# Who would have made a good US President? (Realistic answers please) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 25, 2014, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-made-a-good-us-president-realistic-answers-please/696423 "2014-08-25T02:45:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-made-a-good-us-president-realistic-answers-please/696423/1 "2014-08-25T02:45:51Z")
By “realistic answers” I basically mean people who would have stood a realistic chance of actually becoming President… so, no “Jerry Garcia”'s, please. In the history of the US, which one person who never made it to the Presidency would you award the White House to if you had the power? Bonus points if it’s someone who was an actual major-party Presidential candidate. I’ll go with Benjamin Franklin. He might actually not have made a good President, but it would have been interesting. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-made-a-good-us-president-realistic-answers-please/696423/2 "2014-08-25T02:54:48Z")
Mitt Romney couldn’t possibly do worse than Obama. Nixon and Kennedy nearly tied. Two states would have made the difference. Nixon was very strong in foreign policy. I think he would have handled Viet Nam differently and avoided the escalation. Maybe he wouldn’t have stumbled into the Watergate fiasco. Something we’ll never know. Historically, I’m not that familiar with candidates that ran and didn’t win the presidency. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-made-a-good-us-president-realistic-answers-please/696423/3 "2014-08-25T03:24:49Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Mitt Romney couldn’t possibly do worse than Obama. Oh yes he could! > [@aceplace57](#): > > Nixon and Kennedy nearly tied. Two states would have made the difference. Nixon was very strong in foreign policy. I think he would have handled Viet Nam differently and avoided the escalation. That’s funny. As I remember it, Nixon _did_ get to be president, escalated things in Vietnam (not to mention neighboring countries) considerably, yet still somehow managed to lose the war. And somehow his presidency did not work out too well, either for the country or for Nixon’s own reputation. Of course if he had been elected earlier … well, I wonder how he would have handled the Cuban missile crisis? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-made-a-good-us-president-realistic-answers-please/696423/4 "2014-08-25T03:35:06Z")
Robert F. Kennedy had a decent shot at the job, and probably would have been okay at it. To be honest, I don’t think he would have been one of the greats. It’s even conceivable he wouldn’t have been as good as Nixon. (But he certainly wouldn’t have been as bad as Nixon!) Adlai Stevenson, who also had an outside shot at it, might have been okay. Hard to know if he had the guts to stand up to communism. On the other hand, he might have let the diplomats do the job we pay them for, and the world might have been a better place. John Anderson or H. Ross Perot? Sorry, no. Much too limited. Robert La Follette? Well, maybe. William Jennings Bryan? Hm… My instinct is to say, “Oh, fuck, no,” but I don’t know if that’s fair. Maybe he would have risen to the occasion. Barry Goldwater? I don’t think so…but I’ll confess immediately to prejudice. Anyone want to speak for him? Would he have done the right things, or only right-wing things? ---
**Author:** ![babygoat666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2acd7d/32.png) [@babygoat666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/babygoat666)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-made-a-good-us-president-realistic-answers-please/696423/5 "2014-08-25T03:35:41Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Mitt Romney couldn’t possibly do worse than Obama. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha… (deep breath) hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!! Gold, Jerry. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-made-a-good-us-president-realistic-answers-please/696423/6 "2014-08-25T03:39:48Z")
John Wayne would’ve been effective in the role, much like Reagan. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-made-a-good-us-president-realistic-answers-please/696423/7 "2014-08-25T03:47:38Z")
Garret Hobart came really close to becoming President and from what I’ve heard about him he would have done a good job. (Hobart was McKinley’s first Vice President. He died in office in 1899 at the age of 55. If he had lived, he undoubtedly would have been re-elected with McKinley in 1900 and would have assumed the Presidency when McKinley was assassinated.) ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-made-a-good-us-president-realistic-answers-please/696423/8 "2014-08-25T03:55:34Z")
It’s often said that Milton Eisenhower was better qualified than the brother who did become president. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-made-a-good-us-president-realistic-answers-please/696423/9 "2014-08-25T04:06:29Z")
I’d like to suggest Robert Taft, senator from Ohio and son of President Taft. Although he died too soon (1953) if he had been elected in 1948 (a possibility if he could have gotten the nomination instead of Dewey) and lived out his 8-year term to 1956, I think this country would have ended up very different. I always thought that Allen Drury’s character Orrin Knox was modeled on Robert Taft. Especially in the later books, after Advise and Consent, where he successfully ran for president. Not, particularly, the way he was portrayed in the film. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-made-a-good-us-president-realistic-answers-please/696423/10 "2014-08-25T04:24:02Z")
Wasn’t Taft an isolationist? I wonder how that would have played out during the Korean War. Would he have let China have South Korea? Would he have let China have Taiwan? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-made-a-good-us-president-realistic-answers-please/696423/11 "2014-08-25T04:34:26Z")
