Out of all 47 Presidents, who had the best policies?

Question

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Technically only 45 (Trump and Cleveland were non consecutive terms so count twice) I guess as a non American Lincoln and Washington

oldpigg · Accepted Answer

Barack Obama and George Bush.

nightdrot · Answer

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.

Anonymous · Answer

Which did the most good for the country..
Obama gets a nod from me because of how bad things were when he took office and how much improvement he made even when being stonewalled at every turn. He wasn't even allowed to have his own phone in the beginning.
Things were good with Carter too. As much as he was under appreciated.
I wanted to say Kennedy but he sort of stayed level, which isn't shabby.
Several Republican prez did okay, but they also started wars or kept them going all for money so lose points with me.

exitseven · Answer

President Trump has only been in office for a week but I am hopeful that his policies will be viewed by history as the policies that saved a democracy.

DrPepper12 · Answer

TR, FDR, LBJ without a doubt.

Dargil · Answer

Maybe Trump. Coolidge and McKinley were good.

Agape93 · Answer

Teddy

goaded · Answer

FDR.

KostasKouvalis · Answer

Richard Nixon

Pterodon · Answer

Trump

Out of all 47 Presidents, who had the best policies?

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