rubber soul

RICHARD NIXON (PART 2)





Election of 1972: Despite the problems with inflation, everything else seemed to be going quite well and President Nixon was relatively popular. After his goodwill trip to China his popularity swelled even more and there didn’t seem to be much doubt he’d win re-election.

But Nixon was also, arguably, the most insecure President in history as well, at least before Trump, anyway. So, his campaign group, the Committee to Re-elect the President, or CREEP for short, went back into their bag of dirty tricks.

And the biggest victim was Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine. The former Vice Presidential candidate was considered the Democratic frontrunner in February 1972. So, Donald Segretti and Ken Lawson forged a letter, known as the Canuck letter, that suggested Muskie was prejudiced against French Canadians. This was printed in the Manchester Union Leader and Muskie was forced to respond. He was a bit emotional as Americans learned the important lesson that you’re not allowed to cry in politics, or you’ll be considered a loony bird. Muskie never recovered from the dirty trick.

Muskie did hang on until May, though, as other candidates vied for the Democratic nomination such as George Wallace, Shirley Chisholm, Hubert Humphrey, and George McGovern. The Nixon camp badly wanted the liberal, but flighty, McGovern as he seemed to be the easiest candidate to beat in November. The Democrats knew this too as they tried to do everything they could, short of a stop McGovern movement, even trying to deny him the California delegates that would have put him over the top.

Before the fun and games at the Democratic Convention though, a couple of matters of significant importance occurred. In Laurel, Maryland, George Wallace, still pushing his law and order against blacks mantra, was shot, and paralyzed by a weirdo not unlike John Hinckley really. Wallace would win the Maryland and Michigan primaries, but his presidential aspirations were over (and, on the positive side, a lot of that hateful racism was too).

The other major event didn’t get a lot of press at the time, but it would ultimately lead to the downfall of Nixon. On June 17, 1972, five men connected with CREEP were caught breaking in to the DNC offices at the Watergate Hotel. Nixon, through G. Gordon Liddy and others, tried to cover the incident up with mixed success, but enough to get them past November. This, of course, marked the beginning of the Watergate scandal.

But back to the election. After McGovern won his court battle, he was awarded the California delegates and he won the nomination. He then picked Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri as his running mate- for a week. Seems that he had been treated for depression in the past which is another lesson learned: Never see a psychiatrist or people will think you’re a loony bird, just kill yourself instead. The nervous nellies of the Democratic Party dumped Eagleton as a result and went with Sargent Shriver as the running mate instead. Shriver was a Kennedy in-law so what could possibly go wrong there?

As it turned out, nothing, but it didn’t matter. Nixon won in the biggest landslide to date with more than 60% of the popular vote, McGovern winning only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.

So, America went with Nixon, and they got what they wanted, whether they liked it or not.

Second Term: The second term started out promisingly enough for President Nixon as he signed the Vietnam Peace Accords. There would still be some non-combatants in Vietnam for the next two years, but the fighting part of the war was over for Americans. Plus, the POW’s were all coming home.

The glad handing that the Vietnam War was over didn’t last very long, however, because after the Watergate burglars were sentenced to prison, the press, then Congress, began to jump on the scandal that was now becoming full blown. Several aides were connected to the break-in including Chief of Staff Hadleman and Attorney General (now former AG) Mitchell. Nixon too got involved by trying to cover up the cover up. He invoked Executive Privilege, ostensibly to protect his aides, but really, to protect himself. When that didn’t work, he threw his aides under the bus, notably his White House lawyer, John Dean, who was willing to tell the truth about the whole mess.

And, indeed, as the Senate held their Watergate hearings, it would be John Dean that would expose the scandal for what it was as he told the committee that he told Nixon that it was a cancer on the Presidency. Even worse, it was confirmed that Nixon had been taping practically everything in the White House. By now a special prosecutor had been assigned to the Watergate case and there was a battle between Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, Congress, Judge John Sirica, and the White House, for rights to hear the tapes. Needless to say, the White House was stonewalling.

Meanwhile, Watergate wasn’t the only crisis brewing. In 1973, Israel was at war with Syria and Egypt again, this time in the Yom Kippur War. Again, Israel won out, but this time, the Arab nations decided they were going to stop selling gas to the West, thus, the Energy crisis had begun.

And yet, there was another scandal in the Administration, and it had nothing to do with Watergate. You see, Vice President Spiro Agnew of Maryland (don’t remind me), was being investigated for taking kickbacks from when he was a County Executive. As a result, he pleaded Nolo Contendre and resigned as Vice President.

Now, after Kennedy had been assassinated, they pushed through an Amendment giving the President the right to pick a new Vice President upon confirmation by the Senate. Nixon got to be the first President to do just that, but he also had to have the approval of the Democratic controlled Senate, so he wasn’t going to get one of his buddies in, that was for sure.

So, upon the advice of fellow Republicans, he made what may have been the best decision of his Presidency. He chose House Minority Leader Gerald Ford of Michigan, a conservative to be sure, but also a man of impeccable character. He would win confirmation easily.

Now back to Watergate and the beginning of the end. Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox was still demanding the tapes and Nixon continued to stonewall to the point that Cox took him to court. Cox was also defying Nixon’s orders to basically lay off and drop the subpoena.

So, on October 20, 1973, Nixon ordered his Attorney General, Eliot Richardson, to fire Cox. Unfortunately, for Nixon, he appointed an honest man and Richardson refused and resigned. Likewise, so did his deputy AG when he was ordered. Finally, he got Robert Bork to do the dastardly deed. This act even outraged some Republicans and for the first time, serious talk of impeachment was on the table.

And impeachment hearings were the rage in 1974. The House now had their own special committee. Hillary Rodham was actually one of the aides. They were spirited hearings to say the least as the Republicans were split between Nixon loyalists and the ones more outraged at his behavior. Even the Democrats had a couple of Southern sympathizers (Nixon still held some popularity in the South).

After some back and forth between Nixon and the courts, the Supreme Court finally ordered Nixon to give up the tapes. He did, but not before the House Judiciary Committee recommended impeachment. It was a foregone conclusion he would be impeached.

And, after hearing the tapes, it was pretty obvious the Senate was going to remove him from office as well as not only did most of Nixon’s defenders turn on him, but Senator Goldwater also told Nixon that there were only four Senators that would vote to acquit him- he was not one of them.

So, on August 8, 1974, Richard Nixon announced he would resign the Presidency the next day. As such, he became to first President to truly leave the White House in disgrace.


Post Presidency: After leaving Washington, the first thing people wondered was if he would be prosecuted. A pardon by President Ford would answer that question and, after a serious bout of phlebitis, Nixon set on his way to redeem his image. In 1977, he did a series of interviews with David Frost where he infamously said, “It’s not illegal when the President does it” Still, he was reluctantly accepted as an elder statesman and often would be asked about international issues, sometimes by the President of the day.

