• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Is Ronald Reagan still the best all-time President?[W:373]

What do you think?

  • Yes

    Votes: 15 14.6%

  • No

    Votes: 88 85.4%
  • Total voters
    103
German guy said:
I'm not American and know too few about most of the older Presidents to be able to competently give any kind of ranking.

Guess I could say, though, that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson in particular, wrote quite a few rather groundbreaking things about the theory and reality of constitutional republics, which is still basic knowledge today and inspired the fathers of many later Western republican constitutions. For example, I'm sure that the fathers of the German Grundgesetz (1949 Constitution) took more than a cursory glance into their writings.

And I wonder how much sense a ranking makes anyway. Probably many were good on one field or one decision, but not so good or even very bad on another ... hard to break that down to one single number. And different situations require different skills. Maybe some were really great presidents, but didn't face challenges that would have allowed to prove it ... and others were poor presidents, but a lack of true challenges allowed them to conceal that.
Click to expand...
Side note: can anyone explain the love for Jefferson? I don't get it.
 
I can't answer the question because the wording presumes that Reagan was at one time the best President ever. He was never the best President ever. Best ever is either Lincoln or Washington.

Washington because he willingly walked away from the Presidency setting the stage for 240 years of bloodless changes of power. He could have easily keep power and set this country on a very different course but instead he close to follow the example of Cincinnatus


Lincoln because he managed to hold the Union together during the darkest times this country has ever seen. Whatever your thoughts on the Civil War and the balance of power between the Federal and State governments you have to be awed by the leadership skill he displayed
 
Carjosse said:
No, what I am saying that in WWII the US suffered very minimal losses compared to other countries in global total war.
Click to expand...

The population in 1940 was 132 million....one million killed and wounded is a significant proportional amount.
 
99percenter said:
worst presidents in US history
1. George W Bush
2. James Buchanan
3. Richard Nixon.
4. Ronald Reagan
5. Herbert Hoover

Best Presidents
1. FDR
2. Lincoln
3. Kennedy
4. Clinton
5. Obama
Click to expand...

I wouldn't put Bush or Obama on either of those lists. Much less number one. Best is Lincoln, worst is Andrew Johnson. The fact that neither he didn't make your worst list, and TR didn't make your best is baffling.
 
RetiredUSN said:
Jefferson was a mixed bag. Super intelligent. He loses points now days because of the slavery issue.
Click to expand...
If he had his way, the US would still be 'foundering around' with the Articles of Confederation. One has to be libertarian, I know.

Is record as president isn't stellar, IMO. He tried to impeach Marshall the chief justice of the Supreme Court.
His SCOTUS' bogus separation of church and state edict from the religion part of the first amendment.
Paying France for the Louisiana Purchase when Spain owned the land. Jeff did thus so Napoleon could continue fighting England. Jeff loved him some political turbulence.
 
Last edited:
antiquity said:
The population in 1940 was 132 million....one million killed and wounded is a significant proportional amount.
Click to expand...

But very very few American civilians died. New York was not bombed into near oblivion
 
antiquity said:
The population in 1940 was 132 million....one million killed and wounded is a significant proportional amount.
Click to expand...

<1%, and again comparatively the US lost very few and suffered almost no economic damage.
 
He never was the best anything.

I'd put him the middle.

Love his Soviet jokes though!

As for best presidents.....

Lincoln, Washington, FDR, Jefferson, Teddy, Truman, Ike, and JFK.

Clinton is at the top of the middle pack.

If we were to just talk in the matter of domestic policy, LBJ would be top three easily.

RetiredUSN said:
Reagan would be about 5th or 6th on my list.

1. Washington
2. Lincoln
3. FDR
4. Teddy
5. Truman
Click to expand...

Reagan over Ike? Heresy!

Carjosse said:
I have to say FDR he is the president that had the biggest impact on America as a country. He is the man that made America a superpower, an economic powerhouse. He is also brought America out of the largest economic depression in history.
Click to expand...

