Posted on 02/20/2012 10:02:37 AM PST by george76
President Ronald Reagan confronted challenges as daunting as those the nation faces today, and met them so successfully that he’s now considered the best president in modern times.
In a recently released Harris poll asking respondents who they consider the “best president since World War II,” Ronald Reagan is cited by 25 percent, well ahead of Franklin Roosevelt at 19 percent and John Kennedy at 15 percent.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
I wonder if the people living here are starting to focus again.
You expected FDR fans to have a grasp of history?
John Kennedy at 15 percent. ................... The true believers of myth.
We're not talking about a major donation here, $5 a month. How much time do you spend on FR? Isn't that the best deal you've ever run across?
C'mon now, git 'er done, if some ham-n-egger like me can do this (and more) you can too. Donate!
Try the last 100 years. Or even the last 200.
I would rate only Washington and Jefferson higher.
Lincoln was great, but there was much less blood spilled on Reagan's watch. That has to count for something.
FDR having any vote as best since WWII is a tad bit silly; isn’t it?
Roosevelt (spit!) died DURING WWII, so I guess they meant since the start of the war.
I'm shocked he got more than 5 percent. Kennedy did nothing much except screw up. The only thing of note is getting the space program focused on going to the Moon. And the Bay of Pigs fiasco. He and Clinton were of like mind in screwing interns in the White House. At least Clinton got there on his own; Kennedy's daddy gave him the presidency by setting everything up.
I never bought into the JFK myth but looking at this impartially, he did the following positive things: 1) recognized the Communist menace for what it was; 2) launched the Space program; 3) gave the US economy a boost with the Kennedy tax cuts; 4) brought a certain sense of style and humor to the presidency; and 5) served very ably in the military. That said, he was crtainly better, in my view than Carrer (ugh), LBJ (double ugh), either Bush or Obama. Reagan towers over him and all the rest of the 20th century presidents in my view - bested only by Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, Jackson (except for his treatment of the Indians) and (tie) Polk.
Kennedy was in office a mere 2-1/2 years, and accomplished very little. His family was filthy rich, and spent tons of money in influence peddling to promote his name. His daddy, ambassador Joeseph Kennedy, intended the elder brother Joe Jr. become president. When Jr. died in WWII, Sr. then spent tons of money paving the way for John to become president. Money bought that office. Likewise for getting Robert and Edward into office. Agree, Reagan towers over the others, and deserves being placed on coinage or paper money more so than Kennedy.
I’m okay with your list, but exclude Lincoln. He might have meant well, but he really messed two major elements up: he basically destroyed what economy the South had. It’s only now getting fully to its feet (and Bush/Obama have done a masterful job of trying to trip us up AGAIN!). Second, he basically wrote the 10th Amendment out of the Constitution. That’s not counting his abuse of war imprisonment powers.
If you’re not going to count FDR (whose only plus is winning WW II) then you can’t count Lincoln either. After all, Reagan’s policies generated prosperity everywhere, not just in the region from which the president happened to come.
I think what you are missing on Lincoln is that had he lived, he would have been rar more fair in his treatment of the South than the Radicals in the Senate. Unlike Andrew Johnson, he would have had the public support to override them while bringing basic democratic and eocnomic rights to the freed slaves. Much of the lasting damage and bitterness from Reconstruction would have been eliminated.
Should we also extrapolate how Kennedy would have kept Vietnam to a minimum and more effectively stood off the Communists also? I can’t rate a president for what he might have done, but what he did do.
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