Though never fully regaining his dignity, Nixon would die less broken than he had been twenty years before.

Odd notes: Nixon had a bowling alley installed under the White House

Nixon almost won Charles Manson a mistrial

Nixon was in a photo op with Elvis Presley



Final Summary: Okay, this one is a little tough. It would be easy to give Nixon an F just for Watergate and the enemies list alone, but he does have some foreign policy accomplishments. He did do things to make the environment a little better (the first Earth Day was during his Presidency).

Still, even without Watergate, I don’t seem him rating better than a C (conservatives will probably disagree with me on this). He was paranoid to a fault, and it did affect how he ran the White House (it’s also probably why we got Watergate to begin with). He encouraged secret files on those he didn’t like, and he did play dirty when it came to politics, just ask Edmund Muskie.

But it is ultimately Watergate that not only brings Nixon down as a President, but as a man. And, really, when you rely on destroying people’s lives to get what you want rather than relying on your own strengths (which he actually had in abundance, he just never trusted himself), you just come off as a little man.

And, in the end, that’s what Richard Nixon was, a little man.

Overall rating: D

https://millercenter.org/president/nixon

__________________

rubber soul

38. GERALD FORD (I beg your pardon...)



Born: July 14, 1913, Omaha, Nebraska
Died: December 26, 2006, Rancho Mirage, California

Term: August 9, 1974- January 20, 1977
Political Party: Republican

Vice President: Nelson Rockefeller

First Lady: Betty Bloomer Ford

Before the Presidency: Gerald Ford was born as Leslie King, Jr., in Omaha, Nebraska. His father was a wife beating alcoholic and the mother moved to Grand Rapids Michigan when Leslie was three. There she met Gerald Rudolph Ford who raised young Leslie as if he were his own son. He only learned as a teenager that the elder Ford was not his biological father. It didn’t matter to him, though, and he would change his name to Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr.

Ford excelled well in school, starring in football, and finishing in the top five percent of his class. He worked his way through college, majoring in economics. He was also one of the better football centers in the country and it won him a scholarship to the University of Michigan. He excelled at football and both the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions offered him a contract. He turned them both down because he wanted to enter law school. He ended up being an Assistant Coach at Yale so he could attend law school there. He graduated with honors in 1941. While at Yale, Ford became acquainted with a who’s who of future politicians including Robert Taft, future Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, and future Secretary of State Cyrus Vance among others.

Ford returned to Michigan in 1941 to open a law practice. Of course, this was also the time World War II broke out in the Pacific and, like most of the Presidents of his generation, he joined the Navy. He proved to be a dependable officer, being involved in a handful of naval battles with the Japanese. He was awarded ten battle stars and came away with the notion that the US must stay engaged in international affairs.

When Ford returned home, he got involved in politics. He met and married Betty Bloomer and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1948.

Ford was a popular congressman within his own district as he would be re-elected twelve times. He also gained importance in the House as the years went, first becoming a member of the House Appropriations Committee. He was a staunch anti-Communist and supported both Republican and Democratic Presidents that hoped to contain Soviet and Chinese power.

Congressman Ford also developed a reputation for being able to work with both parties. He was known as a hard worker with a lot of integrity and gained the trust of his congressional colleagues. Of course, he was a Republican and he supported the Presidential bids of Eisenhower and Nixon. Ford, in fact, was one of Nixon’s biggest defenders when Nixon was embroiled in controversy in 1952.

Heavy losses in 1962 and 1964 meant changes in the Republican Party and Ford would benefit from it. As one of the most respected people in Congress he served on the Warren Commission that investigated the Kennedy Assassination. In 1965, he won the election for House Minority Leader where he quickly became one of President Johnson’s biggest critics on his Great Society programs. A moderate conservative, he endorsed George Romney for President in 1964 but happily switched to Goldwater when he procured the nomination.

Ford also supported the Vietnam War, his biggest criticism being that Johnson didn’t prosecute the war vigorously enough. Ford, of course, and like most Republicans, supported Nixon’s bid for President in 1968 but the Nixon White House viewed Ford as an intellectual lightweight (and they should know, right?). Ford, nevertheless, supported Nixon’s policies, notably, Nixon’s initiatives for welfare reform. He also supported the détente with the Soviet Union and stronger relations with Red China.

Ford won his last election in 1972 and had decided he would serve two more terms then retire in 1977. He had served Congress as honorably as one could, and he had nothing else to prove.

But Spiro Agnew got in the way.

Summary of offices held: 1942-1946, United States Navy, Lieutenant Commander

1949-1973: House of Representatives, Michigan

1965-1973: House Minority Leader

1973-1974: Vice President of the United States.




What was going on: Post-Watergate, Fall of Saigon, Swine Flu vaccine fiasco, Energy crisis

Scandals within his administration: Earl Butz racist comments

Why he was a good President: He healed the country after Watergate, pure and simple.

Why he was a bad President: Though he certainly meant well, he made some tactical errors, plus he was very reluctant to open the purse strings making one think in another time, he could have been Herbert Hoover.

What could have saved his Presidency: A stronger economic backbone maybe. He failed at getting the US out of a recession just like Nixon and later Carter.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: He could have been Spiro Agnew

How he became Vice President: Watergate was the dominant news event of 1973, of course, but another scandal was also emerging. This had to do with Vice President Spiro Agnew. He resigned as part of a deal to avoid prison for accepting bribes as County Executive, Governor of Maryland (I could have a field day with corrupt Governors of Maryland), and Vice President. Under the 25th Amendment, the President could appoint a new Vice President with confirmation by the Senate and the House. Of all the men on Nixon’s short list, Ford was the only one that a majority of both houses would deem worthy, so, he was tabbed as the new Vice President with an overwhelming majority of both houses confirming him. He took the oath on the House floor.

As Vice President, he would at first vigorously defend the President, but as more information came to light, he would temper his remarks. As it was, Ford was able to stay distant from the Watergate controversy itself. Ford, in fact, was one of those who urged Nixon to release the tapes. He finally broke with Nixon days before his resignation noting it was impossible for Nixon to claim it wasn’t an impeachable offense.

Ford, now seeing the writing on the wall, spoke with his advisers in anticipation of becoming President upon Nixon’s resignation or removal. On August 8, 1974, Nixon announced his resignation.

And, on August 9, Gerald Ford was the 38th President of the United States.

