The President Elimination Game

The Game Room
1041

Eisenhower.

Though done for enlightened self-interest, the Marshall Plan was the greatest act of charity in all of history, and almost certainly contributed to Europe’s rapid recovery, as well as the defeat of Communist sentiments in Western Europe. Selling this hugely expensive program to the American people and Congress was a very difficult achievement.

As a percentage of GDP, Truman’s aid would correspond to $200 billion annually today. Instead U.S. aid today is about $20 billion, or perhaps $2 billion when aid to Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, and anti-Drug programs are excluded.

Eisenhower’s Highway System was a good thing. It wasn’t a Marshall Plan.

1042

Ike. Like others have said, he did a good job, but he’s the least impressive in this list of greats.

1043

Truman.

1044

Ike.

1045

Eisenhower. Truman got a lot of shit during his term, much (not all) of it undeserved.

1046

I like Ike, but not enough to save him this round.

Eisenhower.

1047

Eisenhower

1048

Truman

1049

I like Ike too, and don’t want to vote him out yet, though the trend looks to be going against him. I can’t think of another pithy reason to vote for Truman, though. So, I’ll be a little nutty and vote for:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

I really can’t criticize his wartime leadership, but it was the New Deal was an experiment that failed to pull us out of the Great Depression before the need to switch to a wartime economy.

1050

I’m just nutty enough, I might vote to dump FDR before HST… but not just yet.

1051

Morning vote count:

Eisenhower 13
Truman 6
FDR 1

Surprised how big a gap there is between Eisenhower and Truman - the two were VERY close in my mind. Also, Teddy Roosevelt is now the only President not to receive a vote.

ETA: Voting closes today at 2 PM.

1052

Truman again

1053

Eisenhower.

1054

Incidentally, there’s further speculation as to FDR’s health: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/health/05docs.html?emc=eta1

1055

And they are very close-so much so that only one other candidate got a vote.

1056

Vote count:

Eisenhower 14
Truman 7
FDR 1

1057

That’s the final for this round, right?

1058

The voters like Ike, but not enough to make him a top 5 president.

George Washington (None, 1789-1797)
Abraham Lincoln (Republican, 1861-1865)
Theodore Roosevelt (Republican, 1901-1909)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Democrat, 1933-1945)
Harry S. Truman (Democrat, 1945-1953)

Eliminated Presidents:

  1. James Buchanan (Democrat, 1857-1861)
  2. Franklin Pierce (Democrat, 1853-1857)
  3. Andrew Johnson (National Union, 1865-1869)
  4. Warren Harding (Republican, 1921-1923)
  5. Millard Fillmore (Whig, 1850-1853)
  6. Richard Milhous Nixon (Republican, 1969-1974)
  7. Herbert Hoover (Republican, 1929-1933)
  8. Ronald Reagan (Republican, 1981-1989)
  9. Andrew Jackson (Democrat, 1829-1837)
  10. Rutherford Hayes (Republican, 1877-1881)
  11. Ulysses Grant (Republican, 1869-1877)
  12. John Tyler (Whig, 1841-1845)
  13. James Earl Carter (Democrat, 1977-1981)
  14. James Madison (Democratic-Republican, 1809-1817)
  15. Martin Van Buren (Democrat, 1837-1841)
  16. Woodrow Wilson (Democrat, 1913-1921)
  17. Calvin Coolidge (Republican, 1923-1929)
  18. John Adams (Federalist, 1797-1801)
  19. Benjamin Harrison (Republican, 1889-1893)
  20. Gerald Ford (Republican, 1974-1977)
  21. Zachary Taylor (Whig, 1849-1850)
  22. George Herbert Walker Bush (Republican, 1989-1993)
  23. John Quincy Adams (Democratic-Republican, 1825-1829)
  24. Chester Arthur (Republican, 1881-1885)
  25. John Fitzgerald Kennedy (Democrat, 1961-1963)
  26. William McKinley (Republican, 1897-1901)
  27. William Howard Taft (Republican, 1909-1913)
  28. Lyndon Baines Johnson (Democrat, 1963-1969)
  29. William Jefferson Clinton (Democrat, 1993-2001)
  30. James Monroe (Democratic-Republican, 1817-1825)
  31. Grover Cleveland (Democrat, 1885-1889, 1893-1897)
  32. Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican, 1801-1809)
  33. James K. Polk (Democrat, 1845-1849)
  34. Dwight Eisenhower (Republican, 1953-1961)

For me, this round comes down to Harry Truman and Theodore Roosevelt, and that choice comes down to something like degree of difficulty. Roosevelt had an immensely creative presidency, and was not nearly as bellicose as his rhetoric when not in power might have indicated. His presidency in some ways laid the foundation for the American century. But he also did not bear the same kinds of responsibility that the wartime presidents bore; in many ways he had a much freeer hand than his cousin, or than Harry Truman.

It’s a very tough choice. I will vote for Theodore Roosevelt, but I might change my mind later.

Voting closes Friday at 2 PM.

1059

Yeah, distracted by this petty thing called “work” earlier in the afternoon.

1060

In my mind it comes down to Truman or, surprisingly, FDR. I think FDR handled the war admirably, but he wasn’t around for the cleanup. On the domestic front, a lot of his response to the Depression was ineffective until the war; still he gets points for actually trying things and not sitting back and waiting for the economy to improve by iteself. He was also inspirational and popular (you don’t get elected four times without doing something right). But I wonder what his legacy would have been if not for WWII. His cousin Teddy didn’t need a war to achieve distinction.

Major props to Harry Truman for the Marshall plan, for avoiding war with the Soviets, and for setting up Japan to reinvent itself as a modern democracy. In a lot of ways, fighting a war is easier than keeping the peace (even George W. Bush could lead us in a war).

I started out this post leaning toward Truman but I think I’ve talked myself into a futile vote for FDR.