Favorite US President

[Spongebob]

Do you have a favorite US President?  Who is it and why?

Mine is Theodore Roosevelt.  He was a Republican but during the period in which the GOP was the more progressive party.  I loved that TR opposed monopolies, sought to set aside land for preservation, his naturalistic tendencies and his zest for life.  TR was the most adventurous of all US presidents.  He went on safari in Africa and although he killed a ton of animals, which I don't appreciate, I feel like this was considered an OK thing to do at the time and he didn't question it.  He generally did so in the interest of science and education.  He identified many new bird species and preserved their bodies for museums.  Heck, he even had a little museum of his on when he lived in NY.  He led an adventure down the Amazon River.  He took a bullet during a speech and finished the damn speech!

TR had several negative tendencies as well.  He was racist and imperialistic.  He thought war was fun.  His rough and tumble image was mostly fake.  But at heart he was an adventurer, outdoorsman and high spirited guy and he overcame physical limitations to live a very exciting life.

Favorite quote:  "For us is the life of action, of strenuous performance of duty; let us live in the harness, striving mightily; let us rather run the risk of wearing out than rusting out."

My biggest criticism of TR: He contributed to Japan becoming a powerful empire which ultimately led to WW2.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Torn between Jed Bartlett and Andrew Shepherd.

Boru

[The Valkyrie]

Robert L Booth.

He's the one who will start the nuclear holocaust of the 2070s.

[Brian37]

Do you have a favorite US President?  Who is it and why?

Mine is Theodore Roosevelt.  He was a Republican but during the period in which the GOP was the more progressive party.  I loved that TR opposed monopolies, sought to set aside land for preservation, his naturalistic tendencies and his zest for life.  TR was the most adventurous of all US presidents.  He went on safari in Africa and although he killed a ton of animals, which I don't appreciate, I feel like this was considered an OK thing to do at the time and he didn't question it.  He generally did so in the interest of science and education.  He identified many new bird species and preserved their bodies for museums.  Heck, he even had a little museum of his on when he lived in NY.  He led an adventure down the Amazon River.  He took a bullet during a speech and finished the damn speech!

TR had several negative tendencies as well.  He was racist and imperialistic.  He thought war was fun.  His rough and tumble image was mostly fake.  But at heart he was an adventurer, outdoorsman and high spirited guy and he overcame physical limitations to live a very exciting life.

Favorite quote:  "For us is the life of action, of strenuous performance of duty; let us live in the harness, striving mightily; let us rather run the risk of wearing out than rusting out."

My biggest criticism of TR: He contributed to Japan becoming a powerful empire which ultimately led to WW2.

 Neither TR, nor Lincoln or even Thomas Jefferson would win a nomination on today's Republican party.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Do you have a favorite US President?  Who is it and why?

Mine is Theodore Roosevelt.  He was a Republican but during the period in which the GOP was the more progressive party.  I loved that TR opposed monopolies, sought to set aside land for preservation, his naturalistic tendencies and his zest for life.  TR was the most adventurous of all US presidents.  He went on safari in Africa and although he killed a ton of animals, which I don't appreciate, I feel like this was considered an OK thing to do at the time and he didn't question it.  He generally did so in the interest of science and education.  He identified many new bird species and preserved their bodies for museums.  Heck, he even had a little museum of his on when he lived in NY.  He led an adventure down the Amazon River.  He took a bullet during a speech and finished the damn speech!

TR had several negative tendencies as well.  He was racist and imperialistic.  He thought war was fun.  His rough and tumble image was mostly fake.  But at heart he was an adventurer, outdoorsman and high spirited guy and he overcame physical limitations to live a very exciting life.

Favorite quote:  "For us is the life of action, of strenuous performance of duty; let us live in the harness, striving mightily; let us rather run the risk of wearing out than rusting out."

My biggest criticism of TR: He contributed to Japan becoming a powerful empire which ultimately led to WW2.

 Neither TR, nor Lincoln or even Thomas Jefferson would win a nomination on today's Republican party.

That wasn’t the question. Do you have a favourite US President?

Boru

[Spongebob]

 Neither TR, nor Lincoln or even Thomas Jefferson would win a nomination on today's Republican party.

Let's get one thing straight, Jefferson was not a Republican (in the modern sense).  That was a different party that had some aspects of both our current day parties, but the issues were a bit different then and some of those don't even exist today.

But you are correct that none of those men had ideologies that would fit well within the modern GOP, although some aspects certainly would.  TR and Lincoln's progressiveness are anathema to the modern GOP.  Because of the evolution of parties over time, I try not to compare leaders by party if they served more than half a century apart.  Andrew Jackson, for instance, is considered the founder of the Democratic party, but his politics don't compare well at all with the modern Democratic party.  I used to like to compare early presidents to modern ones but the only way the comparisons really make sense is if you look at specific traits, like what kind of leadership skills or communication skills or decision making during war; that sort of stuff.  

And just in case it wasn't clear, I'm not promoting TR as the best president ever.  He's simply my favorite president to read and learn about because of his personality mostly.  I'm an avid reader of presidential biographies and there's just so much rich history behind the men who have risen to lead our country.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Well, if we were to list best presidents (as opposed to ‘favourite’), I’d have to give the nod to William Henry Harrison, who had the decency to drop dead before he could fuck anything up.

Boru

[brewer]

Jefferson David?

Sam Houston?

Queen Lili'uokalani?

Tecumseh?

Apparently I can't decide.

[Anomalocaris]

Barack Obama.   He represents american presidency’s only excursion into making the vaguest actual attempt at an hesitant movement in the very approximate direction of the destination it always pretended to have largely arrived at right near its beginning.

This excursion was one which, incidentally, the American presidency effectively took pains to repudiate as soon as it could.

[purplepurpose]

Trump. He is a Simp, just like me. Would vote for him if I was in the US.