America's greatness: GOP

[America Needs R'hllor]

Eisenhower entrenched America's position as the Leader of the Free World, and he did it without starting new wars and he kept the Constitution the way he found it.

I voted Roosevelt since I do believe he was a great President, but this is a good answer as well. Though, do remember that Ike was a strong believer in the (wrong) domino-effect theory, which lead him to start involving the U.S. in the Vietnamese mud. So I don't think it's exactly accurate that he didn't start new wars at all.

Ike had his faults; his covert overthrow of the Mossadegh government in Iran is something we're paying for.  This was, however, the height of the Cold War, and Mossadegh was a good candidate to turn Iran into a client state for the Soviets, giving them their warm water port.  It wasn't completely irrational to think that Iran could have morphed into the Irannian SSR along the likes of Ukraine.

Ike could have done more on the segregation issue, but he remained silent for a long time, and when he spoke up, it was for going slower on integration.  He DID, however, enforce the law, and he was not wrong in wanting to avoid massive racial violence that would have been potentially catastrophic to large numbers of folks, and to the nation as a whole.

Ike's accomplishments in office were impressive.  Our system of Interstate highways is his accomplishment.   He was a fiscally responsible President who did not initiate broad new spending programs, but he didn't trash the safety net, didn't rig the tax system for the rich, and warned America about the military industrial complex.  And, yet, despite being a candidate for the greatest American of the 20th century, he was never regarded in GOP circles in the manner that Ronald Reagan was, until long after he was dead and historians began a reassessment of his Presidency.  Ike was the closest thing to a non-partisan President we had.  I grew up with a mother who ADORED Adlai Stevenson, and I thought very highly of Stevenson, but we, as a nation, were fortunate that Dwight Eisenhower was our President during the particular time he served.

Oh, I agree. Ike was a great President who did a lot of good despite his faults. Every President has his faults, and to be honest, I believe the greatest ones did very big mistakes- Ike with what you've mentioned and the domino effect theory, FDR with the Japanese interment camps and court-packing, George Washington owning slaves etc. In comparison, Barack Obama did nothing that was too bad or harmful like the former three I mentioned- he just didn't really do much at all, so in my opinion he wasn't great, he was just... ok. Maybe good.

[Take your vitamins and say your prayers, Brother!]

Teddy believed in conservation and fair labor relations, so him.

Eisenhower believed in these things as well, believe it or not.

Eisenhower was very much at odds his whole Presidency with the conservative wing of the GOP.  The Bob Taft crowd.  He loathed Sen. William Knowland (R-CA) the GOP leader in the Senate for most of Ike's Presidency, and he didn't think much more of Joe Martin (R-MA) and Charlie Halleck (R-IN), the GOP leaders in the House during Ike's years.  He did not work hard to help the conservative Republicans get re-elected; he preferred working with Southern Democrats in Congress which was part of the secret of LBJ's Senate success.

Of course, the GOP was a much different party than it is today.  The conservative wing was not as dominant as it is now, and there were a significant number of moderate Republicans, and even liberal Republicans in Congress.  Ike was the "dealmaker" as President, making deals with Democrats and his "Modern Republicans" to get things done. 

The conservative takeover of the GOP, which began in earnest after the GOP's defeat in the 1958 off-year elections, was an event that diminished the regard for Republicans had for Eisenhower; he was never referred to as, say, Ronald Reagan is today, even though he was a FAR better President and a FAR more significant figure in American History.  Even Nixon, whom Eisenhower boosted to prominence, was never regarded as Eisenhower's successor, or the keeper of "Modern Republicanism".  Trump's reference to Eisenhower in 2016 gave me hope that he would bring about a second form of "Modern Republicanism", but I'm not holding my breath for that these days.

[インターネット掲示板ユーザー Punxsutawney Phil]

Teddy believed in conservation and fair labor relations, so him.

Eisenhower believed in these things as well, believe it or not.

Eisenhower was very much at odds his whole Presidency with the conservative wing of the GOP.  The Bob Taft crowd.  He loathed Sen. William Knowland (R-CA) the GOP leader in the Senate for most of Ike's Presidency, and he didn't think much more of Joe Martin (R-MA) and Charlie Halleck (R-IN), the GOP leaders in the House during Ike's years.  He did not work hard to help the conservative Republicans get re-elected; he preferred working with Southern Democrats in Congress which was part of the secret of LBJ's Senate success.

Of course, the GOP was a much different party than it is today.  The conservative wing was not as dominant as it is now, and there were a significant number of moderate Republicans, and even liberal Republicans in Congress.  Ike was the "dealmaker" as President, making deals with Democrats and his "Modern Republicans" to get things done.  