Barbara Jordan was born in the wrong time and place, but if she’d been born in 1966 instead of 1936, maybe she would have been the first black president-- or the second, and the first woman. I think if Tsongas hadn’t become ill again, he had a really good shot at the dem primary. I think Chappaquiddick ruined Ted Kennedy’s chances at the presidency, buy were it not for that, he could have been Carter’s VP, and then run against Bush (pere). Bush had none of Reagan’s charisma, and won only because Dukakis was a mistake. Kennedy could have been a two-termer, and the southern Clinton would have been a good running mate. I think an incumbent Clinton-Gore would have beaten Bush (fils) in 2000 (albeit, I have no idea who the Reps would have run in 1996; Bush [fils]-Quayle? …nah; Dole?). I don’t know who the Reps would have run in 2004, but if it were McCain-Palin, Chaney-Palin, or Cheney-McCain, I think Gore-H. Clinton, or Gore-Obama could have won. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-made-a-good-us-president-realistic-answers-please/696423/12 "2014-08-25T04:36:03Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Mitt Romney couldn’t possibly do worse than Obama. I kind of doubt that any person on earth could do a good job as President right now. Simply put, the President of the USA has too many duties, oversight of too many departments and offices and bureaus, too many symbolic duties (such as attending funerals), and too many national and world events to comment on. It’s certainly true that Obama has made the problem worse for himself by insisting on posing as an expert on everything, including things where the President shouldn’t be involved. (The Zimmerman/Martin case comes to mind.) However, the job of President would be overwhelming even for someone who didn’t wade into such fiascoes. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-made-a-good-us-president-realistic-answers-please/696423/13 "2014-08-25T04:39:01Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Mitt Romney couldn’t possibly do worse than Obama. I think he would have done a whole lot better. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-made-a-good-us-president-realistic-answers-please/696423/14 "2014-08-25T04:48:20Z")
Henry Clay. His ability to get factions to make concessions would’ve helped forestall the Civil War, maybe even avert it. Slavery could’ve been allowed to die its slow, natural death. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-made-a-good-us-president-realistic-answers-please/696423/15 "2014-08-25T04:50:27Z")
ITR: An African-American shouldn’t share thoughts about the violent, unprovoked death of an African-American teen? ---
**Author:** ![MrsTime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@MrsTime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrsTime)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-made-a-good-us-president-realistic-answers-please/696423/16 "2014-08-25T05:01:56Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Barry Goldwater? I don’t think so…but I’ll confess immediately to prejudice. Anyone want to speak for him? Would he have done the right things, or only right-wing things? Yes I will speak for Goldwater, todays right wingers would call him a liberal. He was a sensible man, would have made a great president if Americans hadn’t been so scared by that stupid commercial . Goldwater wasn’t about to drop a bomb on anyone, nor would electing him have caused tghe US to get bombed. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-made-a-good-us-president-realistic-answers-please/696423/17 "2014-08-25T05:24:23Z")
Thaddeus Stevens? ---
**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:** [August 25, 2014, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-made-a-good-us-president-realistic-answers-please/696423/18 "2014-08-25T05:24:47Z")
George McGovern. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-made-a-good-us-president-realistic-answers-please/696423/19 "2014-08-25T05:33:46Z")
How about Thomas Dewey? The guy that the newspapers erroneously declared President. He was Gov of New York (1943–1954). Would he have been better or worse than Truman? > **[Thomas E. Dewey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_E._Dewey#Governor_of_New_York)** > > Thomas Edmund Dewey (March 24, 1902 – March 16, 1971) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 47th Governor of New York from 1943 to 1954. He was the Republican Party's nominee for president of the United States in 1944 and 1948, losing the latter election to Harry S. Truman in a major upset. The 288 combined electoral votes Dewey received from both elections place him second behind William Jennings Bryan as the candidate with the most electoral votes who never acceded to the p... > [@](#): > > Usually regarded as an honest and highly effective governor, Dewey doubled state aid to education; increased salaries for state employees; and still reduced the state’s debt by over $100 million. Additionally, he put through the first state law in the country that prohibited racial discrimination in employment. As governor, Dewey also signed legislation that created the State University of New York. He played a major role in the creation of the New York State Thruway, which was eventually named in his honor. Dewey also streamlined and consolidated many state agencies to make them more efficient. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-made-a-good-us-president-realistic-answers-please/696423/20 "2014-08-25T07:11:49Z")
James M. Cox would have made a much better president than Warren Harding – and he had a particularly fine VP candidate running with him. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-made-a-good-us-president-realistic-answers-please/696423.md?page=2)