The Presidents Ranked by Historians

[paul718]

Too high:  FDR, Eisenhower, LBJ, Bush-41

Too low:  Coolidge, Clinton, Bush-43

Kennedy is about where I'd rank him.   

I have an open question for the forum...Why is Truman so highly regarded?  I'm not challenging the general opinion of him.  I'm just find it curious that so many people like him, both Democrat and Republican.   I should do my research, but the first things that come to mind are the atomic bombs and the Korean War.  I suppose he gets the credit for ending the war in the Pacific.  Is that generally why he's so popular? 

[paul718]

Nixon was good on foreign policy, but clueless on the economy.  Kennedy was a more complete President, in my opinion.  Good on the economy, and his leadership during the missile crisis more than made up for the BoP.  Kennedy is actually one of my favorite Presidents. 

[paul718]

I hope this country gets over its JFK obsession relatively soon.

I wonder if you're exposed to more of it than most people because you spend so much time with older, politically active Catholics who either are or used to be Democrats. There's a natural generational limit to the JFK obsession. Amazing to think it has been nearly 50 years and we're still talking about it. Part of the reason I don't get nostalgic for the '80s is because when I was a kid, we were so heavily inundated with nostalgia for either the '50s or the late '60s by the media. (No one ever wanted to talk about the period from about '62 to '68.)

Maybe. The area of the world that I'm from (the white/Irish area) considers the man to be a saint. It gets even worse when you enter the political circles. The man is even beloved by our city Italians.

The women in my family have always been obsessed with John F. Kennedy.  It's like in the movie Mean Streets, there's a scene in a Little Italy caffe where they have a picture of JFK behind the bar, right next to the Blessed Mother, lol. 

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What's your beef with JFK?  Just think he's overrated? 

[paul718]

I think everyone really admires the Cuban Missile Crisis too, that whole episode is very romanticized in the American mythology

Eh, ok, but that probably only really matters to the older people that lived through it and really remember it.

Listen, I think most people admire Presidents and other leaders for very vague reasons. It's just that JFK seems to take the cake.

Don't underestimate the Cuban Missile Crisis, Phil.  I really think it was the best example of leadership by a President since WWII.  People fail to appreciate how close we actually came to a nuclear sh**tshow.  Kennedy was able to pull us through safely and with dignity, despite the fact that he had a number of forces within his circle (including his own brother) trying to prod him in every which direction.

And yeah, he was right on the economy and the civil rights movement. 

I like to judge Presidents on what they had to deal with during their adminstration.  George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter were dealt bad hands.  Eisenhower and Clinton were not.  While I'll agree that the "young, handsome, Catholic" mythos factors into a lot of JFK opinions, I think he performed extremely well during a turbulent, while brief, time in office.

[paul718]

I'm not debating his accomplishments. I'm obviously thankful that he was able to handle the situation. I'm just pointing out the ignorance among the masses when it comes to this guy. 

Fair enough.