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Greatest 20th Century President

Who is the greatest US President of the 20th Century?

  • Teddy Roosevelt

    Votes: 5 14.7%

  • Taft

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Wilson

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Coolidge

    Votes: 2 5.9%

  • FDR

    Votes: 9 26.5%

  • Kennedy

    Votes: 3 8.8%

  • LBJ

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Reagan

    Votes: 9 26.5%

  • Clinton

    Votes: 5 14.7%

  • Other

    Votes: 1 2.9%
  • Total voters
    34
In my life time it is Clinton. Overall though I believe FDR.
 
Either Coolidge or Harding.
 
phattonez said:
Either Coolidge or Harding.
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If I recall correctly, Harding was involved in some serious political scandals. Coolidge had my vote as he presided over one of the finest economic times in US history.
 
Harry Guerrilla said:
None to tell you the truth.
I'm more interested in the people who improved life with inventions and machinations.

They are the real do'ers.
Politicians just steal their thunder.
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I think that is somewhat true. I do though think that there are some actions a President can take that can put him in a different category than others. The problem is it seems, to me, to be something more to do with their personality and harder to measure.
 
ecofarm said:
Reagan (Cold War, militant defender of freedom, great speaker) follow by Nixon (clean water/air act, endangered species act, lefties hate him). I could go for Teddy (soldier, national park system, Audubon associate, naturalist...) but that's too easy. I see Clinton as a cool guy at the helm for some VERY easy years, but he got caught lying and I have a thing about that. Carter is a joke, if a legume farmer. Kennedy was an SOB (Bay of Pigs) and deserved it (thanks, Ozzie, hell of a shot). Others... what the hell do I know about them, I graduated HS over 2 decades ago.
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I like it, I think I will jump on the same page but, this old man will stick with Teddy as number one. In regards to JFK he was good, I just put my understanding of they way things were and the way people thought back then, and i can understand it, although i don't necessarily agree with it.
 
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So where are we going to find a mix of Teddy, FDR, Reagan and Clinton, and with this I find neither candidates in the recent past or present that fits the bill. Anyone have idea's who this may be?
 
Helvidius said:
If I recall correctly, Harding was involved in some serious political scandals. Coolidge had my vote as he presided over one of the finest economic times in US history.
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Harding got us out of the 1920-21 recession. He did the right thing there, so he got my vote there.
 
Coolidge had my vote as he presided over one of the finest economic times in US history.
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He certainly got lucky. He got to leave the mess for others to clean up after him.
 
Oberon said:
He certainly got lucky. He got to leave the mess for others to clean up after him.
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If the guys after him did what Harding did then they would have seen the correction that Harding saw.
 
Oberon said:
He certainly got lucky. He got to leave the mess for others to clean up after him.
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That isn't true. The Great Depression was due to federal reserve policies. Coolidge couldn't do anything about that.
 
Helvidius said:
That isn't true. The Great Depression was due to federal reserve policies. Coolidge couldn't do anything about that.
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No, it was due to billions of dollars going into ridiculously watered down stocks and pyramid schemes. Blaming the Federal Reserve is more than a little ironic seeing as how it's policies reflected the very same market philosophies of those running the pyramid schemes and banks of the time.
 
phattonez said:
If the guys after him did what Harding did then they would have seen the correction that Harding saw.
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What did Harding do?

All I see is 6 years or so of easy credit and massive consumer borrowing that started running out of steam around 1927. What I also see is corporations pouring money into the call loan market because it was easier money than re-investing in job producing investments and industrial expansion and killing off the real economy, pretty much the same pattern the Reagan Revolution started. Why invest in real productivity when you get such great tax breaks and subsidies speculating on mergers and LBO's?
 
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Oberon said:
He certainly got lucky. He got to leave the mess for others to clean up after him.
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Exactly. Just like Reagan, Coolidge doesn't take the heat for the mess he created.
 
Oberon said:
No, it was due to billions of dollars going into ridiculously watered down stocks and pyramid schemes. Blaming the Federal Reserve is more than a little ironic seeing as how it's policies reflected the very same market philosophies of those running the pyramid schemes and banks of the time.
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Even if that were true, what role did Coolidge play in any of that? And the Fed did not act to prevent bank runs (one of it's primary responsibilities to act as lender of last resort) which caused a shortening of the money supply and turned the recession into a depression.
 
Reagan... created the biggest modern economic boom and closed out the cold war.
 
Reagan was the worst president in my lifetime. Of course that only includes the last 58 years.

He dismantled our progressive tax system, created more debt than all presidents before him and when he was presented with an EPA report linking air pollution to a sky-rocketing increase of skin cancer, told us we would just have to start wearing sunscreen and broad brimmed hats because industry couldn't afford more stringent air pollution standards. At the time they were paying one half of one percent of profits on air pollution control.
 
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Helvidius said:
Even if that were true, what role did Coolidge play in any of that? And the Fed did not act to prevent bank runs (one of it's primary responsibilities to act as lender of last resort) which caused a shortening of the money supply and turned the recession into a depression.
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It's not an 'if', it is true. Coolidge is famous for not doing a damn thing about anything during his entire presidency, so it's disingenuous to ask what role he played in any case, but he could have lobbied to keep the Fed from feeding the call loan market and forbidding member banks from participating in it.

As for preventing bank runs, as I recall that's what was happening. Not all banks were members, in fact few were, so that's not an issue.

It's noteworthy how 'conservatives' run crying to the Fed for help when their Ponzi schemes crash, and when it runs out of bailout money because the fraud was just too massive it then gets blamed for the 'free marketeers' self-created problems by not printing enough money to save their scams.
 
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Reagan is my choice.
 
Helvidius said:
From Teddy to Clinton, take your pick. Sorry, if you were going to select McKinley, but let's be honest...

Also, please discuss who you picked and why you chose him!



PS: the max amount of options a poll allows for is 10. If you like someone not on the list, sorry for the inconvenience!
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McKinley really didn't last long enough into the 20th century to count anyway.
 
Reagan all the way. Carter would rank as the worst for the 20th Century. Obama already ranks as the worst for the 21st century and as already knocked Carter out of the number one spot for overall worst President.
 
Oberon said:
It's not an 'if', it is true. Coolidge is famous for not doing a damn thing about anything during his entire presidency, so it's disingenuous to ask what role he played in any case, but he could have lobbied to keep the Fed from feeding the call loan market and forbidding member banks from participating in it.

As for preventing bank runs, . Not all banks were members, in fact few were, so that's not an issue.

It's noteworthy how 'conservatives' run crying to the Fed for help when their Ponzi schemes crash, and when it runs out of bailout money because the fraud was just too massive it then gets blamed for the 'free marketeers' self-created problems by not printing enough money to save their scams.
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And where in the Constitution does it say the President can do such a thing? As for lobbying the Fed... are you basically admitting he couldn't actually do anything?

Coolidge kept federal spending to a minimum, did little regulating of industries, and lowered taxes. These all lead to a prospering US economy. If anything, Hoover is more blameworthy for the Great Depression than Coolidge.

And I'm not sure what your point is about bank runs. There were bank runs taking place all over the country. The Fed could easily have stepped in as a lender of last resort, but it did not. Thus you had a vast shortening of the money supply.
 
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