Opinion of Reconstruction-era Radical Republicans

[Mechaman]

Mixed Bag (Independent)

On one hand they helped implement some very needed reforms like well ahead of it's time Civil Rights for nonwhite citizens.  I don't see that happening under the regime of more moderate/conservative Republicans who would've likely waffled on the issue due to possible massive repercussions from Southern whites.

However, at the same time I feel like Reconstruction could've been better handled than it did.  For instance, maybe avoiding all out military governance in some states would've prevented a good deal of resentment.  As would, I imagine, cracking down on some of the corruption that was all too common in many Republican governments during the era (which isn't to say Democratic governments weren't corrupt, as the legacy of urban machinery and mob involvement in politics shows).

So really, it's kind of hard to say whether they are FFs or HPs based off of that.