First term: As Ford was sworn in, he announced that, “Our long national nightmare is over.” Deep inside, he knew he had only one job to do, and that was to restore faith in American Government. In some ways, he got off to a rocky start, however, when he decided to pardon Nixon. This especially upset the Democrats and they held hearings to determine if something improper had been done. President Ford himself testified before the committee, the first President to ever do so, and he acquitted himself quite well, saying that the country had to heal. It was easily his most controversial decision, and some think it may have ultimately cost him the presidency in 1976.

Nevertheless, Ford was able to get Watergate into his rear view mirror, and he was able to address the immediate needs of the country. For starters, the US was still in an energy crisis and he, along with Congress, found ways to alleviate the pain by keeping Daylight Savings Time throughout the winter for example. Ford also granted a limited amnesty to draft evaders on the condition they perform alternative service. Unfortunately, not many would take that olive branch and it would be his successor, Jimmy Carter, that would make amnesty more palatable.

Ford, like Nixon before him and Carter afterwards, struggled with inflation. He was no more successful than Nixon had been with his Whip Inflation Now program and by the time he left office in 1977, the United States would be in the throes of a recession.

Other domestic issues that Ford failed to address included busing, and the racial violence that surrounded it and the New Yok City bailout, which Ford opposed to the point that one paper’s headline read: PRESIDENT FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD. Ford would eventually relent, however, and New York City was saved from default.

President Ford fared better when it came to foreign affairs. He favored détente with the Soviet Union and signed the Helsinki Accords in 1975. Like Nixon’s pardon, it grew plenty of criticism, this time from both parties, but it did put us another step away from nuclear war.

A bigger headache though would be Vietnam. Yes, the American troops were home, but the US was still economically supporting South Vietnam’s military, though on a limited basis. By 1975, the North Vietnamese were making its final drive on Saigon. Ford asked Congress for more military assistance, but they offered humanitarian aid only.

It wouldn’t have mattered anyway; Saigon fell in late April 1975 and the US was out of Vietnam once and for all. A month later, the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia seized the cargo ship Mayaguez, creating an international incident. Ford ordered a commando raid to free the crew and 40 Americans died as a result, but the Khmer Rouge did ultimately release the vessel.

While President, Ford learned that the CIA was not quite the squeaky clean organization that he thought. He appointed Vice President Rockefeller to do an investigation. Meanwhile, the Senate had a select committee of its own. In no real surprise, Rockefeller cleared the CIA while Senator Frank Church more or less condemned them. Ford took the middle road, firing director William Colby and replacing him with George Bush.

In popular culture, Ford garnered quite a bit of sympathy. He seemed clumsy at times, tripping on the Air Force One steps for example, and Chevy Chase in particular, savagely lampooned him. Ford took it in stride, however.

In more serious notes, Ford would survive two assassination attempts in September 1975 and even be involved in an auto accident the following month. It seemed like the poor guy was cursed. But he took it in stride; he knew how to be the President when it really mattered.

Ford’s last year in office had him partly busy with battling Reagan and Carter for the Presidency but it was also the year of his last political blunder, that of the Swine Flu vaccine. There was a bit of a scare with the swine flu virus and President Ford, well to be fair, everyone really, was pushing for everyone to take the new Swine Flu vaccine. Unfortunately, it had some pretty severe side effects and 32 people died before the vaccinations were stopped.

So, it wasn’t the luckiest two and half years for President Ford, but he did manage to bring trust and integrity back to the office. That has to count for something.



Election of 1976: Ford, wanting to be elected in his own right, announced his candidacy in late 1975. One would have though the Republicans would have been behind him since he essentially followed their policies, albeit with not a lot of success.

But Ronald Reagan, who we’re going to hear a lot about from now on, decided that maybe 1976 was his time. Indeed, he had a lot of backing from conservatives who disagreed with Ford’s détente policies as well as his economic policies (their mantra was, America, drop dead). It promised to be a rough and tumble contest.

In the end and after a closely fought primary season, Ford narrowly won the nomination, but Reagan left with quite a bit of clout as he okayed Ford’s pick for Vice President, Bob Dole of Kansas (Rockefeller had more or less been pushed out).

We’ll cover the Democratic side a little more when we cover Jimmy Carter, but he would prove to be a formidable opponent. Carter was not really a liberal, actually he was more like a born again moderate but, like Ford, he oozed with integrity. And America needed a fresh face after the Hell that was Watergate.

It was a civil but hard fought campaign on both sides. Both sides also agreed on debates, starting a tradition of sorts as there have been debates in each election cycle since then. For the most part, the debates were draws, except for the one gaffe Ford is always remembered for when he asserted that there was no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe. Of course, he later recanted that comment, but he never really got out from under that gaffe. And that, along with the pardoning of Nixon, likely was the difference as he lost a relatively close election to Carter.


Post Presidency: Ford was more or less retired after leaving the White House in 1977, which had been his original plan as a congressman anyway. He stayed publicly active, however, lecturing on college campuses and even doing commentary for NBC briefly. In 1980, he was boosted as Ronald Reagan’s running mate, but the deal went sour when Ford insisted on a stronger presence. Reagan rejected that and went with George Bush. Ford, nonetheless, remained a respected elder statesman in the GOP. He also served on various commissions and corporate boards. He also would make occasional appearances with former President Jimmy Carter, who he would ultimately become friends with.

In 1999, President Clinton gave Ford the Presidential Medal of Freedom for “binding the nation together after the nightmare of Watergate.” He died in 2006 with no one ever questioning his sense of basic decency.

Odd Notes: He once locked himself out of the White House (https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/...ut-gerald-ford)

Chevy Chase doesn’t look a bit like him.


Final Summary: Honestly, Ford isn’t remembered for a lot of personal accomplishments. He obviously wasn’t an economic wizard. He had to sit idly as helicopters were dumped in the South China Sea. There were other things he seemed powerless to accomplish as well.

And, yet he wasn’t an ineffective President. He made the controversial decision to pardon Nixon, not because he deserved it, or he owed him somehow. But it was because it was the right thing to do. He was desperate to heal the country whatever it took and, while it seemed to divide the country more at first, healing was exactly what it did. Even Ted Kennedy, perhaps his biggest detractor, acknowledged that Ford did the right thing.

And Ford was self-depreciating at a time when it was needed. We didn’t get much of that out of Lyndon Johnson and we got none whatsoever from Nixon. But most importantly, he brought a sense of integrity and decency back to the White House not seen since, quite frankly, Eisenhower.

I caught a TV show on the Presidents where Ford had hoped he would leave the country in better shape than when he entered the presidency. So, I guess the question is, did he leave the country in better shape in the end, putting politics aside, of course?

Absolutely.

