US Presidents For Dummies
Page 42
President George Walker Bush (2001–Present)
George W. Bush assumed the presidency on January 20, 2001. With the hotly contested election behind him, many observers predicted that he would have a tough time as president. He didn’t receive a mandate from the public, and many in the United States considered him a court-appointed president.
Bush attempted to use his inaugural address to appeal to the people who had voted against him. He emphasized a need to reform education and social security, and highlighted his tax cut plan. Tough times lay ahead.
Domestic policies
Bush proceeded quickly after entering the White House. He proposed a new education plan and a faith-based initiative to give more funds to faith-based organizations helping the needy.
In June 2001, Congress passed Bush’s tax cut proposal. Bush’s plan initiated a $1.25 trillion tax cut over ten years. Under its provisions, most U.S. taxpayers received a tax refund in the summer of 2001.
In the summer of 2001, Republican Senator James Jeffords of Vermont left the Republican Party to become an Independent. The transition returned the Senate to the Democrats, and instead of having Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress, Bush had to work with a hostile Senate.
Foreign policy
Bush’s foreign policy faced criticism. Bush proposed to build an antiballistic missile system and had to withdraw from the longstanding Antiballistic Missile Treaty signed with the Soviet Union to do so. Despite the objections of most European allies and Russia, Bush announced in December 2001 that the United States would pull out of the treaty.
Bush also refused to recognize the Kyoto protocol, an international treaty that calls for lowering the emission of gases destroying the ozone layer. The rest of the world was furious. Bush looked like an isolationist out to antagonize the rest of the world.
Disaster Strikes
On September 11, 2001, the unimaginable happened. Terrorists hit the United States. Two hijacked passenger airplanes struck the twin towers of the World Trade Center, in New York City, leading to their collapse. As this book went to press, officials listed almost 3,000 U.S. and foreign citizens who died in the attack on the twin towers.
Soon after the two buildings were hit, a third hijacked plane struck the Pentagon, killing close to 200 people. A fourth hijacked plane crashed in Pennsylvania when the passengers attempted to overtake the hijackers. Its assumed target was the White House or Camp David.
The shocked and angry nation demanded action. President Bush went on national television on September 20, 2001 to reassure the U.S. public and explain what had happened. Bush laid blame for the attack on the al Qaeda terrorist network and its founder, Osama Bin Laden. Al Qaeda was headquartered in Afghanistan. Bush told the ruling Taliban regime to hand over Bin Laden or face the consequences.
Fighting terrorism
On October 7, 2001, U.S. and British planes attacked Afghanistan. The objective of the attack was to knock out al Qaeda training camps, eliminate the organization and its followers, and destroy the Taliban regime.
Negotiations began with the Northern Alliance, an opposition group, which controlled about 5 percent of Afghanistan. The U.S. supplied the Northern Alliance with weapons and military advisors. Within weeks it became a powerful force, successfully attacking the Taliban.
Very slowly, the Northern Alliance conquered city after city and, in November, Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan fell. By December 2001, the Northern Alliance with the help of U.S. ground troops had taken the rest of the country. The Taliban were surrendering en masse, but its leader Mullah Omar, as well as Osama Bin Laden, the head of al Qaeda, escaped capture. A new government was set up in Afghanistan, and an interim leader, Hamid Karzai, was put in charge to transition the country toward democracy.
Punishing terrorists
After the attack on September 11, 2001, President Bush set out to create an international alliance to fight terrorism. Most European countries pledged military aid and NATO invoked Article 5 of its charter. Invoking this article obligates all NATO countries to join the U.S. in the fight against terrorism — to treat the attack on the United States as an attack on their own soil.
Even the Islamic world condemned the attack and assured support for U.S. efforts. Pakistan offered much-needed military bases that the United States could use to strike at Afghanistan. To the surprise of many, even Russia agreed to help and provide bases if necessary.
The coalition came together by late September 2001. The U.S. was ready to strike at Afghanistan, which still harbored Osama Bin Laden.
Becoming a national hero
The U.S. public has stood behind its president. Instead of disrupting life in the United States, as the terrorists had hoped, the public rallied around the flag. A new wave of patriotism swept the country, and U.S. citizens turned out by the millions to help. President Bush rode a record wave of approval. Bush’s ratings were as high as 90 percent in the winter of 2001 with the war in Afghanistan going well.
Despite starting out as a president without a mandate, George W. Bush may go down in history as one of the country’s great presidents.
Part VII
The Part of Tens
In this part . . .
