# Between 1913 and 1993, what did Republican presidents achieve? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 14, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/between-1913-and-1993-what-did-republican-presidents-achieve/528956 "2010-02-14T15:57:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/between-1913-and-1993-what-did-republican-presidents-achieve/528956/41 "2010-02-15T22:56:02Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > We will never know for sure but I think there’s quite a good chance Richard Nixon prevented nuclear war and the destruction of Western civilization. Wow! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/between-1913-and-1993-what-did-republican-presidents-achieve/528956/42 "2010-02-16T00:19:13Z")
Hey, we should be grateful to Richard Nixon that he didn’t start a nuclear war. [http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/305/madman\_nuclear\_alert.html?breadcrumb=%2Fexperts%2F562%2Fscott\_sagan](http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/305/madman_nuclear_alert.html?breadcrumb=%2Fexperts%2F562%2Fscott_sagan) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/between-1913-and-1993-what-did-republican-presidents-achieve/528956/43 "2010-02-16T02:11:45Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Actually, I was thinking of this: “I’ll have them niggers voting Democratic for the next two hundred years.” Not that that does not sound plausible as something LBJ would say, it does (and would not even reflect badly on him, all things considered), but a cite would be helpful. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/between-1913-and-1993-what-did-republican-presidents-achieve/528956/44 "2010-02-16T02:13:12Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > We will never know for sure but I think there’s quite a good chance Richard Nixon prevented nuclear war and the destruction of Western civilization. Perhaps, but JFK has a clearer claim there, being the one who defused the Cuban Missile Crisis. (Of course, he needs to share credit with Adlai Stevenson.) ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/between-1913-and-1993-what-did-republican-presidents-achieve/528956/45 "2010-02-16T03:11:32Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Not that that does not sound plausible as something LBJ would say, it does (and would not even reflect badly on him, all things considered), but a cite would be helpful. Google the phrase. There are many references to it. Here’s one: [http://www.youdontsay.org/What2000.htm](http://www.youdontsay.org/What2000.htm) And it most assuredly sounds like LBJ. The man cared about nothing but power. If it took Medicare and Civil Rights to buy votes, then by God, that’s what he would do. A perfect scoundrel. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/between-1913-and-1993-what-did-republican-presidents-achieve/528956/46 "2010-02-16T03:25:01Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > And the usual crowd comes out to insist that they’re raving maniancs are really the sane ones. How od that the supposed enlightened demigods of reason are so desperate they cannot let even a simple thread like this one come by without beating their miniscule chests. > > You children never could get over Bush, did you. Heh. You’re right. I made positive comments on the achievements of Republicans for whom I had respect, instead of a blindly partisan post. Thanks for reminding me of the proper behavior in Great Debates; you can be assured I won’t make that mistake again! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/between-1913-and-1993-what-did-republican-presidents-achieve/528956/47 "2010-02-16T03:28:57Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > You’re right. I made positive comments on the achievements of Republicans for whom I had respect, instead of a blindly partisan post. Thanks for reminding me of the proper behavior in Great Debates; you can be assured I won’t make that mistake again! :mad: I don’t think **smiling bandit** was referring to your post in his post. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/between-1913-and-1993-what-did-republican-presidents-achieve/528956/48 "2010-02-16T05:03:21Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > And it most assuredly sounds like LBJ. The man cared about nothing but power. If it took Medicare and Civil Rights to buy votes, then by God, that’s what he would do. A perfect scoundrel. :dubious: A politician giving the people what they want to “buy votes”? That’s not scoundrelly, that’s exactly how democracy is **supposed** to work. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/between-1913-and-1993-what-did-republican-presidents-achieve/528956/49 "2010-02-16T05:10:18Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > And it most assuredly sounds like LBJ. The man cared about nothing but power. If it took Medicare and Civil Rights to buy votes, then by God, that’s what he would do. A perfect scoundrel. By that logic universal health care with single payer would make one a perfect scoundrel. Johnson was only a half-assed scoundrel. I don’t think that that word means what you think it does. At least not from the context you are using it. ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/between-1913-and-1993-what-did-republican-presidents-achieve/528956/50 "2010-02-16T05:22:28Z")
There was one thing all 8 of those Republican Presidents achieved in common… . . . . . . . . Kept the Democrats out of office ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/between-1913-and-1993-what-did-republican-presidents-achieve/528956/51 "2010-02-17T22:33:51Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Google the phrase. There are many references to it. Here’s one: [http://www.youdontsay.org/What2000.htm](http://www.youdontsay.org/What2000.htm) Considering the rather [obviously partisan source](http://www.amazon.com/You-Dont-Say-Fred-Gielow/dp/096039382X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266445948&sr=8-1) for that, how about a **credible** cite? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/between-1913-and-1993-what-did-republican-presidents-achieve/528956/52 "2010-02-17T23:55:05Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Considering the rather [obviously partisan source](http://www.amazon.com/You-Dont-Say-Fred-Gielow/dp/096039382X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266445948&sr=8-1) for that, how about a **credible** cite? It’s also in Ronald Kessler’s “Inside the White House”. He cites Robert MacMillan, an Air Force One steward. I don’t know that it’s particularly implausible that Johnson would say that, though. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/between-1913-and-1993-what-did-republican-presidents-achieve/528956/53 "2010-02-18T00:25:24Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > It’s also in Ronald Kessler’s “Inside the White House”. He cites Robert MacMillan, an Air Force One steward. I don’t know that it’s particularly implausible that Johnson would say that, though. Nor inappropriate, excepting the racially offensive language. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/between-1913-and-1993-what-did-republican-presidents-achieve/528956/54 "2010-02-18T00:44:36Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Nor inappropriate, excepting the racially offensive language. I think the implication is that Johnson supported the Civil Rights Act for partisan gain, rather than because he actually cared about civil rights for black people. I don’t know if that’s true or not. I also don’t know that it matters, but that’s part of the consequentialist/absolutist debate and outside the scope of this one. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/between-1913-and-1993-what-did-republican-presidents-achieve/528956/55 "2010-02-18T16:58:06Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Oddly, the conservative movement which took over the GOP after Nixon’s resignation has a wing of anti-environmentalists. They know enough not to criticize the Clean Air Act, but they definitely don’t brag about these accomplishments. (And they were a big part of why I left the party.) Actually, Sen Murkowski (R-AK) has put forth a resolution that would rescind EPA authority to regulate emissions given by the Clean Air Act. So not only are they criticizing it, they are actively trying to undermine it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/between-1913-and-1993-what-did-republican-presidents-achieve/528956.md?page=2)