Overall rating: C+

https://millercenter.org/president/ford

__________________

rubber soul

39. JIMMY CARTER (Smile, though you're heart is aching)



Born: October 1, 1924, Plains, Georgia
Died: At 98, he’s still with us. The oldest ex-President in American history

Term: January 20, 1977- January 20, 1981
Political Party: Democrat

Vice President: Walter Mondale

First Lady: Rosalyn Smith Carter

Before the Presidency: James Earl Carter was the son of a peanut farmer. He grew up in the small town of Plains, Georgia where he learned the value of a hard work ethic from his father, who was a successful businessman. His mother, Lillian, was trained as a nurse and counseled poor African American women on health care matters at a time when whites and blacks were not allowed to mix.

Young Jimmy knew the value of hard work and saving money at a young age. He sold produce from the family farm as early as age ten. At age thirteen he was able to buy five houses that were sold on the cheap. The family then rented the houses out.

Teenage Jimmy became enamored with joining the Navy after receiving letters from his uncle. In 1941 he submitted an application to the United States Naval Academy. That same year, he graduated at the top of his small high school class.

Though World War II had broken out, Carter had to wait two years before being admitted into the Naval Academy. Three years later, he would graduate in the top ten percent of his class.

Carter, now married to Rosalynn Smith and with family, had figured on a career in the Navy. Lieutenant Carter served in the submarine service. An incident in Bermuda gave a glimpse of Carter’s character when British officials offered a party invitation to white crewmembers only. Lieutenant Carter refused the invitation and his crewmembers followed suit, giving a glimpse at both the respect he garnered as well as his basic support of civil rights, something that seemed unusual for a Southerner.

Carter later worked under the famed Admiral Hyman Rickover. Rickover was something of a brutal taskmaster, but Carter came to admire him, even comparing him to his own father (stern but loving basically).

Carter’s naval career was cut short due to tragedy in the family. His father was dying of cancer and the fam was in decline. Carter resigned from the Navy so he could help on the family farm.

Carter returned to Georgia at a critical time in civil rights history. Brown v. Board had been decided by the Supreme Court in 1954 and the Montgomery Bus Boycott would begin over a year later. Times were changing in the South, whether the whites liked it or not. Carter was one of the few whites that actually did like it. As such, he was the only businessman in town to refuse to join the White Citizens Council and it cost him quite a bit of business as he was boycotted. But he stuck to his guns and the boycott slowly fizzled out.

With the farm back up and making a profit, Carter was able to serve on local boards for hospitals and the like. In 1962, he decided on politics and ran for the Georgia State Senate. He initially lost until it was discovered that Carter was the victim of fraudulent voting. A court overturned the election and Carter was in the Georgia Senate.

During his two terms, Carter was known as a hawk when it came to wasteful spending. He also voted with his convictions as a born again Christian as he helped to repeal discriminatory laws against African- Americans. He went even farther as, while his church in Plains voted to keep African Americans out almost unanimously. It was the Carters and a third person that prevented the vote from being totally unanimous.

In 1966, Carter was considering a run for Congress. He opted to run for Governor instead. By now, there was a large white backlash and Carter would lose the nomination to the controversial Lester Maddox. Carter, though, gave it another try in 1970. This time, he knew he had to get some segregationists to vote for him if he was going to win and he distanced himself from African Americans to the point that the Atlanta Constitution called him a racist. It’s something of a sad commentary that you had to be labeled a racist to win in Georgia, but it worked. Jimmy Carter was now the Governor of Georgia.

And imagine the surprise of the segregationists when it turned out Carter wasn’t a racist at all. He called for an end to segregation at his inaugural speech, making national news as a result. He was seen as the symbol of the New South, a much more tolerant version that rejected groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. Carter was definitely a progressive as blacks were much more prominent in state government under him. He also hated wasteful spending as he streamlined a number of state agencies. It wasn’t perfect, as he often clashed with the State Legislature. Indeed, Carter was also seen as a bit arrogant among his peers, but the intentions were always good, and he still was able to make great strides in the environment and education.

Carter would develop National ambitions as he studied the George McGovern campaign in 1972. He was saddened that McGovern had been successfully labeled as an extremist and realized that a new Democrat would be needed in 1976 with maybe more views closer to the center but still nowhere near the right.

And maybe Jimmy Carter was that man.

Summary of offices held:

1946-1953: United States Navy, Lieutenant

1953-1961: United States Navy Reserve, Lieutenant.

1963-1967: Georgia State Senator

1971-1975: Governor of Georgia


What was going on: Energy crisis, Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown, Iranian Hostage Crisis, Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Begin-Sadat peace talks

Scandals within the administration: Bert Lance banking scandal, Debategate

Why he was a good President: Like Ford before him, he brought honesty and integrity back to the White House. His ideals on energy and human rights remain timeless to this day. And, of course, there were the Camp David Accords

Why he was a bad President: He was in over his head with Iran. He also had a rocky relationship with Congress. And maybe he was a bit too hands on for his own good.

What could have saved his Presidency: A successful end to the Iranian Hostage Crisis a little earlier might have been enough.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: A failed Camp David Accords. He could have turned out to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Election of 1976: Jimmy Carter came in as a dark horse for the Democratic nomination. The Democrats had held out hope that maybe Ted Kennedy would give it a run, but he wasn’t ready quite yet.

So, the field was ripe with favorites such as Frank Church of Idaho and Henry Jackson of Washington. By now, the parties depended on voter primaries to nominate the candidate, though they were often fixed to favor the preferred candidate or for whoever had the power at the time (such as Hillary Clinton in 2016). And the voters were trying to run away from Watergate, still fresh on peoples’ minds, as far away as they could. They saw in Jimmy Carter, a sense of honesty and decency, almost as if he were an innocent really, and he proved to be a major candidate once the primaries started. His outsider status scored him victories in the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary, perhaps the two most important primaries in any election. Carter campaigned hard as the others slowly dropped out, his only real opponent at the end was the maverick Governor of California, Jerry Brown, and he was a latecomer.

Carter didn’t have enough delegates to win the nomination going into New York City but by now the super delegates were sold on him and he won nomination on the first ballot. He would choose Senator Walter Mondale of Minnesota as his running mate and Mondale, along with a close working relationship with Carter, would revolutionize the Vice Presidential position by making it much more than just being a stone’s throw away from the Presidency.

After a bitterly fought campaign on the Republican side, Carter would square off with the incumbent President, Gerald Ford. It was, for the most part, a civil campaign on both sides as both candidates were beyond reproach. Of course, as in any election, they had their criticisms of each other, but Ford had to carry the burden of Watergate giving Carter a decided edge.

That edge disappeared though as Carter was also pretty adept at making missteps. In one, he admitted having lust for women in a Playboy interview. That only brought the polls to a dead heat. Ford then made his famous gaffe about no Soviet domination in Eastern Europe.

Then there was the October surprise when Carter’s church denied entry to an African American minister despite Carter’s pleas to allow him in (Carter later nearly left the church over the incident).