Igive you the traditional Dummies part of tens. First, I present a list of the ten best presidents in U.S. history. These are my choices, so feel free to disagree with me. The ten worst presidents follow. Again, these are my subjective choices and any disagreement is welcome.
Next, I look at the ten most memorable presidential libraries. Every American should visit some of these at least once. So the next time you plan a vacation or a weekend trip, keep these in mind.
Following this part is a presidential facts appendix that lists all kinds of information about the presidents, from presidential birth dates to death dates; election results, including Electoral College and popular votes, are included.
Chapter 26
The Ten Best Presidents
In This Chapter
Providing leadership during tough times
Promoting unity
Expanding the country’s borders and reputation
I n this chapter, I undertake a truly difficult task. Selecting the ten best presidents out of the 42 on the list isn’t easy. Of course, some choices are no-brainers; some presidents, such as Washington, Lincoln, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt stand out so much that they have to be included in any list of the top ten presidents. Other picks may cause a little controversy — this is good. Feel free to disagree with me on these ten choices, because every list of presidents is subjective in nature.
I base my evaluation on the seven characteristics I discuss in Chapter 2, and they consist of policy leadership, crisis management, quality of their appointments, how they’re regarded by foreign leaders, their character and integrity, how effective they are at getting the public’s support, and the vision they have for the country. For a president to be listed in the top ten list, he has to have shown superior abilities in all seven categories.
Without any further ado, here are my picks for the ten best presidents in U.S. history, with the best president being listed first and the tenth best listed last.
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln not only saved the Union, but he also issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring the slaves in the Confederacy free, and pushed for the 13th Amendment, outlawing slavery in the United States. He expanded the war-making powers of the president, and he was a founding father of the Republican Party.
If Lincoln had lived longer, the reintegration of the Confederate states into the union (See Chapters 10 and 11) would have proceeded differently, leading to less controversy.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt has the distinction of being the only president elected to four terms. He assumed the presidency during the Great Depression and provided practical help to the people affected by it. His New Deal programs provided help and hope to millions of U.S. citiz
ens and set the foundation for the modern welfare state.
Franklin Roosevelt saved democracy in Europe by aiding Great Britain early on in its struggle with Nazi Germany, and turned the U.S. economy into a wartime economy capable of winning World War II. During the war, he became one of the founding fathers of the United Nations, committing the United States to an active interventionist foreign policy.
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt broke the longstanding isolationist tradition that kept the United States deliberately uninvolved in world affairs. By getting involved in world affairs, he set the foundation for the United States to become a world power in the 20th century.
Theodore Roosevelt gave the world the Panama Canal (see Chapter 13), and he was the first U.S. citizen to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for settling the war between Japan and Russia in 1906.
Roosevelt further protected average citizens from business excesses by regulating industries.
George Washington
As the first president, George Washington kept the new country together. He legitimized the new form of government and set the foundation for democracy in the United States.
Washington also established many traditions, some of which are still around today. From the ceremony and protocols surrounding inaugural addresses to the isolationist foreign policy in place until the early 20th century, Washington’s ideas stuck around.
Harry Truman
Harry Truman is one of the most underrated presidents in U.S. history. He made the difficult choice of dropping two atomic bombs on Japan, which ended World War II. In the opinion of many scholars, Truman’s decision saved untold lives that would have been lost if the United States had been forced to invade Japan.
Truman single-handedly saved Western and Southern Europe from communism with the Truman Doctrine, extending military aid to countries fighting communist uprisings, and the Marshall Plan, which helped to rebuild the economies of post-war Europe. He was the first president to realize the Soviet threat. He acted to stop communism from expanding, establishing organizations such as NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) to contain Soviet expansionism. (Turn to Chapter 17 for more detail on Truman.)
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan was elected president in a time of crisis, as U.S. power was declining internationally. He restored U.S. power and prestige throughout the world. His military spending led to the destruction of the Soviet economy, which wasn’t able to keep up with U.S. spending, and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet empire. Without Reagan, the United States may not have won the Cold War in 1991.
Reagan’s economic polices, while increasing the U.S. debt, provided for years of unheard of growth for the U.S. economy. When he left office in 1989, he was one of the most idolized and admired presidents in U.S. history.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the most intellectual president in U.S. history. He enjoyed a worldwide reputation for his writings, and he was the chief author of the Declaration of Independence.
As president, Jefferson doubled the size of the country with the Louisiana Purchase, and he kept the country from going to war with major European powers.
Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson saved democracy in Europe. He made the decision to enter World War I on the side of the democratic allies in Europe. Wilson’s decision provided for the difference in WWI, as democracy emerged victorious over the authoritarian German and Austrian-Hungarian empires. The League of Nations, the predecessor to the United Nations, was his brainchild. Even though the U.S. Senate refused to join the League of Nations, the foundation for the United Nations was set.
Domestically, Wilson was a reformer who gave women the right to vote in 1920. He also oversaw the newly established way to elect U.S. senators, which put the selection in the hands of voters instead of the state legislatures.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
This choice may surprise some. Dwight D. Eisenhower was a president who accomplished much in a very quiet way. He ended the war in Korea and managed to contain the Soviet Union for the eight years he held office. He gave the United States eight years of peace. During his tenure in office, not one U.S. soldier was lost in combat.
Eisenhower passed the first civil rights legislation since the end of the Civil War. He stood up to several Southern governors who refused to implement the Supreme Court’s decision to integrate public schools. Finally, Eisenhower also gave us our present day Interstate Highway System. (There’s more on Ike in Chapter 18.)
James Polk
This is another choice that may surprise some readers. I consider James Polk the most underrated president in U.S. history. He arranged a dramatic expansion of the country by acquiring most of what today is the southwestern United States.
Polk was a hardworking, honest man, who actually worked himself into an early grave. During Polk’s administration, there were no scandals involving him or his cabinet.
This president stuck to his promise to serve only one term, and he put the good of the country before his own interests, earning the right to be listed as one of the top ten U.S. presidents. (I explain his deeds in more detail in Chapter 8.)
Chapter 27
The Ten Worst Presidents
In This Chapter
Struggling to provide solid leadership
Succeeding in politics and failing in the presidency
W hile the United States had many mediocre presidents, only a few were really bad. Choosing the five worst presidents is fairly easy, because there is agreement among the public and academics as to who belongs in a list of the bottom five (see Chapter 2). But selecting the bottom ten presidents is a more difficult task. Nonetheless, I give it a shot. Please feel free to disagree with my selections.
The rankings are subjective, so I ask you to cut me some slack. I base my rankings on characteristics including, policy leadership, crisis management, presidential appointments, foreign standing, character and integrity, public persuasion, and presidential vision. (Historians and other people who rank presidents often base their decisions on many of these same qualities, as noted in Chapter 2.) The presidents in this list appear with the worst president coming first.
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson is widely considered one of the worst presidents. He became president only because President Lincoln was assassinated.
His Reconstruction plan for the Southern states after the Civil War was lenient for the former Confederate states, and it didn’t benefit former slaves at all. He pushed Congress to the point where he was impeached by the House of Representatives for violating the Tenure of Office Act (see Chapter 11).
In addition, Johnson was an unpleasant, bigoted fellow with a bad temper. Had it been up to him, African Americans would have never received citizenship or any civil rights.
Warren G. Harding
President Warren G. Harding’s administration was a massive failure. He appointed friends to high-level government positions, and they repaid him by creating many financial scandals. His administration accomplished nothing of value, and his years as president are utterly forgettable.
Harding was a hypocrite and womanizer. He supported Prohibition and drank in secret. He married his wife for her money, and then he cheated on her in a White House closet (just off the Oval Office) while she slept in her bedroom. Harding put it best himself: “I am not fit for this office [the presidency] and never should have been here.”
Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce was a Northern Democrat with a Southern soul. He supported slavery throughout his career because he believed that the Constitution allowed the states to decide whether to be slave states or free states. More importantly, Pierce laid the foundation for the Civil War by not opposing the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. The act overturned the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and allowed new states to choose whether to allow slavery.
Pierce drank heavily as he ignored the conflict that tore Kansas apart. He didn’t even run for reele
ction in 1856. He retired and drank himself to death instead.
James Buchanan
James Buchanan served his country loyally and faithfully until he became president. As a Northern Democrat, he personally opposed slavery, but he believed that the Constitution allowed it. So he refused to do anything about the issue. Instead, he supported the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision in 1857, which declared that slaves were not people or citizens.
When most Southern states seceded after Lincoln’s victory in 1860, Buchanan stood by and did nothing, just waiting for his term to end. When Lincoln arrived in the White House, Buchanan hurriedly left and disappeared into oblivion.
John Tyler
John Tyler became president by default when President Harrison died in office in 1841. He wasn’t a Whig like Harrison, but he had been selected because he could appeal to Southern voters. He alienated his own party to the point where its members threatened to impeach him.
Tyler accomplished almost nothing while in office, with the exception of bringing Texas into the Union. Without this one accomplishment, Tyler would rank even lower on the presidential scale.