My Assessment of Presidential Greatness, Part 5: Truman Through Nixon

 

Harry S Truman (1945-1953)

Truman was the first President whose administration was dominated by public opinion polls. He was also perhaps the only one who never tried to govern that way. Because he didn’t so, his reputation at the time constantly rose and fell. Now he is always ranked among the near great Presidents, just below the top five. You’d think that for all the celebrating so many people do of Truman, they’d realize that they’d take his approach to ignoring opinion polls then just admiring him for his ‘Give-Em-Hell’ approach towards campaigning.

Most of Truman’s decisions at the time were controversial and even now the left will constantly argue that they were wrong the ones for the future. That he was doing what was best for the country at the time and that he came in after FDR’s had died – and given him no warning on what he was about to face – somehow never enters into their thinking. Most of Truman’s decision may have been political but history has borne almost all of them out, from the dropping of the bomb on Japan, the sponsoring of the Marshall Plan, he was the first President to actively campaign – and follow through – on civil rights, the Berlin Airlift, the decision to recognize Israel, and the firing of Douglas McCarthur. All of these decisions were the right ones and many of them cost him greatly in the court of public opinion.

And of course he did manage what may very well have been the greatest upset victory for the Presidency at least in the twentieth century. That this was due almost entirely to overconfidence by his opponent is one thing, but it’s worth noting that nobody in the media believed what was happening right in front of their eyes. That’s a lesson you’d think the press should have taken with them going forward, but they chose to ignore that too.

No matter what the left tries to argue, history’s opinion of Harry Truman has not changed in forty years. He is still one of the greatest to come into office and our country was better for his presence in the White House than if it hadn’t been.

My Assessment: Still one of the greatest

 

 

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961)

It’s taken some time for history to catch up with Eisenhower. At one point he was merely considered an average President. In 1981, he’d made it to ‘above average’. In the most recent ranking, he ranks at eighth which I’d say puts him in the near great category. And overall, I’d say that’s the right call.

He managed to bring an end to the fighting in the Korean War, which had been at a stalemate for two years. His role in both the Suez Crisis and the invasion of Hungary was great stewardship. Despite his position on civil rights being moderate, he was willing to enforce them and his attorney general Herbert Brownell helped put together the first Civil Rights bill of any kind that got through Congress since the end of Reconstruction. He also was willing to send troops to Little Rock to protect black students attempting to enroll and he used his farewell address to warn us of ‘the military industrial complex’ which were pertinent words that we as a society should have heeded. He was responsible for the building of the interstate highway and saw Alaska and Hawaii admitted to the Union. And despite his feelings towards it later on, he did appoint Earl Warren as Chief Justice and he deserves credit for that.

He had flaws to be sure. He never truly took a stand against Joseph McCarthy during the campaign and did very little to act against him when he was President. His position on civil rights was never as strong as the rest of the country. And of course, Richard Nixon finally became part of the national ticket because of Ike – though to be fair, he liked Nixon as little as the rest of America, something he did everything he could to make clear during every part of their relationship.

Eisenhower also forged a path that future Republicans could have chosen to lead from when he managed to get between 35 and forty percent of the African-American vote in both his Presidential elections as well as making inroads into the South. The party could have followed him but they chose to follow Goldwater – which was the start of where we are today.

Eisenhower may look far better in hindsight because of the kind of Republican he represents, but he was a savvy politician, a good leader and a good man. Both parties would have done better to follow the Eisenhower model of running and governing – and unfortunately that ended with his Presidency.

My Assessment: As Far From Middle of the Road As You Can Get.

 

 

John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)

 

If you know my writing you know that I consider JFK one of the most overrated Presidents in history. Before I discuss his ranking, I’m actually going to break one of my rules and bring up current events.

Has it ever truly struck so many intelligent, liberal people and historians how much JFK resembles – really resembles – Trump? Think about before you dismiss this as clickbait.

He was born from a family of immense wealth. The father dominated the family and made all of the children follow his tune regardless of their ambitions. The son did nothing to earn his wealth and had everything handed to him. The family fortune came from criminal activities and was always held to it. Loyalty was to the family first, the rest of the world second.

JFK managed to get elected first to Congress and the Senate even though Massachusetts viewed him as an unqualified child of privilege. In Congress and the Senate, he introduced no major legislation , had no seniority on committees and only took political positions based on how they suited his future purposes, willing to discard them on pragmatism. His fame was based on a book that he had nothing to do with writing. When he ran for the Presidency in the primaries, he did so entirely on wealth, Hollywood and being photogenic, winning over a more qualified primary opponent and steam rolling the Democratic establishment who did not want him.

In the fall campaign he managed to win over his much more experienced opponent because that man was not popular with Americans even though his story was infinitely more relatable than that of Kennedy. One of the major factors of his win was his performance on television, and that was more about appearance than policy. He won a very close election and there was suspicion of voter fraud in two major electoral prizes – and given his use of knowledge about Cold War policy, there was a Russian influence.

Throughout his life he was never faithful to his wife and constantly had affairs which could have easily compromised the White House. His most trusted adviser throughout his administration was never his cabinet but rather his brother, who he had appointed to a key post even though he was severely lacking in qualifications. During his tenure, he was far more known for his rhetoric than anything resembling actual policy and the major issues of the era – such as civil rights – was something he only cared about as to future elections.  

There are also connections to 45 post his assassination, though some are more indirect. His assassination is the beginning of the explosion of conspiracy theory culture, and no matter how much evidence has come out proving Oswald acted alone, many are just at certain it was part of the Deep State. The presence of the Kennedy family was a ghost over the Democratic Party for the next twenty years and the image of him would propel both his brothers to make primary challenges on incumbents that effectively ruined any chance the Democrats could win reelection. The Kennedys held such a stranglehold on the Party that it took decades for that aura to wear off.

There’s even an unsavory connection to Roy Cohn. Robert famously worked on HUAC as an assistant to both Cohn and McCarthy. The Kennedy clan was famously close with McCarthy, and when the vote to censure him went to the Senate, for political reasons, JFK made sure he could not vote.

JFK ranked as above average in a 1981 poll and has historically ranked among the ten greatest Presidents ever since. An average ranking is barely serviceable for a man whose entire reputation is based on the fact that he lived fast, died young and because of television, left a good looking corpse. His entire legacy is based on his rhetoric and speech making, far more than any real policy or achievement he managed to do in his entire administration. Setting aside the Cuban Missile Crisis – which to be clear Bobby helped make sure the Kennedys version was the final word -  Kennedy’s reputation is based on the idea that he would never have gotten us deeper into Vietnam. That there is no evidence of this on the record and that the  best you can say about it is he didn’t make it worse is not proof of anything, yet for sixty years Americans have been considering him the greatest based on their certainty that he wouldn’t have made the mistakes that his successor did – even though that intelligence was literally given to him by the same generals Kennedy was listening to and Kennedy’s own cabinet.

I truly think that the nostalgia factor as well as the Kennedy machine has done everything in its power to make historians believe the myth. I understand the wound his assassination left in the national psyche, and that is one that America may never have recovered from. It changes nothing fundamental about him as a man, a politician or even a President. The Kennedys were always in it for themselves first and everything else second. If Democrats and historians genuinely can’t see the similarities between him and the current political situation, well, that’s their big glass house.

My Ranking: Probably the Most Overrated President of All Time.

 

Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969)

Before we get started, after signing the Civil Rights Bill in 1964 when Johnson said: “I think we just handed the South to the Republicans for a very long time,  he did not do a dance of joy or cheer at the fact. He had made a calculated political decision for the good of the country and having been born and raised in the South, he was trying to do this to help the people in that region, not because he thought they were deplorable. Try to remember that when you on the left teach us your next ‘history lesson’.

Lyndon Johnson has been rising steadily in the rankings of historians almost since his Presidency ended. Because his Presidency was overshadowed by his expansion of the conflict in Vietnam, he became the target of the rage of the youth of America when it became clear of his deception and the increasing failure of it. LBJ is guilty of many sins, it is true; not the least of which was his own inability to seek council as involvement deepened and how is own insecurities may have played too much apart.

But that has since been made up for because of his myriad legislative accomplishments, which were clear even before Robert Caro began to write the definite history of his life. He believed in civil rights when most members of his party were Southerners and chose to do his best to try and advance them. It is true he used the death of his predecessor to get the Civil Rights Act through Congress, but it is unlikely that JFK would have been willing to make the same sacrifices he did. His work on the Great Society and his domestic agenda was a highpoint for liberalism and has led the structure that America has benefited from to this day. And he did all of this knowing that his party would pay an electoral price, but he was doing it for a good far beyond it. He believed in the principle of splitting the difference and compromise, ideas today’s conservatives – and progressives – find laughable.

Johnson’s ranking has been moving upward for a while. He was ranked above average in 1981 but he has since moved all the way to ninth place today, which puts him in the rankings of the near great. And in a move that I think would please the old man, he’s currently ranked ahead of JFK on the list. It should happened a long time ago. Johnson did everything Kennedy only promised to do and paid the price for actions Kennedy helped advanced. I’m glad history has at least borne out that we respect him for what he did right and acknowledged what he did wrong was not entirely his fault.

My Assessment: History Has Finally Given Him The Respect He Is Owed.

 

 

 

Richard M. Nixon (1969-1974)

 

It’s just so unfair that history looks so unkindly on Nixon.  He introduced the policy of détente with the Soviet Union and negotiating the first SALT treaty. Under him the Clean Air Act was passed and the EPA was established.  He showed the foresight to take the country of the gold standard and helped save the economy in 1971. He was the first President to travel China while in office. Apollo 11 landed on the moon while on his watch.  He won reelection in the biggest electoral landslide in history to that point in time, winning 49 of 50 states. And in his second term he was planning to endorse a system for universal health care. I tell ya, you cover up one lousy break-in to the Democratic Partys headquarters and they call you a monster.

But seriously. Right now Nixon ranks 35^th out of 45 and honestly that’s too high: Taylor and Fillmore should be ahead of him and honestly Andrew Johnson should be too. We’ve had some rivals for worse Presidents in recent years but there have been none (and yes I know about the last one) who have bene more deliberately monstrous than Richard Nixon. Need I remind all of the you who love history to know that the ‘Grand Unitary Theory of the Executive’ was being thought up during the Nixon administration and in his second term he was deeply contemplating putting it into effect. He abused the power of the office to wiretap his enemies, turned the attacking of the media to an art form under his administration, was willing to let the CIA do some of its dirtiest work under his watch (Allende, anyone?) expanded fighting in Cambodia and Laos to reduce the involvement in Vietnam. Oh, and Roger Ailes cut his teeth under him.

For more than half a century, Nixon’s former friends and allies along with the conservative revisionists have done everything in their power to try and redeem Nixon. Not so much by his record, which many conservatives didn’t like then or now, but the idea that the liberal media framed him, that Democrat Presidents did just as bad things as he did, that the private Nixon was better than the public one. Well, we’ve heard the Nixon recordings which make it all too clear that in private Nixon was worse then the public one (which was awful enough) and the fact that so many people want to defend him despite this says less about Nixon and more about them. Yes other Presidents did do things that were to a degree as bad as Nixon’s, but that doesn’t excuse them any more than it excuses Nixon. And for those who have spent the last five years wondering why so many people were willing to go to jail for Trump, I don’t need to remind you how many were willing to go to jail for Nixon. The only real difference is there were at least some people in the Nixon administration who had some principles.

I will grant that there are contributing factors into what made Nixon the monster he was as President and some of them may very well have to do with the circumstances of how he lost the White House in 1960. But it doesn’t excuse Nixon’s actions afterward any more than it gives JFK a halo. The fact that to this day millions of Americans still see one as the hero and one a monster has far more to do with the perception of Nixon than Kennedy. One almost wonders if we should consider that part of Kennedy’s legacy as well.

Most of the Presidents who are ranked worse than Nixon these days are considered horrible for inaction or the wrong action. Nixon alone may be the only President considered a failure because of what he did in office – and by any measure that reputation can never be redeemed.

My Assessment:  There are Worse Presidents, But None as ‘Bad’

 

I’ll wrap this up with the rest of the 20^th century in the final article.