It was a close election, the closest since 1960, in fact, but when it was over, Carter would win. The future seemed bright with large Democratic majorities in both houses and the Republicans still trying to recover from Watergate.

And, of course, they would.

First term: President Carter started out with a lot of good will. He had planned on accomplishing a lot during his Presidency and started by unconditionally pardoning Vietnam War draft evaders. The US was still mired in an Energy Crisis and Carter was having his own version of fireside chats, urging the American public to turn down their thermostats.

The honeymoon didn’t last very long. Carter would have difficult relations with his own party in Congress as they expected the pork barrel projects to continue while Carter railed against wasteful spending. No, he wasn’t about to slash welfare benefits or anything like that; he just wanted to know where the money was going.

Carter’s popularity slipped rapidly among the public and Congress took advantage of it by shooting down programs they would have ordinarily supported such as a Consumer Protection Bill. They obviously wanted to get rid of Carter that bad (and they asked so hard in 1980, they got it, the dummies).

That didn’t mean Carter didn’t have his accomplishments. Despite dealing with low poll numbers and a political scandal involving his budget director, Bert Lance, he was able to make the US less dependent on foreign oil. And even with his struggling relations with Congress, he was able to get many of his initiatives through, even more than LBJ had in fact, but because of Carter’s basic modesty, he got very little credit for it and publicly came off as a rather inept President.

There was controversy within his family too. His sister, Ruth Carter Stapleton, was a well-meaning evangelist who thought she could somehow convert porn king Larry Flynt into a devout Christian. This drew more than a few laughs.

A bigger problem for him would be his n’eer do well brother, Billy Carter. He, needless to say, was not an evangelist. Indeed, he was everything his brother Jimmy was not, a beer drinking good ol’ boy. Carter cringed wondering what would come out of Billy’s mouth next. Billy became something of a celebrity and was marketing his own beer known as Billy Beer. In the end, Billy would step over the boundaries too far and he would be under investigation for his business dealings with the Libyans (he would later be cleared).

President Carter, for the most part, managed to stay above the family fracas and he would make his greatest accomplishment in 1978. For decades there were wars in the Middle East involving Israel and the other Arab states, notably Egypt and Syria. But by 1977, Egypt’s President, Anwar Sadat, had enough, and offered an olive branch to Israeli PM Menachem Begin. Though a staunch war hawk, Begin accepted the offer and the two began negotiations. Of, course, both sides were far apart and there were accusations from both sides in the press. Sadat, by then, had a bit of a diplomatic relationship with President Carter and he and Begin both asked for his help. Carter, being something of a peacenik, gladly accepted.

And President Carter more or less took charge, practically locking the two leaders in a cabin at Camp David until they could reach an agreement. And, in September 1978, an agreement was reached. The Camp David Accords was the result and, while not perfect (Israel still has skirmishes with the Palestinians in particular), there has been a lasting peace between Israel and Egypt and Middle Eastern wars in general (Save Iran and Iraq maybe) have been in decline. Begin and Sadat would share the Nobel Peace prize in 1978 but many, including Sadat, thought the prize should have gone to Carter.

If the Camp David Accords signaled the Carter administration at its peak, then it was all downhill from there. Carter did have some success when he returned the Panama Canal back to Panama (a pretty controversial issue at the time), but other world events would signal doom for the Carter Presidency in 1979 and 1980.

For decades, the United States had supported the right wing regime of the Shah of Iran. By the late seventies, the Iranians had enough of the Shah and was hell bent on overthrowing him. Their leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini, returned to Iran from exile and the writing on the wall was for all to see, including the Shah.

Carter was no big fan of the Shah, but he felt obligated to honor the commitments of previous Presidents, so when the Shah fled from Iran and was diagnosed with cancer in Mexico, Carter allowed the Shah to enter the United States for treatment. This enraged the fundamentalist Islamists that now ruled Iran, and, in November 1979, a throng of Iranian students stormed the US Embassy in Tehran and took sixty-six Americans as hostages. They demanded the return of the Shah, all assets that the Shah had taken, and an apology from the nation they were referring to as, “The Great Satan.”

Carter did no such thing, of course. Instead, he froze all Iranian assets while staging secret negotiations. Meanwhile, the press had jumped on the hostage crisis like never before and Nightline, an ABC news program, began a running total of days the hostages were held in captivity.

And it got to the point where the incident that probably proved the nail in the coffin took place. Frustrated, Carter went along with a plan for a helicopter rescue of the hostages in 1980. It was not a well thought out plan to begin with and the mission was aborted after the helicopters were well inside Iran. It should have ended there, but one of the helicopters suffered mechanical problems and crashed, killing eight soldiers. After the incident, Iran moved and dispersed the hostages making it virtually impossible for another rescue. Worse, for Carter, it solidified his reputation as an inept President.

Carter had a little better success with the Soviet Union. Taking a page out of Lyndon Johnson, I guess, the Soviets thought they could prop up a Communist regime in Afghanistan, so they invaded the country. This drew international outrage and President Carter called for an Olympic Boycott (the 1980 Olympics were being held in Moscow). It drew a mixed reaction from Americans and a slew of protests from the athletes themselves, but Carter stuck to his guns and the US would not participate in the Olympics that year. And, while it didn’t get immediate results, The Soviets would take an economic hit and when they boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, their ploy would backfire spectacularly. More to the point, Afghanistan became the Soviet’s Vietnam, and they would finally withdraw with their proverbial heads between their legs in 1988.

Despite some accomplishments, Carter’s popularity was rather low. By 1980, the US was in another recession, there was international embarrassment from the ongoing hostage crisis, even as Carter continued to negotiate, and there was a feeling of malaise, as Carter put it in an infamous address in 1979. Re-election did not seem to be in the cards.

But he was going to give it a try anyway.


Election of 1980: Before the election season even started, President Carter would suffer the humiliation that few incumbents had suffered, a credible challenge within his own party. Senator Ted Kennedy had been coy for years about running for President and, with two brothers having been assassinated, you could understand the trepidation. But Kennedy saw the weakness in Carter and saw 1980 as his opportunity at last, so he entered the race. Carter reacted by saying he’d whip his ass. The Democrats were split between the two factions and the New York press seemed giddy when Ted won the state. Indeed, it was a closely fought contest throughout, but in the end, Carter would wind up with the nomination.

Carter’s weak renomination (he had to give up a lot to Kennedy’s platform) contrasted negatively to the practical anointment of Ronald Reagan for the Republicans. Of course, the Republicans had their factions too and one, liberal Republican John Anderson, would break off to run as a third party candidate. Of course, we’ll have a lot more on Reagan (and Anderson) later.

