Which former American president who is currently deceased would you vote for if they were resurrected?

[drtfyfygug]

[AviatorTom]

Teddy Roosevelt, the most eco-friendly President, started the idea of National Parks.

[AviatorTom]

Thanks for MHO

[drtfyfygug]

Your welcome

[Gh0128]

JFK.

[nightdrot]

Of recent presidents, Ronald Reagan. Hands down. I was born toward the end of the Kennedy administration and Reagan was, by far, the best President in my lifetime to date.

Indeed, a fair case can be made that Reagan's was one of the most effective and consequential presidencies of the 20th century, if not in all of American history. Three issues, two specific, the third more general, buttress this claim. Inflation, the Cold War and the national mood.

In the first, as Robert Samuelson wrote in his book, The Great Inflation,' by the end of the 1970s, galloping inflation had almost come to be accepted among policymakers as the systemic condition of democracy. That democratic electorates would not tolerate the policy changes necessary to reign it in.

Thus, by 1979, the rate of inflation hit 14.5% - the highest annual rate in peacetime and 13.1% by 1980 - the first time the country had experienced back-to-back years of double digit inflation in peacetime. Reagan, unlike previous presidents, refused to pressure the Fed to idle back on interest rates, and in tandem with his tax cuts that provided an offsetting stimulus, brought inflation down to 1.1% by 1986, breaking the back of inflationary expectations.

In terms of the Cold War, it is hard to recall the degree to which it was seen as a permanent fixture of international affairs - with its overtones of nuclear annihilation. As Kenneth Adelman points out in his book on the Reykjavik summit, Reagan intuited that the Soviet system was on the brink. A fact that Western intelligence agencies could not confirm until the eve of the summit when they discovered a secret speech that Soviet leader Gorbachev gave to the Soviet leadership.

Reagan's policies were seen as belligerent, but they had the effect of forcing the Soviets to push their defense spending to 42% of GDP. (For comparison, even at the height of WWII, U. S. defense spending reached only 32% of GDP.) This was unsustainable and in the end brought about the USSR's collapse, a fact that Gorbachev himself later confirmed in his own memoirs.

Finally, there was the change in the national mood. The nation experienced in the 1960s and 70s a level of social tumult it had not seen since the 19th century. (Not unlike the nation's current tensions.) Reagan's personal style helped to reduce this leading to the relative social peace of the 80s and 90s.

(This was captured brilliantly in a cartoon that showed a pollster asking a voter what he thought of Reagan's policies - #@*!! was the response.

Next panel - What he thought of Reagan personally - "Oh nice guy, friendly, jovial'")

To this it must be added that his became the dominant philosophical view of both parties up until the Trump presidency. As FDR's "New Deal" agenda dominated politics from the 1930s until the Carter presidency. Thus did Richard Nixon, a Republican, famously say, "We're all Keynesians now." (This referring to the economic theories of John Maynard Keynes which was the dominant view of the New Deal-Fair Deal-New Frontier-Great Society agenda.)

With the collapse of that viewpoint in the 1970s, with its stagflation, double digit inflation, and other social upheavals, the Reaganite view took hold. Thus did Democrat President Bill Clinton announce before the Congress, "The era of big government is over." Thus was President Obama - another Democrat - fail to get "Medicare for all" through a Congress both Houses of which his party controlled. (Thus settle for Obamacare, which only then became popular after the GOP abolished the mandate.)

It is only now, with the populism of Mr. Trump and, in a different way, Mr. Biden, that the Reaganite era has drawn to a close. Yet again, not without the significant - indeed in some cases historic - accomplishments. Indeed, with populism lacking any deeper theoretical construct, and with the Biden administration looking not unlike the Carter years, the Reaganite agenda may yet get another lease on political life.

Add it all up and you have the case for Reagan's significance.

Having said all that, there is no doubt that Lincoln was the best President in all American history. That said, given the changing nature of the republic between 1865 and 1988, Reagan would be more suited to contemporary times.