The conservative takeover of the GOP, which began in earnest after the GOP's defeat in the 1958 off-year elections, was an event that diminished the regard for Republicans had for Eisenhower; he was never referred to as, say, Ronald Reagan is today, even though he was a FAR better President and a FAR more significant figure in American History.  Even Nixon, whom Eisenhower boosted to prominence, was never regarded as Eisenhower's successor, or the keeper of "Modern Republicanism".  Trump's reference to Eisenhower in 2016 gave me hope that he would bring about a second form of "Modern Republicanism", but I'm not holding my breath for that these days.

I'm not disputing the fact that Eisenhower believed in those things as well - but Teddy did more to improve things on those fronts than Eisenhower precisely because there was more room to improve on, back then.
It was rather close between those two...

[RFKFan68]

The only one on this list I would vote for is Eisenhower. So him.

[Grassroots]

Teddy, Ike, and Ronnie.

[Cassandra]

Reagan made Americans feel "great," which is really what this is all about. My mom still get's teary-eyed thinking about his "Mr. Gorbachev, tear this wall down!" speech.

I don't understand all of you who are voting based on policy or whatever. You're missing the point. "Greatness" has nothing to do with being "right" (pragmatically, morally...). It's an emotional thing. You have to ask yourself, who is the president that, by his actions/speeches/etc, made the most American people feel patriotic and such. That's Reagan.

[Ban my account ffs!]

Eisenhower entrenched America's position as the Leader of the Free World, and he did it without starting new wars and he kept the Constitution the way he found it.

^

Good answer.

Easily this.

Teddy Roosevelt, today's GOP would hate him though since he helped the common man, not the rich more than anything.

LOL, there are a lot of similarities between Teddy and Trump that people conveniently like to ignore.

Trump, like Teddy, is always better 100 years ago.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Theodore Roosevelt-American badass!

[OSR stands with Israel]

Teddy Roosevelt leader made America Into Great Power

Ronald Reagan lead America into its Greatest Era in history (1983-2001)


but my vote goes to Lincoln

[|˶˙ᵕ˙ )ﾉﾞ]

Earl Warren

[Badger]

Eisenhower entrenched America's position as the Leader of the Free World, and he did it without starting new wars and he kept the Constitution the way he found it.

^

Good answer.

Easily this.

Teddy Roosevelt, today's GOP would hate him though since he helped the common man, not the rich more than anything.

LOL, there are a lot of similarities between Teddy and Trump that people conveniently like to ignore.

Yeah. I mean, if you ignore Trump's cowardice,  compulsive lying, laziness, stupidity, ignorance and a mere dozen or score of additional glaring flaws and differences, they're practically identical. For example, both are human beings.

You're not exactly talking to a Trump supporter here, pal; you can take a 5-minute break from your quest, LOL.  Both are New York Republicans with populist ideas that put them out of the mainstream of elected Republicans of their times and drew a lot of ire from the party establishment, only to win election and force many in the party to "come around."  I also believe neither will project a longterm trend for party policy.  I'm not building up Trump, so in advance: chill out.

That is the most hackneyed and half-assed answer I've ever seen RINO Tom post. About anything.

[mvd10]

Eisenhower probably was the best president on this list but Reagan literally ushered in an era of free market politics so I voted for him.

[RINO Tom]

Eisenhower entrenched America's position as the Leader of the Free World, and he did it without starting new wars and he kept the Constitution the way he found it.

^

Good answer.

Easily this.

Teddy Roosevelt, today's GOP would hate him though since he helped the common man, not the rich more than anything.

LOL, there are a lot of similarities between Teddy and Trump that people conveniently like to ignore.

Yeah. I mean, if you ignore Trump's cowardice,  compulsive lying, laziness, stupidity, ignorance and a mere dozen or score of additional glaring flaws and differences, they're practically identical. For example, both are human beings.

You're not exactly talking to a Trump supporter here, pal; you can take a 5-minute break from your quest, LOL.  Both are New York Republicans with populist ideas that put them out of the mainstream of elected Republicans of their times and drew a lot of ire from the party establishment, only to win election and force many in the party to "come around."  I also believe neither will project a longterm trend for party policy.  I'm not building up Trump, so in advance: chill out.

That is the most hackneyed and half-assed answer I've ever seen RINO Tom post. About anything.

Sounds good, Badger!!

[IceSpear]

RINO fight!

[RINO Tom]

RINO fight!

I must admit I had to look up "hackneyed" to see if it was a real term or if Badger was just being terrible at typing again.   Joke's on me, it's real.

[Badger]

RINO fight!

You win the thread.

[Badger]

RINO fight!

I must admit I had to look up "hackneyed" to see if it was a real term or if Badger was just being terrible at typing again.   Joke's on me, it's real.

A reasonable guess on your part nonetheless.