Thread: Most succesful post war President

I'm going with Reagan at the top of the list followed by Kennedy, Ike and LBJ.

Reagan presided over the most substantive changes to our tax code since 1913, put a stop to the cold war and elevated the USA to an undisputed leadership position on the world stage. He believed in American exceptionalism and got an exceptional America in response.

Kennedy was also a strong force in the "America is great because Americans are great" mentality and his push for space supremacy (even driven by ICBM research as it was) as well as ability to stand toe to toe with a maturing USSR was a boon to the American belief that hard work pays off and that the rewards of such work are much more sweet than that which is simply handed to you.

Ike and LBJ were successful but more along the lines of making national government more of a top down thing instead of a bottom up thing.

I would say Clinton for his nantional finances! A debt free America in 2013. This was his target.

Originally Posted by Bleipriester

I would say Clinton for his nantional finances! A debt free America in 2013. This was his target.

Clinton? He was certainly a very likeable president but I'm not so sure about his success as most of his budgetary success came from a Republican congress that he generally opposed every step of the way and a tech bubble spurred by advances that the Reagan tax changes and military spending had started.

Originally Posted by lutherf

Clinton? He was certainly a very likeable president but I'm not so sure about his success as most of his budgetary success came from a Republican congress that he generally opposed every step of the way and a tech bubble spurred by advances that the Reagan tax changes and military spending had started.

To me it looks like as it was Clinton, who was the proppelling power behind it.
The debts began to shrink exactly then when Clinton became president and began to rise exactly then when Bush became president and the 103rd House and Senate were democratic:

Originally Posted by Bleipriester

To me it looks like as it was Clinton, who was the proppelling power behind it.
The debts began to shrink exactly then when Clinton became president and began to rise exactly then when Bush became president and the 103rd House and Senate were democratic:

Not a single budget that Clinton proposed was balanced. And the DEBT never went down. If his goal was a debt free america, he failed miserably. Debt is twice what it was.

Reagan is the obvious choice given how he succeeded in getting his policies passed through a democrat congress, and they likely led to a fairer tax code, economic growth, and a more peaceful world. But, he also made some major mistakes.

Insofar as executing the plan of his masters, no one comes close to GW.
Noone.

Originally Posted by jviehe

Not a single budget that Clinton proposed was balanced. And the DEBT never went down. If his goal was a debt free america, he failed miserably. Debt is twice what it was.

Clinton took office with the federal budget running huge deficits, he pressed for tax increases, and got them, and the deficits began to shrink, that was before the GOP had majorities, and as soon as Clinton left, that same GOP dominated congress you want to credit with producing the surpluses in 1998,1999, 2000 and 2001, turned those surpluses into record deficits.

So it's hard for me to credit something to a GOP congress that wasn't in office yet when the trend began, and was in office when the whole thing went to shit.

In contrast, Reagan's stated goal was a balanced budget by 1984, this was not achieved until 1998, 5 years after Clinton raised taxes.

Originally Posted by jviehe

Not a single budget that Clinton proposed was balanced. And the DEBT never went down.

"President Clinton announced Wednesday that the federal budget surplus for fiscal year 2000 amounted to at least $230 billion, making it the largest in U.S. history and topping last year's record surplus of $122.7 billion."This represents the largest one-year debt reduction in the history of the United States," Clinton said Wednesday morning."
President Clinton announces another record budget surplus - CNN
Don´t ignore the evidence.

Originally Posted by jviehe

If his goal was a debt free america, he failed miserably. Debt is twice what it was.

Clinton can not be held responsible for Bush´s or Obama´s finances.

Not a single vote or mention of Obama.

Must be the racism...

Originally Posted by tsquare

Not a single vote or mention of Obama.

Must be the racism...

Or bush. Must be the stupidity....



I think Truman, Ike, Reagan, and Clinton were all extremely successful postwar presidents, and I don't see how you can fairly rank them since they each had their own set of challenges to overcome. At some point you're just ranking the importance of the challenges they faced and not the presidents themselves. I suspect Kennedy would have been the best had he been able to work at it for 8 years, but his role was cut too prematurely to make the list for me.

Originally Posted by Bleipriester

"President Clinton announced Wednesday that the federal budget surplus for fiscal year 2000 amounted to at least $230 billion, making it the largest in U.S. history and topping last year's record surplus of $122.7 billion."This represents the largest one-year debt reduction in the history of the United States," Clinton said Wednesday morning."
President Clinton announces another record budget surplus - CNN
Don´t ignore the evidence.




Clinton can not be held responsible for Bush´s or Obama´s finances.

If his goal was a debt free america, then he can. He did nothing to stop the path of debt. And in 2000, the govt spent every dollar of 'surplus' and borrowed billions on top of that.

Table 7.1—FEDERAL DEBT AT THE END OF YEAR: 1940–2017
End of Fiscal Year In Millions of Dollars
Gross Federal Debt

1997 5,369,206
1998 5,478,189
1999 5,605,523
2000 5,628,700
2001 5,769,881

Historical Tables | The White House

The reason there was no debt free america is because the govt didnt stop the increases in spending. They simply slowed down growth and took advantage of increased revenues due to the dot com boom. The spending drivers are still exactly what they were when Clinton was in office.

Originally Posted by Disillusioned_1

Or bush. Must be the stupidity....

Well i voted for Bush Senior in the end simply because of the success of his accomplishments, but i tell you if there was one post thus far i would quote for truth in this thread right now, it would be what UScitizen said:

Originally Posted by Uscitizen

Insofar as executing the plan of his masters, no one comes close to GW.
Noone.

If you rank that down to stupidity then so be it, but i don't think there was anyone else who got what he wanted to accomplished, as much as George Bush 43. That is not to say i agreed with most of it but hey, he got what he wanted to and the one thing i wanted him to succeed on (immigration reform) he didn't achieve.

I think Truman, Ike, Reagan, and Clinton were all extremely successful postwar presidents, and I don't see how you can fairly rank them since they each had their own set of challenges to overcome. At some point you're just ranking the importance of the challenges they faced and not the presidents themselves. I suspect Kennedy would have been the best had he been able to work at it for 8 years, but his role was cut too prematurely to make the list for me.

I think that was why i was torn between Bush Senior and LBJ, but ultimately i went with Bush 41 as a lot of LBJ's work was JFK's legacy...but i could not stomach the personal failings of Kennedy such as his affairs with women and addiction to drugs. I should support him more for his ability to finally get a Catholic into the White House but i think he disgraced the denomination in all honesty. (In many ways). I think more than prioritizing the challenges, you look to what had the most lasting impact and the most consequential for its success. And for me looking at the historic fall of the USSR and the spread of freedom across Eastern Europe, along with perhaps the Civil rights act, integration and the end of segregation strike me as the biggest two.

I couldn't stomach Clinton (also like Kennedy and Bush Senior having wild affairs and cheating on spouses) and i would perhaps put him last on the list.