NationStates Jolt Archive

...and the reasoning behind your selection. Discuss! :)

POLL COMING

I don't really think any of them were thatgreat so I picked the one whom I agreed with most of the time.

I like Ike. Superhighways, Marshall Plan, and the Atoms for Peace program. Not to mention a competent international player.

John F. Kennedy. Other than the simple bias that my school was named after him, he managed to defuse the Cuban Missile Crisis and prevent WWIII. He also refused to give up West Berlin, without which I would never have been born. So that's why I think JFK was the greatest. :D

I Like Ike.

But if you'd gone back one more president and had Truman as an option, I'd have picked him over any of the ones listed. It's rather depressing to see the second-rate hacks who we've managed to elect to lead the greatest country in the world lately.

:rolleyes:

I Like Ike.

But if you'd gone back one more president and had Truman as an option, I'd have picked him over any of the ones listed. It's rather depressing to see the second-rate hacks who we've managed to elect to lead the greatest country in the world lately.

:rolleyes:

True, but the polls only allow ten options...

...I suppose I could have excluded W, since he's currently in office, but...too late now.

A solitary BUMP

I wanted to vote truman... My favorite president(Marshall plan goes to him, not ike!)

Anyone who voted ike should get slapped... What a horrid president.

Bush Junior. For dealing with 9/11, trying to root out our enemies where they start up (What other president has done that) And taking on Social Security, something I doubt any other president would do.

Anyone who voted ike should get slapped... What a horrid president.

What makes you say that, exactly?

President Ronald Reagan.

Off that list I'd pick JFK, but out of them all I'd pick FDR.

Carter. The man did so many small things right (establishing a minimum nutritional value on baby food that was not around before, and other stuff such as that) that made the world better without anybody really praising him for it. Though he did have terrible foreign policy, its far better than the warmongering that has taken place in every administration after him.

What makes you say that, exactly?

While I shant go into the full list, a good one is Eisenhower's response to Dien Bien Phu. Fearing bad international feelings, he decided to leave the French in the cold, instead of enacting drawn up plans to help them(and its quite possible that the help of a few bombers, which could easily have been brought to help the french, could have won the french the fight, and then the war quite possibly, averting the Vietnam war in the future).

JFK

He was one of the best diplomats of his time, had great advisors and did a fair lot for his country and his allies. He was great at motivating people and his speeches were stunning, if he was president now, not the US but the world would have invaded Afghanistan, simply because he would've been able to convince everyone, if they don't go they're the ones who're gonna look bad in the history books. Hell, the PEOPLE of various countries would've pressed their politicians to go to war for him.

He was no saint (far from it), he was just as slippery as the others on the list (I think you gotta be to be a politician) but he was the president that managed to avert the Cuba crisis, he made a point in West Berlin, he had the trust of his people and, equally important, of his allied countries.

Richard Nixon, one of the most misunderstood presidents. Everyone remembers watergate, but only some his triangular diplomacy and driving the wedge between china and the soviet union...paved the way for his colleagues

JFK. Management of the Cuban Missile Crisis, holding onto West Berlin, funding the Apollo Program, the domestic New Frontier, and the establishment of the Peace Corps.

John F Kennedy was not a perfect President, and as a man, was an outright bastard. What he also was, however, was an ambitious, forward thinking visionary who pushed for human exploration of space and pushed for greater civil rights in the United States.

In his private life, JFK was a womanizing, cheating SOB. As President though, he was a great leader with a great vision, who also knew when to admit when he was wrong.

Personally, I prefer a president who's a good president and a SOB at home instead of the other way 'round.

His private life is his private business, and if anyone, his family can complain about it. Not me.

Clinton; he is the only one who wasn't a complete moron.

I personally feel JFK was one of the most dangerous president's in US history and that the Cuban Missile Crisis could have been avioded. I hold nothing against his womanising; but his severe drug dependence would have created a disaster presidency if he hadn't died to become a hero.

Richard Nixon, one of the most misunderstood presidents. Everyone remembers watergate, but only some his triangular diplomacy and driving the wedge between china and the soviet union...paved the way for his colleaguesNixon hated democracy too much for him to have been a good President. (Remember 9/11 1973!)

Benjamin Franklin.

Nixon hated democracy too much for him to have been a good President. (Remember 9/11 1973!)

Yes, but the question was the greatest president, not the greatest democracy-lover :) ...personally I dislike him stronly. Remember, remember the ninth of september...remarcable coincindence, right?

Carter.

Not the most effective president, but that wanst all his fault.
His deeds, and his heart, however, were in the right place.
This is waaaay more that anyone can say about any president since him.
Also, his actions post-term speak for themselves.

Carter is the last of the Truly Great Men.

By far the best - good economics, Crushed the communistic world, and made it great to be an American !

Wow...even Ford got a vote!

What...no love for Johnson or Bush I?? :p

What a depressing list. I wish you had gone back two more to FDR, then the choice would have been easier. I'll have to go with Kennedy, although he didn't live long enough to acomplish his vision, and he did start us off in the Viet Nam war. On the plus side he staved off several crises, broke with his party to support civil rights and launched NASA. Clinton gave us 8 years of peace and porsperity, but he was sometimes spineless and he got caught with his pants down.

Carter. The man did so many small things right (establishing a minimum nutritional value on baby food that was not around before, and other stuff such as that) that made the world better without anybody really praising him for it. Though he did have terrible foreign policy, its far better than the warmongering that has taken place in every administration after him.

I agree. Carter was the best modern President and probably the most underrated president we've had. I must disagree about his foreign policy. I believe he had an excellent foreign policy, one of the best our nation's ever had. He placed human rights as the focus of foreign policy, which no other president had done. He tried to move the US away from the narrow, anti-communist approach. Unfortunetly you can't really tell how much good Carter did, since Reagon immediately reversed it. Like by removing economic sanctions on South Africa, that were used to encourage them to end Aparthaid, because they were anti-communist. "You repress the majority of your citizens because their black? Thats okay as long as you hate the commies." And is the only Noble Laurete of the modern presidents.

Ronald Reagan

Though I doubt there have ever been any good ones, I vote for...actually I don't know lol, I dont care enough about the bloomin' country to take notice of its presidents