Reagan was the only POTUS namesake of modern POTUS who was worthy of the namesake while living. It can also be reasonably said he would not have been in a condition too really have appreciate the honor. Reagan achieved a lot as POTUS defense wise. He turned not just the Navy but the entire military around and restored morale & pride back too the services. Under Reagan the Navy was at a height of readiness unseen since the end of WW2. He came within a couple of ships of the 600 ship Navy and they were combat fit ships & crew. Reagan walked the walk of his talk in support of all services. We had not had such a POTUS since WW2 nor have we had one since.
As for the former living presidents named too follow? None earned it. Poppy nor Ford were good military supporting presidents while in office. Actually Ford's term began the Carter decline. Poppy along with the DEMs began dismantling the Reagan Navy even as the Gulf War as underway. By early 1994 things were coming apart literally on some ships.
FORD got the new CVN class namesake simply because of Senator John Warner {Ford's SECNAV} and some dirty politics. In spite of several Carrier Veterans Groups of previous carriers trying to obtain that namesake Warner went behind their backs to Sec of Navy for the naming.
We were both in at the same time, so I know exactly what you are talking about. I had the misfortune of joining the Navy in the last days of the Ford Administration, and had just reported aboard Connie when Carter took office.
Dog days indeed...
But after Reagan was elected? Like the sun after a storm, life in the Navy just got so much better. It was indeed, “Morning in America”.
Carter got a sub named after him because he was a submariner. Oh well, bubbleheads are strange anyhow. I didn’t agree with the name for Bush or Ford and felt that neither of them deserved that level of recognition.
As for Obama getting a carrier named after HIM? Fat chance. The sailors would revolt. Clinton didn’t get a ship named after him, Obama won’t either.
He might get a sewage treatment plant as a namesake, but even that is unlikely.