[NamerOfStars]

Roosevelt (the good one). An opponent of corrupt machine politics and a trust-buster, environmentalist, and anti-ideologue, who opened a national dialogue about the country's place in world politics AND the doors of the White House (which he named) to the public, to increase transparency. He mediated the anthracite strike AND the Russo-Japanese war, successfully (and fairly!) helping bring both to conclusions.

I'm not big on his nationalist militarism, but his push for war with Spain included him actually GOING to the front lines of the war and fighting there, and not even the other military Presidents can claim that. He put his money where his mouth was, and not many Presidents of ANY kind can claim that. At one point, when a new cavalryman wrote in to complain about having to ride fifty miles every day, Roosevelt jumped on a horse and promptly rode a hundred miles, sunup to sundown, to prove that even HE, a guy in his forties, could do it.

He also kept a pet badger, which he was given by a girl who THREW IT AT HIM DURING A CAMPAIGN STOP, which is both the most badass way to acquire a pet and the story of the bravest little girl in human history; rare indeed is the person of ANY age or gender who'd dare to throw a badger at Roosevelt.*

Plus, when he decided to run for President again, he formed new party named "Bull Moose"; it failed, but had it succeeded, we might today see candidates with descriptions like "Wintergale (ID, Diseased Sloth)" and "Sommersun (MA, Enraged Ferret)", and this country would be a LOT more fun.

*Explanatory note to confused Europeans: you have been lied to by both Potters (Harry AND Beatrix): badgers are not, in fact, cuddly little forest animals that hold tea parties in the wilderness; they are tiny, animal-shaped balls of anger and hatred. All those stories, were they realistic, would end with sentences like "Then Mister Toad said to Mister Corncrake 'Let us go and visit Mister Badger.'

'What a delightful idea!' said Mister Corncrake, 'Let us set out right away.'

And so they did, and reached the residence of Mister Badger, who devoured them both. The end.".

[Lliam]

JFK.
He talked about breaking up the CIA, which had become a separate power of its own, unaccountable to the elected government.

He wasn't Israel's bitch.

He wasn't a war hawk. That pissed off the pentagon and military-industrial complex.

He expressed concern over the influence of private banking institutions, such as the Federal Reserve, on the nation's monetary policy. Kennedy allegedly aimed to diminish the Federal Reserve's power by reintroducing silver and gold certificates, which would be issued directly by the U. S. government.

[abc3643]

FDR

After that, Eisenhower.

Then Lincoln or Washington.

Given the current world situation, I'd probably opt for Eisenhower.

[Anonymous]

Andrew Jackson. He was the last American President to pay off the national debt. And he had a reverence for democracy. This is a president that a guy tried to assassinate him, failed and Jackson took on after him with his cane. Few people crossed Andrew Jackson and won. I don't want to call Jackson the Trump of his day. But he was despised by the establishment just as much. I'll admit Jacson was a bit of an a-hole. But he's the kind of a-hole you'd want on your side.

[FunkyMonkee]

Lincoln, Kennedy, Ike, Teddy, Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Grant, possibly a few others.

[Avicenna]

Harry Truman would be at the top of my list

[OlderAndWiser]

Theodore Roosevelt.

[zagor]

Any number would be better than the choices today. Hell, Bill Clinton would be better than the choices today.

[Alex-Snow]

I was not alive when most of them were around but I liked Obama

[jarkitor20]

None. They would all be so out of touch with current affairs and current reality.

[jjj101010]

Let’s give Harrison another go, he barely had a month in office the first time round

[ShadezMcgee]

Dwight Eisenhower

[Dargil]

Teddy Roosevelt

[Staximus]

Dwight Eisenhower

[exitseven]

Teddy Roosevelt

[Agape93]

My boy teddy

[AnusDestroyer3169]

Reagan

[shortster]

Calvin Coolidge

[Anonymous]

Ronald Reagan.