Carter never really had much of a chance as the economy and the hostage crisis kept his poll numbers low. He didn’t do himself any favors either when he boycotted the first debate because he didn’t want Anderson on the podium. When he did get to debating Reagan, it was more or less a disaster as Reagan kept going, “There You Go Again.”

And so, in no real surprise, Carter got thumped in the general election, winning all of six states plus DC. Ronald Reagan was to be the next President of the United States. The Democrats finally got Carter out of the White House and now they had to uh, reap the rewards?

One more note about Carter to show you what kind of man he was. A one term President may have more or less coasted his way out, but Carter didn’t do that. Instead, he was determined to get the hostages out of Iran, and he worked for their release up to the morning of Reagan’s inauguration. And, though the Iranians timed the release for the inauguration as a way of humiliating Carter, history doesn’t work that way. In some ways Carter’s efforts at getting the hostages out was as important as the Camp David Accords had been.

And Jimmy Carter left with his dignity intact.

__________________

rubber soul

JIMMY CARTER (Part 2)


Post Presidency: I like to talk about dual personality Presidents but up to now that was basically a good vs. evil dynamic. Carter is a little different, for while you can argue Carter was a bad President, he was never certainly a bad person.

What he was, and is, though, is a great ex-President, maybe the greatest ever. For Carter didn’t pack his bags and retire to his peanut farm, which no one would have blamed him for. Instead, he put his Christian values where his mouth was and started what became known as Habitat for Humanity. This was an organization where volunteers, including Carter himself, would build houses for the poor and underprivileged. He was often seen on television, and it helped to promote the cause of helping the less fortunate.

He also stayed active with foreign affairs in ways other Ex-Presidents didn’t dare venture. Everyone has an opinion, but Carter actually went to work. He often monitored elections in nations known for their fraudulent practices. When monitoring the Nicaraguan elections in 1990, Daniel Ortega was legitimately defeated. One wonders what may have happened had Carter not been there, but Carter, now a respected elder statesman was, and Ortega accepted his defeat graciously.

Carter would also mediate between countries with their own axes to grind, sometimes at the request of the State Department, sometimes on his own, and sometimes with rebuke from a sitting President such as with Clinton with North Korea for example where he briefly was able to ease nuclear tensions with the rogue nation.

In 2002, Jimmy Carter finally won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Odd notes: Carter was once attacked by a swamp rabbit

Carter has consistently insisted that he has seen a UFO.

Final Summary: If I could judge Jimmy Carter as just a human being, he’d be an easy A. Few ex-Presidents, if any, have been as exemplary as Jimmy Carter. He took advantage of his elder statesman status like no other, using his status to improve the lives of people rather than to try to improve his own personal standing (like Nixon for example).

Even if I were to rate him on just his Vice President, Walter Mondale, who strengthened that office and truly became a partner of the President (See Gore, Cheney, and Biden on that note), he’d get an A.

But, alas, I have to rate Carter just for his presidency and, let’s face it, the guy was in way over his head. There is no doubt he truly wanted to do good, but he learned the hard way, that if you want to make it in Washington, you’re going to have to grease some palms.

When he was able to do good, he could do it spectacularly such as in the Camp David Accords. But the late seventies probably wasn’t the right time for Carter with some of the things going on such as Afghanistan and Iran as well as the Three Mile Island disaster back home. He couldn’t figure out the economy either, to be honest.

But even saying that, the decency that is Jimmy Carter still goes a long way. Maybe he wasn’t exactly Abraham Lincoln, but he wasn’t James Buchanan either. And he sure wasn’t Richard Nixon.

And even if the country wasn’t necessarily a better place because of Carter, the President, the world certainly is because of Carter, the ex-President.


Overall rating: C+

https://millercenter.org/president/carter

__________________

rubber soul

40. RONALD REAGAN (Da Doo Ron Ron)




Born: February 6, 1911, Tampico, Illinois
Died: June 5, 2004, Bel-Air, California

Term: January 20, 1981- January 20, 1989
Political Party: Republican

Vice President: George Bush

First Lady: Nancy Davis Reagan

Before the Presidency: Ronald Reagan was born in an apartment in rural Illinois. His father was an alcoholic, though not an especially abusive one. He also came from a family of Democrats and he himself started out as a New Deal liberal. His father, in fact, was named as director of the local WPA by FDR. Reagan noted that his father also forbade his children to see Birth of a Nation and he was very tolerant of other races and religions. Reagan’s mother was known as a do-gooder and was a devout Christian. Reagan admired her so much that he moved her to Hollywood after his father died.

Reagan was rather athletic growing up, playing football and basketball in High School. He also was the Student President. He worked as a lifeguard for six summers and reportedly saved 77 swimmers from drowning. He later attended Eureka College in Illinois. An average student at best, he stayed active with the extracurriculars, excelling in sports as well as joining the drama club, editing the college yearbook, was member of the debate club, and was Student Council President. He also washed dishes at his fraternity to earn his keep.

After graduating college, Reagan landed a job as a radio sportscaster in Davenport, Iowa. He learned much of his speaking skills there and would be hired at WHO in Des Moines, Iowa where he announced recreations of Chicago Cubs games and where he was also a staff announcer.

In 1937, the acting bug hit the handsome Reagan and he moved to Hollywood to start his acting career in films. He found luck when he was hired by Warner Brothers where he would enjoy a substantial twenty year movie career. While never the big box office success of say, Jimmy Stewart or John Wayne, Reagan still enjoyed a successful career in films such as Knute Rockne-All American and King’s Row. Reagan was considered a competent actor known for his punctuality and was very good at memorizing his lines. A man who was good at self-depreciation, Reagan jokingly referred to himself as the Errol Flynn of B- movies. He knew he wasn’t the greatest actor, but he knew how to perform within his limitations.

Reagan was drafted during World War II, but he was nearsighted, so he stayed stateside. He had been a reservist for the US Army Calvary, and he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. He helped to produce and appear in propaganda films for the war effort. He also narrated training films for new recruits during his three year stint.

Reagan had always had an interest in politics, starting out as a New Deal Democrat, but he would become more conservative, staunchly conservative, in fact, as he got older. By the late forties, it was alleged that he was ratting out alleged Communists within Hollywood for the FBI, this while he was President of the Screen Actors Guild.

Reagan had been married to actress Jane Wyman until they divorced in 1948. Four years later, Reagan met another actress, Nancy Davis. The two were married and she would go on to be, perhaps, one of the most devoted first ladies in history.

By 1954, Reagan’s movie career had fizzled somewhat, and he gave TV a shot. He narrated and occasionally acted on General Electric Theatre. He would later become one of the hosts of the Western Anthology, Death Valley Days.

