Off The Editor’s Desk – 4-28-2021
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The best president?
The other day I was watching a news channel program and one of the guests brought up what President Biden had said shortly after he took office that he wanted everyone to get together and work together. But as the guest stated it has not been that way and that it is “the Biden way or the highway.”
During my lifetime, I thought, who was the best president? Franklin Roosevelt was in the Oval Office when I was born, so I can’t count him. He was credited with getting Social Security going, but I feel that the program that he envisioned was just a way to boost revenue for the federal government. Two reasons that I feel that is, the federal government needed funds during the Great Depression and this was one way to increase funding.
First, was that money coming in under Social Security, was not put into a special account, but it went into the general fund and the political powers only had to sign and that money was available to any whim that came in from of congress.
Secondly, in order to receive the full retirement amount, you had to be 65 years old. But the average life span of the people at that time was just over 60. So the average would tell you that there would be more money coming in rather than going out.
Harry Truman, came to the White House following the death of Roosevelt and he is one the great leaders we had. On his shoulders rested the end of World War II and the decision to drop the atomic bomb that ended the war. That decision saved thousands and thousands of American Service member lives.
Times were great, there was peace, prosperity, and very low unemployment during the Eisenhower administration. Eisenhower is credited with passing the Intestate Highway System. The country seemed very stable going into John Kennedy’s term, one thousand days in office, which ended with his assasination. I believe that many people today would rank Kennedy as one of the best.
Lyndon Johnson assumed the presidency following Kennedy’s death and things started out great, but as the Vietnam War dragged on and on, the country became more divided and riots and burning and looting in the streets were an everyday occurrence.
Nixon followed Johnson to the White House and he promised to put an end to the war. He did, but not a victory for the United States. Things seemed to be getting better for the country, but then came the Watergate affair and Nixon’s Vice President, Spiro Agnew was charged with income tax evasion and resigned. How many of you can remember Agnew?
All this led Gerald Ford, Jr. into the White House. He was the only person to serve as President who was not elected to that office by the people. Under a Constitutional amendment, when there is a vacant office of the Vice President, the president can nominate someone to fill the office and Congress can confirm that choice and that person can assume the office of Vice President. Nixon nominated Ford, a congressman from Michigan. When Nixon was forced to resign over the Watergate mess, Ford became president.
Ford was credited with helping to restore public confidence in government. But, he also pardoned Nixon of any crime he may have committed while he was president. That my have been one of the reasons that he did not win in the 1976 presidential election to Jimmy Carter.
James Earl Carter was, in my mind, the nicest fellow to serve as president. But, he could not govern and during his time in office interest rates jumped to somewhere around 20 percent. Would you buy a home and have to pay 20 percent interest on your home mortgage? He also was faced with his perceived inability to deal successfully with problems at home and abroad, which led to his overwhelming loss to Ronald Reagan. However, for his work in diplomacy and advocacy, both during and after, Carter received a Nobel Prize for peace in 2002.
Reagan served as President from 1981 to 1989 and in my mind, was the best president during my lifetime. He became a highly influential voice of modern conservatism.
During a visit to Berlin, in a speech, Reagan said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Reagan called for the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev to open the Berlin Wall, which had separated West, and East Berlin since 1961. The wall was part of what Britain’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill called the “Iron Curtain.”
Following was George H. W. Bush, who served just four years and led the nation in a time of foreign wars. Bush sent 425,000 American Troops to the Middle East vowing to free Kuwait. After weeks of air and missile bombardment, the 100-hour land battle dubbed Desert Storm routed Iraq’s million-man army.
If you remember, Ross Perot, who ran as a third party candidate, received nearly 20 percent of the vote. Most came at the expense of Bush and that allowed, (lover boy) William Jefferson Clinton into the White House for the next eight years. We enjoyed peace and economic well being during his term and he was the first Democratic President to win a second term since Franklin Roosevelt.
But, why is it that only statement that I remember from Clinton is “I did not have sex with that woman.”?
I will let you determine the spot in history of the people that have served in the White House in the 21st century.
Thanks for reading! ~Carlton