alla that...). i admit there may be some sentimentality in my view of jfk, but i still have a similar admiration for the man when i see old footage of his speeches.

bush junior, on the other hand, only inspires me to change the channel Laughing

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I turned 20 while Eisenhower was still president. Turned 21 just in time to vote for JFK. Nothing against Ike or even against the GOP. But after years of stodgy old men running the country, Kennedy was a breath of fresh air to us young 'uns. And who could trust Nixon? As someone else on this thread has already said, Dicky looked like a not very successful used car salesman-cum-pedophile. Kennedy's youthfulness and World War II record were certainly in his favor. Plus, I liked that he was a Roman Catholic. I am not one myself but I thought it was way past high time that this country showed the world we were not religiously biased. Every single damn' president we'd ever had was a Protestant. I would have voted for Republican Jacob Javits, if he'd run, in good part because he was Jewish. And I just might vote for former Sec'y of State Powell if he ran.

I voted for Clinton the first time around, not because I liked him particularly. I didn't vote for Perot only because I didn't think he had any chance of winning and I thought it imperative that Bush Sr. be tossed out of office on his ear.

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Hey DTOM, long time no see!

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sozobe wrote:

Hey DTOM, long time no see!

tooooo long. the last 6 months have been pretty nutty. Shocked

everything cool with you ?

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ossobuco wrote:

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

he had jedgar and nixon to keep him company. reagan was doing his part over in hollywood to sniff out them reds what was "hatin' us for our freedoms".

ya know. like freedom of speech. freedom of political expression. all that stuff that seems to evaporate everytime one of these types of witch hunt becomes popular.

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squinney wrote:

Chai - Welcome. I didn't want to post the original fearing it would widen the whole page. I hate when that happens.

I was a Carter Come of Ager as well. Being in the Midwest, I would have thought more conservative views would have taken hold.
My Dad is a conservative Democrat (20 during Kennedy) and so is my grandfather (20 during roosevelt).

My oldest will turn 20 during Bush's reign. She's very much a Dem / Independent or ANYTHING but Republican.

Edgar - I'm thinking Bush has done that to a lot of people. Those that might like to think they vote based on the individual rather than party will likely remember this presidency for a long time and hopefully pause before pulling the lever.

The Bushes were and r anomalies, qua Republican philosophy,
which is * SUPPOSED TO * favor personal freedom.
Thay were never conservatives.

It appears that Reagan chose Bush to balance Reagan 's own conservatism.
I thought it was an error then, n I still believe it.

Earlier in his life, Reagan had been a liberal Democrat,
but he had a freedom-loving ephiphany
and became a conservative Republican.
I remember Reagan 's dramatic, freedom-loving Keynote Speech in 1964
at the Republican National Convention.

I have always been a freedom-loving INDIVIDUALIST,
since as early in life as I can remember; ( I remember my 3rd birthday ).
I have always believed that the well-being of society
shud be subordinated to the freedom and rights of the Individual citizen,
who created society in the first place.
My father was a Franklin Roosevelt liberal.
Both of my parents voted for Roosevelt,
but I eventually convinced my mother that his liberalism was inimical
to the innermost essence of Americanism.
My mother was open-minded and amenable to reason.
I always respected her mind.

WHO was President never caused any change in my ideology
of FREEDOM = GOODNESS
David

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Reagan II

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Eisenhower, then I voted for JFK, then Johnson. Because Johnson was such a brute (stories of him in Texas would curl your hair) & he was a nasty president, I voted for Nixon. Shocked

I was really getting discouraged after Nixon, but stuck with republican presidents. Best prez in my lifetime so far is Ronald Reagan. I am not registered with any political party & vote for the most conservative candidate.

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DontTreadOnMe wrote:

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

he had jedgar and nixon to keep him company. reagan was doing his part over in hollywood to sniff out them reds what was "hatin' us for our freedoms".

ya know. like freedom of speech. freedom of political expression. all that stuff that seems to evaporate everytime one of these types of witch hunt becomes popular.

Oh, is that the liberal summarization of history, then?

Why not do yourself and the board a favor by actually doing some research before you commit yourself to such a foolish post and relegate yourself to be so easily characterized and classified?

You know how you just condemned the Red Scare era and the House Unamerican Activities and said that people like Ronald Reagan were taking away our freedoms?

You've gotten lucky today. Consider me your freedom from intellectual wrongness and tyranny. It's time for you to be debriefed from your liberal indoctrination. I'm glad to oblige.

Study this:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/venona/intercepts.html
And this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venona
And if you compare McCarthy's list with the list contained in the following link, you will see that there is a close match.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Americans_in_the_Venona_papers

Just think if those people had all succeeded, unfettered in their operations. Why perhaps we too could have our own Berlin Wall, gulags, and mass murder of our own countrymen. Be happy in your life that your worst fear is Walmart. Next to Josef Stalin, Walmart is nothing!

Here, go read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago. There's a nice blurb on this volume here.

What you are saying in your post is like the most filtered travel agent's version of the old USSR. You should tell your history teacher, your social studies teacher, or whoever's passing the McCarthy story off to you to read that book. At the bare minimum, you should acquaint yourself with the Venona Papers.

Ronald Reagan not only was a great American president, but he holds the distinguished legacy of freeing another country. Do you realize how enormous an honor it was to have Mikhail Gorbachev come to the United States to honor Ronald Reagan's passing?

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Why do you suppose it is that this new guy, Monte Cargo, sounds so much like Massogato, MarionT etc. etc, etc. ??

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Merry Andrew wrote:

Why do you suppose it is that this new guy, Monte Cargo, sounds so much like Massogato, MarionT etc. etc, etc. ??

There's one thing I want to say to you and only one thing...

I don't sound like those other people you mentioned.

They sound like ME. Very Happy

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OmSigDAVID wrote:

squinney wrote:
Chai - Welcome. I didn't want to post the original fearing it would widen the whole page. I hate when that happens.

I was a Carter Come of Ager as well. Being in the Midwest, I would have thought more conservative views would have taken hold.
My Dad is a conservative Democrat (20 during Kennedy) and so is my grandfather (20 during roosevelt).

My oldest will turn 20 during Bush's reign. She's very much a Dem / Independent or ANYTHING but Republican.

Edgar - I'm thinking Bush has done that to a lot of people. Those that might like to think they vote based on the individual rather than party will likely remember this presidency for a long time and hopefully pause before pulling the lever.

The Bushes were and r anomalies, qua Republican philosophy,
which is * SUPPOSED TO * favor personal freedom.
Thay were never conservatives.

It appears that Reagan chose Bush to balance Reagan 's own conservatism.
I thought it was an error then, n I still believe it.

Earlier in his life, Reagan had been a liberal Democrat,
but he had a freedom-loving ephiphany
and became a conservative Republican.
I remember Reagan 's dramatic, freedom-loving Keynote Speech in 1964
at the Republican National Convention.

I have always been a freedom-loving INDIVIDUALIST,
since as early in life as I can remember; ( I remember my 3rd birthday ).
I have always believed that the well-being of society
shud be subordinated to the freedom and rights of the Individual citizen,
who created society in the first place.
My father was a Franklin Roosevelt liberal.
Both of my parents voted for Roosevelt,
but I eventually convinced my mother that his liberalism was inimical
to the innermost essence of Americanism.
My mother was open-minded and amenable to reason.
I always respected her mind.

WHO was President never caused any change in my ideology
of FREEDOM = GOODNESS
David

Great post.

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Thank u.

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Who Was President When You Turned 20?

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