Reagan was a staunch Anti-Communist but even he was concerned about the tide of McCarthyism. He worried that innocent lives were being affected. Though he was responsible for the blacklist that the SAG came up with, he made pains to keep names out that he felt were innocent.

Though now a conservative by the 1950’s, he continued to campaign for Democrats including Helen Gahagan Douglas who ran against Richard Nixon. He changed horses by 1952, however as he supported Eisenhower as a Democrat for Eisenhower. He stuck with the Republicans in the 1960 election, supporting Nixon (though he personally despised him). He finally switched parties in 1962 when he supported Nixon when he ran for California Governor in 1962.

Reagan truly came to the forefront from a political standpoint in 1964 when he campaigned for Barry Goldwater in 1964. Reagan embraced Goldwater’s arch-conservative policies, maybe out of a sense of greed (Now affluent himself, Reagan somehow compared having to pay higher taxes and a loss of personal freedom as the same thing). Goldwater was crushed in the election that year, but he, and Reagan, would succeed in the long run as the Conservative movement had just begun.

And it was that conservative movement that landed Reagan his first office when he upset Governor Pat Brown of California. Reagan was quite the controversial Governor, being somewhat hostile to student protestors in particular. He was also something of a pragmatist, however, and he worked with Democrats to push the most important aspects of his agenda such as cutting domestic spending. He was re-elected in 1970 and he made most of his accomplishments in that second term. In 1971, he got the Welfare Reform Act which tightened eligibility requirements but increased benefits. He also got some property tax relief passed (though the radical Prop 13 movement would make all that moot some years later).

Reagan would have some Presidential aspirations and he first was a factor in the 1968 campaign. That was Nixon’s to lose, however, and Reagan was content to get some more experience as Governor.

By 1976, however, Reagan was a free agent, and he gave President Ford a serious run at the nomination. Indeed, as both candidates stumbled from time to time, the nomination was still in doubt by the time of the Convention in Kansas City. Reagan tried one last hail mary when he picked liberal Richard Schweiker as his running mate but by then, Ford had just enough delegates to put him over the top. The Reagan Revolution would have to wait for 1980.

And by then, they were loaded for bear.

Summary of offices held:

1947-1952, 1959-1960: President, Screen Actors Guild

1967-1975: Governor of California


What was going on: The cold war, AIDS crisis, Challenger Explosion, War on drugs, War on terrorism

Scandals within the administration: HUD scandal, Wedtech, Savings and Loan scandal, Sewergate and, of course, Iran- Contra

Why he was a good President: Reagan was a very persuasive President, and he had a knack of comforting the public during times of tragedy, such as when the Challenger exploded. He also helped to speed up the end of the Cold War.

Why he was a bad President: His policies in general. By his success at shifting the center to the right, he didn’t anticipate that the right would be shifted closer into fascism. He also wasn’t the most tolerant when it came to freedom from religion.

What could have saved his Presidency: A more moderate approach to domestic issues. He certainly should have done more to address the AIDS crisis, but he was betrothed to the Moral Majority, I guess.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: In some ways, the Democratic Congress saved Reagan from himself when it came to Contra Aid. One wonders if he would have gone full blast with American troops in Central America. That would not have gone well. Also, if his rhetoric against the Soviet Union had backfired and we would have had another Cuban Missile Crisis.

Election of 1980: Reagan came in as the favorite to win the nomination despite some trepidation about not only Reagan’s age (He was 69 in 1980), but his views which seemed to be a bit out of the mainstream. As such, Reagan had some stiff competition from liberal Republican John Anderson, who would later run as a third party opponent, and Senator Howard Baker among others. But his toughest opponent would be George Bush of Texas, who came off as a moderate conservative. Bush upset Reagan in the Iowa caucuses and was seen as an alternative to Reagan’s occasionally right wing positions.

Nevertheless, the Conservatives won the day, and Reagan would be nominated on the first ballot. He had impressed Republican voters with his stands against what was being seen as the establishment such as when he insisted that all the candidates be allowed on a debate podium at an event his campaign paid for. There, he famously and sternly said, “I paid for this microphone.” This combative side of Reagan would do wonders for him not only in political campaigns, but as President as well.

Reagan won the nomination easy, then asked the more moderate Bush to be his running mate. This proved to be a solid combination.

Not that it was necessary. Reagan was facing a very unpopular incumbent, Jimmy Carter. The United States was in the middle of the Iranian Hostage Crisis and the nation was in yet another recession. Carter didn’t do himself any favors when he refused to participate in a debate with both Reagan and Anderson (Carter wanted a one on one with Reagan). Reagan went on to debate with Anderson and both candidates basically jumped on Carter.

Carter did manage to close the gap as Reagan was seen by some as too extremist, not unlike Goldwater in 1964. But when Carter did get his one on one debate with Reagan, it would prove to be a disaster for him. While Carter came off as tense and grim, Reagan seemed genuinely affable, not charming like a Kennedy, but more like a kind grandfather. And he had his ammo ready by responding to Carter’s attacks with, “There you go again.” The big moment came when Reagan simply asked the American Public, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” This would also prove to be a successful ploy for Clinton, Obama, and even Biden as well. But Reagan did it first.

And because America wasn’t better off than it was four years before, Reagan ended up winning in a landslide. The United States would never be the same.

First term: The impact of the Reagan Revolution began on practically the first day. The Iranian Hostages came home during Reagan’s inauguration speech, and he was able to announce the good news.

And he had plans to reverse what he saw as a too permissive course. The first things he did was to advocate increased defense spending and to push for massive tax cuts as well as cuts in domestic spending. There was a time he considered maybe even doing away with Social Security until he was convinced by aides that messing with Social Security was political poison.

Reagan’s crusade to cut programs designed to help the poor (a criticism of the Democrats) was put on the back burner briefly. After an appearance at a DC hotel, shots were fired at Reagan’s entourage, one bullet severely injuring Press Secretary James Brady. President Reagan was hit in the chest and was rushed by limo to a local hospital. Reagan, with bravado, was able to walk in on his own before he collapsed on the hospital floor. He regained consciousness soon after and never lost his composure as he cracked jokes such as, “Honey, I forgot to duck,” to a worried Nancy and, to the doctors that operated on him, “I hope you’re all Republicans.” The warm side of Reagan came out through this ordeal, and he was granted a lot of goodwill when he returned to the Oval Office.

And off to work he went. Though known, sometimes derisively, as a part time President (he didn’t really work long hours), he knew what he wanted to accomplish. So, he worked with the Democratic majority in Congress to score compromises on his budget mainly.

Of course, Reagan was something of a strike buster as well. In the summer of 1981, the Air Traffic Controllers went on strike. Reagan threatened to fire them if they didn’t return. When they defied his order, Reagan did, in fact, fire them; few would get their jobs back. It started a trend of union busting and Unions, in general, would have less clout as the years went on.

