Presidential Rankings

[12th Doctor]

I think FDR is perhaps the most overrated president in U.S. history.  Most economist have come to the conclusion that he prolonged the Great Depression.  He interned the Japanese.  He created the welfare state that we're still paying for today.  He gutted the military putting us at risk when war came knocking at our door.  He fabricated the case for going to war.  Communists were infultrating his administration and he was asleep at the wheel.

Did this man do any lasting good for this country?  I don't see that he did.  To the contrary, I think he did more long term damage to the country than almost any other politician in American history.

Same with Truman.  Someone commented on this thread that even though Truman embraced failed economic policies, he was tough on Communism.  He wasn't though.  "Containment" was a sham.  He didn't contain Communism during his administration, rather, Communism spread.  Not long before announcing the policy of containment, Truman was still referring to Stalin as "Uncle Joe."

Reagan was the first president since the Bolshevic Revolution who actually saw Communism lose ground during his administration.  He recognized that the Soviet Union's economy couldn't withstand an arms race with the United States.  By walking out of the Reykjavik during the arms reduction talks, Reagan doomed the Soviet Union.  They were struggling to catch up as we built a military machine.  He swept away the Soviet pawn of Grenada and halted Communism's advance in South America.

Reagan was just about the only president who actually stood up to the USSR.  Who knows how much earlier the USSR would've fallen had Truman or FDR or Kennedy or Nixon or any other Cold War presidents had stood up to them?

I agree with most of what you said about FDR, but don't blame Truman.  Remember, he had to deal with a mess that was left to him by the privious president.  He was though on communism.  It wasn't his fault the communists got half of europe, FDR negotiated that deal, not him.  He cut back big time on the waste in the new deal.  He cut back to the point where every program was managible and sustainable.  It was later that the Democrats reexpanded the programs to their current levels.  Personaly, I think Truman was one of our best president Democrat or Republican.

[12th Doctor]

Actually, Truman wasn't that great...IMO, of course.

He did *let* communism spread.  He sat back and did nothing while China fell to communism, creating a whole slew of problems that are still haunting us today.  His war in Korea hurt his approval ratings, which fell to the low 20s at the end of his administration.  He finished WWII (FDR actually won it--in the same way that Reagan won the Cold War and G.H.W. Bush finished it up), I'll give him that.

But you have to keep in mind the times in which Truman led.  The Cold War was beginning to heat up, and he literally did nothing.  He actually had (as is now proven, but was in doubt during the time) Soviet spies in his administration.  While those accusations arose, he wasn't even open to the possibility that they might be right--allowing Soviet spies to freely give top secret information to the enemy.

No matter what good he did, that lack of responsibility on his part and the complete disregard of the growing threat of communism, IMO, makes him a bad president.

Truman didn't "sit back while communism spread".  He created the Defense Department and the CIA.  What could he have done in China that would have made any major difference.  If he went into China, we would have had fewer troops in Europe or in Japan to handle the reconstruction there.  Probably every administration from FDR to Reagan had Soviet spies in it somewhere.  The difference is that Truman did not try to shield these people as FDR did.  Truman did a good job in dealing with Korea.  The mess there was MacArthur's fault.  What was Truman supposed to do?  Use the bomb?  Start WWIII 4 years after WWII had ended?  That would have been great for us (sarcasim)!  Most of the communists in Truman's administration were hold-outs from FDR.  You can't fault Truman for that.  He and FDR didn't know each other very well.  He had a total of three meetings with FDR while he was vice-pres.  Truman didn't just end WWII.  He ended it decisivly by dropping the bomb and not throwing millions of more live onto the fire or giving half of Japan to the Soviets.  Truman was very worried about the Soviet threat, but first he knew we had to concentrate on rebuilding the world inorder to prevent Western Europe and Japan from falling to the communists.  Before you start assigning blame, remember that the Soviets didn't really start to flex their muscles until the 1950's and Ike didn't do much more about it than Truman did.

[12th Doctor]

Mr. Fresh,

     Why did I surprise you? Just Curious, As Usual.

Upon your recent comments thrashing Republicans, I was surprised to see President Bush make your top 10.

I don't "THRASH" Republicans, I have voted Republican many times. Although I am a Democrat, I do vote Republican "Upon Demand." I still cannot see a Dean Presidency. If he becomes the nominee, this DEM will be voting Republican!
Hey, Mr. Fresh, Will Dick Cheney be on G.W.'s Ticket again?

Well I don't know for sure, but I don't see Dick running again with Bush.  I can see Rice running with him, she'd get a lot of support for sure, but that's just a theory.

Rice would be more energizing than Cheney.  I have nothing against Cheney, but I think that he was a poor chioce to begin with.  He did get the administration off the ground, but there were better chioces I think.  Besides, Cheney isn't going to run for president.  It's time to think about the future.  Rice would definatly have my support.