Who's the worst U.S. president ever?

[GePap]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
When were we beloved?

from 1945 to 1947.

Except in Latin America.

[Rex Little]

Originally posted by DinoDoc

we don't hold all our Vietnam era presidents highly

*cough*JFK*cough*

JFK got killed before U.S. casualties in Vietnam reached triple figures (I may be technically wrong about that, but you know what I mean). If JFK had lived, served a second term and followed the same course in Vietnam as Johnson did, his reputation would have suffered just as badly as did LBJ's.

[Dis]

yep, fact is LBJ and Nixon are primarily blamed for the Vietnam war. Hell, even we started getting involved back in Truman's era by supporting the french. As usual, France is to blame for this.

[Ned]

Actually, Kennedy can be blamed for Vietnam because the Commies were emboldened by his demonstrated weakness in the Bay of Pigs incident, his acquiesence in the construction of the Berlin Wall, and his weakness during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Had he acted decisively in any of these incidents, he probably could have negotiated a deal with the North Vietnamese, as they would not have wanted to overly provoke a decisive president.

[Dis]

weakness in the cuban missile crisis? now I know you are trolling.

Kennedy was a pretty good president. Though he is overrated. I'll never understand why he was so loved. I mean, really loved. But perhaps becuse I didn't live during the time.

[Imran Siddiqui]

The only "good" thing JFK did was to get shot .

[Dis]

peace corp, challenge to go to the moon? standing up to the soviets? civil rights reforms (though lbj accomplished most of these), banging marlyin monroe

[Ned]

Ah, come on. The way he took half measures in the Cuban Missile Crisis is legendary. He wanted to always walk a thin line between threat and appeasement. In the end, he chose appeasement by agreeing to withdraw our missles from Turkey, which left us worse off than the status quo ante.

Had he decisively acted, Cuba would today be free. So would Vietnam.

I do agree that Kennedy was an inspirational speaker and did give the US a tremendous boost with his challenge to go to the moon. He also cut taxes and crafted the Civil Rights Act, which his segregationist successor, Johnson, actually lobbied to have passed.

In late '63, however, it looked like the next year's elections would be as close as the election of '60. Kennedy was running neck and neck in the polls against any number of Republicans including Goldwater. The Civil Rights legislation was enormously unpopular:

"
Nov. 8, 1963

The surveys' story sounded both sweet and sour to Barry Goldwater.

Since last summer, Goldwater has steadily lengthened his lead over Nelson Rockefeller in presidential preference polls. Last week the Gallup poll reported that since its last canvass in October, Goldwater has stepped out even farther ahead of Rocky among Republican voters. Michigan's Governor George Romney, too, continued to move up. The statistics among Republicans:

October Now

Goldwater 42% 45%

Rockefeller 26% 23%

Romney 15% 16%

An Associated Press poll found Goldwater the overwhelming favorite among G.O.P. state and county leaders. Of 2,916 Republicans polled, 1,404 answered the survey questions. Of those, 85.1% said they believed that "at present" Goldwater would be the party's strongest candidate in a contest with President Kennedy. Rockefeller garnered but 56 votes, 4% of the total. Asked who they believed would finally be nominated, 64.2% picked Goldwater, 4.6% Rocky.

At week's end Gallup released the results of another poll. Exploring the growing speculation that Richard Nixon may become a candidate, Gallup asked a sampling of Republicans whom they would prefer if the convention choice narrowed to Goldwater and Nixon. Result: Nixon 52%, Goldwater 48%.

Whoever the G.O.P. candidate, predicted doorbell-ringing Pollster Sam Lubell, he would now give President Kennedy a far better run for his money than seemed possible only five months ago. Then, wrote Lubell, "interviewing across the nation pointed to a landslide victory for President Kennedy." Now "the President faces a close election with only a small edge in his favor."

Lubell's explanation: with the easing of cold war tensions, the public now views civil rights strife rather than the struggle with the Soviets as the U.S.'s No. 1 political issue. "Interviews in five Eastern states,* where Kennedy should be at his strongest," wrote Lubell, "show him losing a tenth of his 1960 support—mainly because 'he gives in too much to the Negro.' "

http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,896997,00.html

[Dis]

you don't think that's reasonable? We had no business having missiles in Turkey.

You don't think that's fair?

so we lost ground, we avoided nuclear war. Isn't that a good thing?

[Bosh]

"show him losing a tenth of his 1960 support—mainly because 'he gives in too much to the Negro.' "

The horror!

[Sikander]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
That's cuz he's a bad motha... Ming: Shut yo mouth!

I'm just talkin' about Bill....

[GePap]

Ned, you Cwaazy!

[Ned]

Originally posted by GePap
Ned, you Cwaazy!

Nah. I just understand bullies. The way you handle commies is to confront them.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Ned


Nah. I just understand bullies. The way you handle commies is to confront them.

Ned, your weltanschaung is so messed up that I am sure you trully think that . Its so damn easy though to feel schadenfruede at your condition.

[Ned]

Originally posted by GePap


Ned, your weltanschaung is so messed up that I am sure you trully think that . Its so damn easy though to feel schadenfruede at your condition.

GePap, I am sure you appeasers think you are right as well. But history has shown repeatedly that there are bullies in this world. Hitler was one. Saddam was another. Kruschev and his Politburo certainly were another.

You give a bully an inch and he'll take a mile. The way to avoid this is to not allow them to take that inch in the first place.

When Ronald Reagan wanted to confront the Soviet Union, everyone on the left said that this would cause a nuclear catastrophe. Instead it caused negotiations, arms reductions and an end to communism in Eastern Europe.

Appeasers are eternally wrong; and people like Ronald Reagan will always be right.

Kennedy himself appeared to be more of the Ronald Reagan type. However he surrounded himself with appeasers. As a result, his policy seemed to swerve from appeasement, to confrontation and back to appeasement almost on a daily basis. That is no way to impress a bully. Kennedy's vacillation undoubtedly invited Communist aggression during his regime.