The Alien and Sedition Acts were very bad and Adams deserves his share of the blame for them - he did use them. But I don’t see them as making Adams the equivalent of Nixon. The Alien and Sedition Acts may have been bad laws but they were laws - Congress passed them and Adams was using them the way they had been intended.
Yes, Adams was by no means in the same league as Nixon. Adams did what he thought he had to, using duly-passed legislation, to protect the country from foreign subversion. Of course we now see he was wrong. But Nixon’s crimes flowed from his ego, ambition and paranoia. He was bound and determined to get reelected and did everything he possibly could, including repeatedly breaking the law and ordering others to do so, to secure a second term. I think no President has ever broken his oath of office as often and as flagrantly as Nixon did.
And got caught doing it, no.
Seriously, “he meant well” as a defense for throwing dissenters in jail? You can’t be serious. I don’t give a damn if it was legal. It was unamerican, and he has no place on this list.
Vote tallier’s request: please vote
Firstname Lastname #
with the # as number of votes, if more than 1. (I don’t mind the repeated votes by repeating the name, either, but “five votes for Name”, or worse “I think blahblah, therefore I’m going to place five votes for Name” makes the tallying more difficult).
Thanks for the heads up, Tom.
John Brown x5
Langston Hughes x3
Tecumseh
Aaron Copland
Likewise. Much obliged!
Helen Keller x3
Joshua Chamberlain
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Lewis and Clark
James Madison
J.P. Morgan
Jesse Owens
John J. Pershing
Since I probably won’t post to this thread before Monday, the current standings:
1 Andrew Carnegie 15
2 George S. Patton 13
3 Thomas Jefferson 10
3 J.P. Morgan 10
5 Audie Murphy 7
6 Leonard Bernstein 6
6 John Brown 6
6 James K. Polk 6
6 Tecumseh 6
10 John Adams 5
10 Aaron Copland 5
10 Philo T. Farnsworth 5
10 John Marshall 5
10 Sitting Bull 5
Henry Bergh 4
Langston Hughes 4
Helen Keller 4
Joshua Chamberlain 3
Albert Einstein 2
Thomas Nast 2
Jackie Robinson 2
Jim Thorpe 2
Jesse Owens 2
John J. Pershing 2
Dwight D. Eisenhower
George Gershwin
Lewis and Clark
James Madison
Edward R. Murrow
Edgar Allen Poe
Will Rogers
Jonas Salk
John von Neumann
Thanks, Tom.
It does hurt that we seem to be on the verge of voting Thomas Jefferson off at such an early stage. Jefferson was one of the great locutors of American liberty, and his model in the University of Virginia paved the way for the land grant institutions that form the backbone of American academe. He is such an utterly important man, regardless of personal shortcomings. Not good.
Save James K. Polk! Anyone supporting me?
Andrew Carnegie x2
George Patton x2
J.P. Morgon x2
James K. Polk x2
Philo T Farnsworth x2
Nice to finally know who to scapegoat for TV.
Joshua Chamberlain x2
Jesse Owens x2
Upton Sinclair x2
Jim Thorpe x2
Walt Whitman x2
Although, I would like to vote carnegie, much for same reasons that I voted chavez, I’m gonna shore up the next runners up, in hopes that we can get a rally going: “Save Jefferson”.
Audie Murphy
Audie Murphy
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
John Brown
John Brown
James K. Polk
James K. Polk
Tecumseh
Tecumseh
No offense whatsoever to Red Skeezix (some of my voting has been on a similar basis), and just as a suggestion for next game, this is what I was thinking of: Red could have cast opposite-signed votes for Jefferson, the absolute values of the votes needing to sum to 10.
Just a reminder, the current round of voting will conclude at noon EST tomorrow, Washington’s Birthday, Mon. Feb. 22.
Calm down, kid. Polk is gonna be safe this round, no one’s gunning for him.
Standings update:
1 Andrew Carnegie 17
2 George S. Patton 15
3 J.P. Morgan 12
4 Thomas Jefferson 10
4 James K. Polk 10
6 Audie Murphy 9
7 Leonard Bernstein 8
7 John Brown 8
7 Tecumseh 8
10 Philo T. Farnsworth 7
John Adams 5
Aaron Copland 5
John Marshall 5
Sitting Bull 5
Joshua Chamberlain 5
Henry Bergh 4
Langston Hughes 4
Helen Keller 4
Jim Thorpe 4
Jesse Owens 4
Albert Einstein 2
Thomas Nast 2
Jackie Robinson 2
John J. Pershing 2
Upton Sinclair 2
Walt Whitman 2
Dwight D. Eisenhower
George Gershwin
Lewis and Clark
James Madison
Edward R. Murrow
Edgar Allen Poe
Will Rogers
Jonas Salk
John von Neumann
You were saying?
This is turning out to be a very strange game. Still think Washington is going to take it again.
Given the way this round has played out, I am forced to change my votes:
James Polk
George Patton
Audie Murphy 2
Leonard Bernstein 3
John Brown 3
It does hurt to have to cast votes for people I genuinely respect, but as I said above, Jefferson is too important a figure in American history to bounce like this.