America has been an economic powerhouse since the late 19th century and was trucking towards the big league even before that, but yes FDR was great. He redefined federalism and for the better.
 
Last edited:
cabse5 said:
Side note: can anyone explain the love for Jefferson? I don't get it.
Click to expand...

Well, he wrote many papers on the theory of democratic republics. "The Jefferson Papers" etc. America was the first republic of its kind, so his insights about what theory and reality looked like, were pretty valuable for other republics founded later. Asfaik.
 
Gaugingcatenate said:
I do not think I could disagree with with much more than I currently do.

No, what was proven by Coolidge is you let the market bottom out, like it always had in what they used to call "panics" and then it starts rebuilding itself. Problem was we had, also under Wilson, established the Federal Reserve that had too loose a monetary policy which led to easy money, i.e. buying on margin, sometimes as little as 10% down, and then speculating in the market leading to higher stock prices, resulting in a frenzy as more was borrowed and invested leading to overproduction... blah blah blah, and then the Fed tightened the money supply when they should have been there for the banks, supposed to be the lenders of last resort, banks started failing by the thousands... A president does not control/regulate the Fed, only appoints the governors with Senate approval.

Had we never involved ourselves in WW1 there probably would have never have had to be a WW2. The Germans made their last push, exhausted themselves and the front was more or less stabilized, as it had been for years... they fought to a standstill and all sides, exhausted would have been ready to sue for peace like they always had before. But with the US coming in on the side of the Allies it became a crushing defeat for the Central Powers upon which the Allies, especially Britain and France, put the boot on the neck of Germany, emasculated them taking away their military, assessing grand war reparations, blaming the Central Powers for everything. They redrew lines, carved up the Ottoman Empire, etc... what a mess that didn't have to happen if we had not come in and made equal sides lopsided in favor of the Allies.

WW2 went smoothly? What, all that world wide destruction and over 60 million lives lost? Surely you jest.

Booming economy? We were in massive debt and a recession after WW1... he helped create the recovery by letting the marketplace do what, if left unfettered, the American marketplace does best.

FDR get us out of the Depression? WW2, the unnecessary war,is what got us off the wrong path to nowhere FDR and his "brain trust" had created with all the government intervention the executive, his party and the Congresses of the time promoted. What was shown by WW2 was that all the while we were in Depression, from '29 under interventionist Hoover until hit at Pearl Harbor in '41, was that we had the capacity to produce one hell of a lot more than the policies of Hoover and FDR allowed, and we had a workforce second to no other that beat, productivity wise, our enemies combined.
Click to expand...

I would like to expand upon this that the U.S. did very little in WWII against Nazi Germany. We piggybacked off the Soviet Union and copped-out on Japan by pulling one of the most dishonorable acts in military history...

We should have never been a superpower. If anything, Japan and Germany may have lost - sure - but the Nazis and Imperialists won.
 
rocket88 said:
I wouldn't put Bush or Obama on either of those lists. Much less number one. Best is Lincoln, worst is Andrew Johnson. The fact that neither he didn't make your worst list, and TR didn't make your best is baffling.
Click to expand...

If it was a top ten list both would be on there.
 
I need to check with my astrologer and tarot card reader before I answer, just like Ronnie and Nancy did before they made their minds up about anything.

Calm
 
skq said:
What do you think?
Click to expand...


Yes, hands down. And right there with him, is Teddy Roosevelt.

His ability to make Fools out of Democrats, was one of his best qualities.
 
Van Basten said:
He never was the best anything.

I'd put him the middle.

Love his Soviet jokes though!

As for best presidents.....

Lincoln, Washington, FDR, Jefferson, Teddy, Truman, Ike, and JFK.

Clinton is at the top of the middle pack.

If we were to just talk in the matter of domestic policy, LBJ would be top three easily.



Reagan over Ike? Heresy!



America has been an economic powerhouse since the late 19th century and was trucking towards the big league even before that, but yes FDR was great. He redefined federalism and for the better.
Click to expand...

What did you like about JFK?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom