The REAL Greatest of the 20th Century Thread

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Mckinley wasn't included because he only barely served in the 20th Century.

[tpfkaw]

Harding

[Bacon King]

Harding

I don't get why libertarians like Harding so much.

Libertarians favor free trade, but Harding significantly raised tariffs. They hate the UN and the World Court and such, but it was Harding that tried to get the US to join the Permanent Court of International Justice. They rail against the FCC, but it was Harding's administration that began the Federal government's strict regulation of radio. They strongly oppose government using force against its own citizens, but apparently don't mind that Harding used the army against citizens of the United States, including using military aircraft to drop bombs onto striking mineworkers at Blair Mountain, WV. They hate welfare, but Harding signed into law the first federally-funded welfare program (that is, the Sheppard-Towner Maternity Act). They hate government corruption, but Harding's administration was corrupt as hell- people in the Justice Department regularly accepted bribes from bootleggers and other prisoners, the Secretary of the Interior accepted bribes to sell public lands (and was the first Cabinet member to ever go to prison, actually), and the Veteran's Bureau Director defrauded the government by an estimated $325 million, just to name a few of the most egregious cases.

So, I don't mean to single you out, wormyguy, but honestly, what gives?

[Хahar 🤔]

Certainly not Theodore Roosevelt.

[dead0man]

People that sh**t without adding anything are cool!


I like Ike

[J. J.]

Greatest, in terms of who most changed the country, Franklin Roosevelt.

I would say that the three greatest were:

1.  Franklin Roosevelt
2.  Theodore Roosevelt
3.  Ronald Reagan

[LBJ Revivalist]

1) Franklin Roosevelt
2) Theodore Roosevelt
3) Lyndon Johnson
4) Bill Clinton
5) Richard Nixon

[Roemerista]

Silent Cal.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Silent Cal.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Certainly not Theodore Roosevelt.

I like this answer.

[You kip if you want to...]

FDR

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Certainly not Theodore Roosevelt.

I like this answer.

He kicked your ass and ended your empire with sheer manliness. Get over it.

To order them (including Bush and Obama so far):

Great:

1. FDR (Yup)
2. Truman (Finished what FDR started, only with a better Cold War policy)
3. TR (Not quite fair, since he happened to get a smooth decade, but I like his trust-busting)
4. LBJ (Failed in Vietnam, succeeded in everything else)

Good/Decent:

5. Ike (Not too much to say, but yeah)
6. Clinton (Pragmatic and intelligent enough to get the job done, and don't care about Monica)
7. JFK (Got the Great Society and CRA rolling, but LBJ gets the credit for doing it)
8. Nixon (See Clinton, only corrupt)
9. Obama (He's gotten a lot done, but he's too much of a pussy about it)

Average:

10. Bush Sr. (Eh)
11. Ford (Meh)
12. Taft (Shmeh)
13. Wilson (Did a ton of good and a ton of bad. However, screwing up Europe tilts it a bit towards the negative)
14. Carter (Too much of a softie, and overall did little. Would have been a better VP)

sh**t:

15. Reagan (Set up the current economic crisis, failed to act on AIDS, and supported Saddam and apartheid)
16. Hoover (Fiddled as Rome burned)
17. Coolidge (Terrible policies that helped start the Great Depression)
18. Bush Jr. (Reverse Midas Touch?)
19. Harding (Blatant corruption, helped set the stage for the Depression)

[Bacon King]

Certainly not Theodore Roosevelt.

I like this answer.

He kicked your ass and ended your empire with sheer manliness. Get over it.

ATLAS FORUM PROTIP:
Gully Foyle is actually Irish.

(Also, even if he was Spanish he's quite possibly the forumite most opposed to nationalism.)

[Lief 🗽]

I'll vote for LBJ, not because he's the correct answer, but because he deserves at least a couple. A great president.

[Mercenary]

A lot of fondness here for internment camps I see.