Which past president do you most admire?

[Archivist]

Teddy Roosevelt should have been on the list. He established our national park system, broke up the trusts, started work on the Panama Canal and gained recognition for America as a global power by building up the Navy and sending the Great White Fleet on a cruise around the world.

Of course Washington, Lincoln, Reagan and Teddy's cousin Franklin are excellent choices as well!

 

[Paleoconservatarian]

Wheres the tab for Jefferson Davis?

I'm still trying to get ahold of his Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government. Curiously enough, I cannot find it in any local library or bookstore. Looks like I'll have to go online.

 

[Cajun Huguenot]

I'm still trying to get ahold of his Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government. Curiously enough, I cannot find it in any local library or bookstore. Looks like I'll have to go online.

I have two copies (one is abridged). I recommend A Constitutional View of the War between the States by Alexander Stephens. (It is at amazon)It is very good and online at the link provided. Sprinkle Publications has it back in print as well. It is a must read!!!! sthey are at Sprinkle Publications, P.O. Box 355 - Bridgewater, VA 22812. sprinkle@rica.net (e-mail)

I also recommend Is Davis a Traitor by Albert T. Bledsoe. I have it and is worth reading.

Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government is available. Don't get the abridged version. Get the 2 vol set.

Deo Vindice,
Kenith

 

[Grl4Christ987]

It's a tie between Abe and Washington. Abe because he was a good Christian man and he tried for civil liberty of the not only black slaves but also of white indentured servants. Washington because he paved a pathway for all of the Presidents to follow and also because he was an honest man who believed in the Christian religion. I could go on and on about why I like the both of them but that'll run this post extremely long and I don't have the time nor the patience right now to do just that.

 

[Paleoconservatarian]

It's a tie between Abe and Washington. Abe because he was a good Christian man and he tried for civil liberty of the not only black slaves but also of white indentured servants. Washington because he paved a pathway for all of the Presidents to follow and also because he was an honest man who believed in the Christian religion. I could go on and on about why I like the both of them but that'll run this post extremely long and I don't have the time nor the patience right now to do just that.

Considering that he wasn't a churchgoer, I'm not sure he was a good Christian. And civil liberties? Lincoln made war on the Southern States in order to oppress their civil liberties. He abridged the rights of Northern sympathizers for the South, send troops to occupy Maryland and put a halt to all democratic process there, invaded and subjugated the South when the cotton States tried to exercise their right to secede from the Union. Lincoln may have wanted to free the slaves--I doubt he did, and was probably pressured into it. He was a lawyer and politician, after all--but he also wanted to remove them from the land and place them in Africa or South America. He didn't want free black living in unity with whites. Hardly a civil libertarian.

 

[TScott]

Considering that he wasn't a churchgoer, I'm not sure he was a good Christian. And civil liberties? Lincoln made war on the Southern States in order to oppress their civil liberties. He abridged the rights of Northern sympathizers for the South, send troops to occupy Maryland and put a halt to all democratic process there, invaded and subjugated the South when the cotton States tried to exercise their right to secede from the Union. Lincoln may have wanted to free the slaves--I doubt he did, and was probably pressured into it. He was a lawyer and politician, after all--but he also wanted to remove them from the land and place them in Africa or South America. He didn't want free black living in unity with whites. Hardly a civil libertarian.

This is a good example of revisionism. You are not telling the whole story, so what you are saying is patently untrue.

Lincoln made war on the Southern States

Excuse me? The southerners seceded from the union. They attacked Fort Sumter. What Linclon did was preserve the nation he was sworn to preserve and protect. It was a desperate time that required desperate measures.

The issue of slavery was around well before Lincoln and had devided the country for some time. Lincoln was on record as being an abolishonist. People were not as enlightened about race as they are today, Lincoln was a man of his time. There are still large segments of our population who believe the black race to be inferior. In fact, I think it would be safe to call this practice Paleoconservative.

 

[Cadillac]

I admire Ronald Reagan, he wasn't a politician, he was a statesman. Though he has plenty of things to be critisized for, mostly he will be remebered as a passionate lover of freedom in general and America in particular.

P.S. I would love to have his likeness on a paper bill. He is one of the few presidents of XX century who would look good on them.

 

[Alexis OCA]

Reagan
Theodore Roosevelt
Washington
Jefferson

 

[ShirChadash]

T. Roosevelt, and Reagan.

 

[2Timothy2]

1. George Washington
2. Abraham Lincoln
3. Ronald Reagan

 

[ender427]

For overall accomplishment as President as well as his adminstration/managerial skills, I admire FDR the most, hands down.

I also admire Teddy Roosvelt a lot, he laid the ground work for the American Century.

and of course you can't forget George Washington when talking about Presidents to admire. There's a biography of him that is fittingly titled "His Excellency"

 

[BobbieDog]

Eisenhower may well be the underrated man of all time.
He seemed to understand how to lead from the middle, from the midst: to almost give the sense of there being no goverance; even while what he did held the whole shooting match together.
He made mistakes: yet did not seem to then devote himself to justifying them; he just moved on to the next task.

He did, however, leave us with Nixon.

 

[Moros]

Thomas Jefferson, bar none. Love the man.

 

[Yawehdog137]

I most admire FDR because I think he has been the most monumental and most inspirational during WWII.

 

[Yamialpha]

That is a tough question. My first thought is FDR, but he almost brought America to socialism during the Great Depression, and his New Deal is highly overrated. Second would be Lincoln, but I don't believe he liberated the slaves out of the goodness of the cause, but rather just simply to keep Europe out of the war. I also liked Theodore Roosevelt, but he too had is very defining flaws. I suppose I most admire Woodrow Wilson for how he dealt with the war and his ideals concerning the post-WWI world.

 

[OhhJim]

Lincoln was America's worst president. Other presidents damaged the Constitution, but Lincoln ripped it to shreds, stumped it and then spit on it (metaphorically speaking).

Dominus Vobiscum,
Kenith

True, to some degree, but it was a different time. Everybody was doing it. In the election of 1860, Republicans couldn't even run in the South because they would have been tarred and feathered (at least) if they had even traveled to a Southern state to make a speech. Election fraud in Kansas was fostered by Southern sympathizers, and ignored by Congress. Senators beat each other up in the halls of the Capitol.

My problem with Lincoln is his inability to pick a good general. Everybody in the country seemed to know that Halleck was an idiot, except for Lincoln.

 

[BradC314]

Coolidge

 

[Diane_Windsor]

Ronald Wilson Reagan-I grew up during his administration and have very fond memories of growing up in a proserous land and having lots of optimism. I'm still mourning over his death-it is so sad that he is gone.

 

[dclem9834]

Truman - last president to only have a high school education and helped to heal the world after the war, also went against his upbringing to start civil rights becauase he knew it to be the right thing

 

[progressivegal]

Truman - last president to only have a high school education and helped to heal the world after the war, also went against his upbringing to start civil rights becauase he knew it to be the right thing

I really admire that as well.
Though certainly not the greatest prez., while watching the history channel last weekend, I realized that Rutherford B. Hayes was actually a pretty awesome guy too.