A Presidents' Day Game
At the outset, I'll note that I object to the drab nomenclature of "Presidents' Day." After all, if Abraham Lincoln (February 12) could preserve our country and George Washington (February 22) could serve as its figurative father, surely we could take the trouble to observe their birthdays individually (and not necessarily through offering the government workforce a day off!).
All that aside, who's up for a little Presidents' Day game?
Who do you think have been America's most overrated and underrated presidents? For this year, at least, here's where I come down:
Most overrated: Barack Obama (by a mile)
Most underrated: Calvin Coolidge (I'm currently reading Amity Shlaes's fabulous Coolidge, predictably sneered at in The New York Times).
What do you think?! Other contenders?
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Feb '13
Re: A Presidents' Day Game
I'd follow Obama with Kennedy as a very close second (maybe even a tie)
Jul '12
Re: A Presidents' Day Game
Most Overrated: Abraham Lincoln
Most Underrated: Grover Cleveland
Dec '10
Re: A Presidents' Day Game
I don't think that JFK would be nearly so well thought of if he had not been killed.
Re: A Presidents' Day Game
I'll go ahead and be the curmudgeon who reminds everyone that today we mark George Washington's birthday, not presidents in general. I even fought with my husband about this today when he told our children we were honoring multiple presidents today!
Speaking of, my children are pretty obsessed with William Howard Taft. Mostly on account of the bathtub incident. I don't have the heart to tell them much more about his presidency.
Jul '12
Re: A Presidents' Day Game
Fight of the week! I also have a particular irritation about "Presidents Day." It's George Washington's Birthday (observed), officially.
Nov '10
Re: A Presidents' Day Game
There's a difference between being overrated and being destructive. Arguably, the destruction set in motion by Woodrow Wilson has been more durable than most. As to Presidential greatness, I measure it strictly by the pound, putting WHT's ample stomach way out in front.
Dec '10
Re: A Presidents' Day Game
I'd forgotten that, having lost track of things in the fog of political correctness, but you're right. But why do we have to have a holiday the third Monday in February (not Washington's birthday), and call it 'President's Day,' (not Washington's name)? What's wrong with having it on Feb 22 (Washington's birthday) and calling it 'Washington's Birthday' like we did when I was in grade school?
Why do we have to have these artificial 'Monday' holidays, anyway? What was wrong with Memorial Day on May 30 and Washington's Birthday on Feb 22?
Edited on February 18, 2013 at 5:32pmMay '10
Re: A Presidents' Day Game
Everything I know about the Presidents I learned from the Warner Brothers (and sister, Dot, the cute one)
Re: A Presidents' Day Game
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.: . . .
Speaking of, my children are pretty obsessed with William Howard Taft. Mostly on account of the bathtub incident. I don't have the heart to tell them much more about his presidency. · 21 minutes ago
So funny! That's the one detail about WHT that my five-year-olds remember, too!
Oct '12
Re: A Presidents' Day Game
Most Underrated: Theodore Roosevelt who established the modern US "empire". A Roosevelt presidency under his Bull Moose banner would have been a diaster.
Most Overrated: Franklin Roosevelt who allowed the world to slip into WWII when he knew the cataclysm that was coming and lacked the will and ability to enlighten the US public. Having read "In the Garden of Beasts" (as well a many volumes of WWII history and Churchill), the lack of Roosevelt's attention to foreign policy was a major contributor to the scope of the war.
Mar '12
Re: A Presidents' Day Game
Most Overrated: FDR - his policies made the depression worse. His war leadership is largely a myth.
Most Underrated: James Monroe - the Monroe Doctrine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Monroe
Dec '12
Re: A Presidents' Day Game
Depends on whom you ask.
Eric Hines
Edited on February 18, 2013 at 6:07pmDec '12
Re: A Presidents' Day Game
On the matter of Taft, how many Presidents went on to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court? This Bill didn't do too badly, apparently. Then, after going to the Supremes, he wrote opinions like this one in Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co.:
Eric Hines
Dec '12
Re: A Presidents' Day Game
My vote for Most Misunderstood President:
William Howard Taft
Eric Hines
Re: A Presidents' Day Game
Instead of giving my own, just for entertainment value, here's a list from ThinkProgress of their top five overrated presidents (you can read the reasoning behind their picks here):
1. Andrew Jackson
2. Ronald Reagan
3. Woodrow Wilson
4. Thomas Jefferson
5. James Madison
Re: A Presidents' Day Game
Cleveland and Coolidge for most underrated (if you spliced their DNA, you'd get Ron Swanson)
I'd say it's a close call between Wilson and FDR for most overrated. On one hand, FDR seems like the clear winner because he's become a much more iconic figure than Wilson. On the other, Roosevelt also has more plausible offsetting virtues thanks to his handling of World War II.
Since I'm operating in pairs, I should also note the two presidents I find most vexing -- intermittently attractive and repellant: Andrew Jackson and Theodore Roosevelt.
Apr '11
Re: A Presidents' Day Game
Love that song.
Dec '12
Re: A Presidents' Day Game
Heck, I remember back when Lincoln had his own birthday.
Underrated: Gerald Ford. He ended our national nightmare!
Overrated: Thomas Jefferson. A first-rate mind in a third-rate human being.
The man who should have been a president: Alexander Hamilton.
Jan '11
Re: A Presidents' Day Game
Hamilton was a great and brilliant man, but he would have been a terrible president: too energetic, too hot-blooded, and not a very good politician, either.
Channeling Rob Long, I'm going to vote for LBJ for most under-rated in terms of (negative) influence: we're going to be digging ourselves out of the whole we created by electing that man for decades.
Sep '11
Re: A Presidents' Day Game
Overrated: John F. Kennedy.
Underrated: Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Kennedy handled the Cuban Missile Crisis well--at the cost of killing a Soviet spy; but the crisis occurred because Kruschev accurately viewed him as a dilettante playboy. Everybody (probably including Kennedy) was surprised to discover Kennedy had more depth.
But--he's the genius who brought us Vietnam, and laid the foundation for Johnson's Great Society and the metastasizing federal bureaucracy. His legacy is based on having been assassinated.
Dwight Eisenhower didn't just win World War II--he built the Interstate System, which completely transformed the American landscape, economy, and demographics. And he didn't just adopt a policy proposal from some think tank (or federal agency)--this was his vision, based on his experience trying to lead a military expedition across the U.S. on the Federal Highway System; and reinforced by his first-hand observation of the German Autobahn. That one policy initiative, I would argue, touches more Americans every day, and influences more of the American economy, than any policy initiative of any other president.