The float was sponsored by the Democratic Party office in Montgomery County, TX, an area that pretty reliably votes 65% Republican, so, you know, bit of an uphill climb for local recognition.
Anyway, the float was decorated with several large photos of persons noted as Democrats, labeled “America’s Heroes”. Five that I saw for certain were:
Barack Obama
Franklin Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Lyndon Johnson
Sally Ride
There might have been a different set on the other side of the float; I couldn’t see.
So, I’m looking for opinions: is this the cream of the crop? I mean no way they’re not going to include the sitting President, and I voted for Obama twice, but is he really a ‘hero’? Same for LBJ; seems like it might be a bit of pandering to the Texas crowd there. Yeah, there’s the civil rights thing, but then there’s also the Viet Nam thing.
Hubert Humphrey has to be on the list for driving the Democratic Party to reject segregation. It’s not like politicians are heroic very often, but I’ll go with that. Possibly Sam Houston should be on the list.
And Lyndon Johnson definitely deserves it. He’s one of the most important presidents in our history. He’s a hero of mine and without him I probably wouldn’t be so strongly Democratic.
Yes, Vietnam was fucked up. But great men make big mistakes.
I agree with LBJ and the Roosevelts. I think there has to be a Kennedy in there, and I could make a case for JFK, RFK or Ted. It depends on your definition of what a “hero” is. JFK didn’t accomplish that much and is really more of a symbol of youthful idealism cut short, but he is a very important and enduring symbol all over the world. He still inspires many.
Others worthy of consideration: Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter.
Yes, this. Why Sally Ride? If you’re gonna choose a hero from the Democrat Astronaut Party, one would think John Glenn would be the one. First American astronaut to do the full-orbit thang, splashed down to a Phenomenal Hero’s Welcome And Tickertape Parade In New York Like Nobody’s Ever Seen!!! then became politically active and was a United States Senator for years and years. Finally, in his golden years, took one more swing around the globe on a Space Shuttle trip.
Franklin and Eleanor, sure. HHH should probably have been there. Edwin Stanton although I don’t think most people today have any idea who he is. To get much past that we either have to head for celebrities or people like LBJ and George Wallace that did do some good but bring a certain amount of baggage and debate along with them.
Yeah, I agree with the first two responses, oddly enough. Replace Sally Ride with Hubert Humphrey, and you’re much of the way there.
The modern Democratic Party is sort of the party of the Roosevelts, Humphrey, and LBJ. Democrats before FDR were less consistently populist, and could be pretty racist by modern standards. So despite the fact that the name and organization date to Andrew Jackson, that was kind of a different party.
I wonder if the Republicans will let us have Teddy Roosevelt, given that his policies and politics seen from todays 'Publicans would definitely put him in the ‘radical socialist’ camp.
FDR and LBJ are both heroes as both dramatically expanded the federal government in scope. I wouldn’t count Obama, Clinton, Carter, Truman, etc.
I have no idea who 3 other heroes would be. Probably people who helped organize movements (labor movements, progressive movements, community movements, social movements), but I’m not educated enough to know who they would be.
Also keep in mind the democratic party was the party of small town conservatives up until recently. So who would modern democrats (who tend to lean large city liberals) find that they consider heroes in a party that was in favor of jim crow for 100 years?
Definitely agree with Hubert H Humphrey-he was and remains the best of American liberalism and quite frankly of the American nation itself. In terms of consistent and forceful advocacy of liberal politics, vision, impassioned oratory, honesty, and sheer decency I find him a class of his own among 20th Century politicians, and indeed was probably the closest the last century had to a Lincoln.
Arguably, William Jennings Bryan deserves a place despite his prohibitionist and anti-Darwinist views (which appear to have been driven more by his dislike of Social Darwinism than Biblical literalism) considering he was the first prominent Democrat to espouse government intervention in the economy in favour of the common man. James K. Polk was probably one of the most influential Democratic Presidents (along with FDR, Truman, LBJ, and Obama) this country has had but he obviously is a very controversial figure.
People give Woodrow Wilson a hard time, but he Did make The League of Nations happen when no one else could have or would have.
You can thank him for “The Federal Reserve Act, Federal Trade Commission Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Federal Farm Loan Act and a small income tax.” per wikipedia.
I campaigned for Jimmy Carter as a adolescent. I still have a 1x3 foot campaign poster that reads, “Para Nuevo Comienzo” with bright green borders that I’d love to show him (and maybe get signed) but I know that that’s a pipe dream.
I know a lot of bad circumstances tarnished his presidency, but I think most of the hard measures he enforced turned the economy to a point where it made Reagan look good the next term.
I MISS having the national debt paid off and having a great job in the 90s. I’d shake Bill Clinton’s hand any day… but its even money as to whether or not I’d spit in the face of Linda Tripp.
They say that Truman was a miserable take-no-crap sonofabitch… but I’d STILL take him as President over any 20 Republicans alive today that you can name.