There was also a Supreme Court vacancy in President Reagan’s first year and he fulfilled a promise to put a woman on the court. He went with conservative Arizona judge, Sandra Day O’Connor. As a justice, she was probably a little closer to the center as she supported abortion rights for example.

Abortion was a major issue in the Reagan Administration. During the 1980 campaign, Reagan had courted the Moral Majority, led by Jerry Falwell. Reagan had promised that he would find a way to get Roe vs. Wade reversed as well as letting the Equal Rights Amendment ratification process expire. Needless to say, Reagan was not popular with the socially liberal set.

On the foreign front, President Reagan was scaring just about everybody. He took a hard line against the Soviet Union, even referring to them as the Evil Empire. In 1983, he sent US troops to Beirut to have a presence in the war torn region. It proved disastrous as two bombings left nearly 300 Marines dead.

Indeed, Reagan was something of a cowboy President, especially when it came to fighting Communism. He was sending aid to Contra Rebels in Nicaragua and El Salvador, and he ordered troops into Grenada to overthrow a military government that had just overthrown a US backed government.

Reagan’s first two years were not his most popular, politically speaking, though people liked him personally. But the economy improved greatly in 1983 and the President’s popularity rose with it. By 1984, re-election looked like it was Reagan’s to blow.

__________________

rubber soul

RONALD REAGAN (Part 2)

Election of 1984: There was no doubt as to the renomination of Reagan and Bush as Reagan was now seen as very popular, especially among conservatives and independents and even some of what were known as “Reagan Democrats.” The only question being, how big would his victory be in the general election.

The Democrats would reluctantly go with Walter Mondale, who had the baggage of having been Carter’s Vice President. He did have some competition with upstart Gary Hart of Colorado and activist Jesse Jackson, but the nomination was really Mondale’s to lose.

With not the most popular of candidates, the Democrats needed something to spruce things up. In the end, it was decided that it was time for a woman to be on the ticket and they went with Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro of New York. This may have not been the best choice as her husband would be under investigation for a variety of issues.

But the election was all about Reagan. Economically the country was in the best shape in years, maybe even decades, and only a Reagan stumble in the first debate gave Mondale any hope. That was eradicated in the second debate however when Reagan, now 73, responded to a question concerning his age that he would not exploit Mondale’s youth and inexperience. The audience responded favorably to the joke and even Mondale laughed, but Mondale knew it was all over after that.

And, indeed, Reagan would win in the largest electoral landslide in history, Mondale winning only his home state of Minnesota and DC.

Second Term: President Reagan would make a lot of history this term as the Soviet Union was in a bit of an upheaval. After three consecutive deaths in the early eighties, the Soviets finally went with youth and they nabbed the reformer, Mikhail Gorbachev, as its new Premier. Gorbachev would implement economic reforms as well as Glasnost, or openness. He also wanted to improve relations with the United States, and Reagan responded to the olive branch. The two would hold two spirited summits, one in Iceland which ended in no agreement, and a second one in Moscow, this one much friendlier, and they made an agreement to notify each other before performing ballistic tests as well as some economic agreements. Reagan now considered Gorbachev a personal friend and the Cold War had thawed considerably.

Reagan’s other moves though were more controversial. He bombed Libya after Gadhafi backed a terrorist act that downed a plane in Lockerbie, Scotland. Even more controversial was the support of Contra rebels in Nicaragua still. By now, Reagan had a Republican Senate but even they didn’t really want to go along with more aid. Reagan was also overridden when he vetoed a bill imposing sanctions on Apartheid South Africa, Majority Leader Bob Dole announcing on the floor that Reagan was wrong.

But Reagan’s biggest crisis would be the Iran-Contra scandal. In what was the biggest political scandal since Watergate, Reagan aides were implicated in an arms for hostages deal with Iran as a way to support the Contras. Hearings were held and there was bi-partisan criticism on how the situation was handled. Oliver North became something of a rock star for conservatives as a result of these hearings, but he, like several other people implicated, would later face criminal charges. Worst yet, this also affected prominent cabinet members even though they actually opposed the deal, notably, Secretary of State George Shultz, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, and even Vice President Bush, the latter two who would be investigated by a special prosecutor during Bush’s presidency. As for Reagan, he said he didn’t recall though he admitted that as President, he should have known.

Reagan had another justice to appoint after the retirement of Lewis Powell. First, he managed to get William Rehnquist elevated to Chief Justice. Then he appointed the controversial Robert Bork to take Rehnquist’s spot on the Supreme Court. Bork was the guy who followed Nixon’s orders to fire Archibald Cox in the Saturday Night Massacre. He also had views that were even to the right of Reagan and there was some fallout even from a few Republicans. In the end, Bork would be rejected by the Senate by a surprisingly large margin.

So, Reagan went with another conservative, Douglas Ginsberg. He too was headed for a rocky confirmation hearing, but he would withdraw when it was discovered he had smoked marijuana. In the end, Reagan abandoned his determination to nominate a justice who was just as conservative and settle for the more moderate Anthony Kennedy.

Reagan would also have to deal with other domestic issues of the day such as the AIDS crisis, which he largely ignored, and a brief economic crisis when the stock market crashed in 1987 (it would quickly recover). But all in all, Reagan left as one of the most popular Presidents in history.

At least for some, anyway.


Post Presidency: After the Presidency, Reagan retired to his home in Bel Air, California. He often would visit his ranch in Santa Barbara. For the most part, he stayed out of the public eye except for a controversial speaking engagement in Japan where he was paid two million dollars. After that incident, he no longer gave foreign speeches.

In 1994, Ronald Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. After a heartfelt letter where he sympathized for what his wife, Nancy, would have to go through, Reagan disappeared from the public eye for good, his name only being brought up by Conservatives who thought he was the Greatest President of all time. Reagan died at the age of 93 in June 2004.


Odd notes: Reagan once starred with a chimp. Anyone hear of Bedtime For Bonzo?

Reagan once was a sportscaster who broadcast Chicago Cubs games out of Iowa.

Final Summary: This is a tough one, as my politics are totally opposite to Reagan’s and many of his policies are still with us today and not for the better in my opinion. Reagan was obviously very strong in his convictions, and it showed in both his rhetoric and his actions. On the bright side, he did engage in talks with Gorbachev, and it really did thaw tensions between the two nations. I can even overlook some of his economic policies including the ridiculous trickle down theory (If you give rich people more money, they’re just going to keep it, stupid, even David Stockman knew that).

But his social policies, his refusal to address the AIDS issue both medically and socially and some policies that were detrimental to minorities in general (though he didn’t really reverse the clock; he merely stalled it). I can’t give him a good grade, I just can’t.

Yes, Reagan did have a way with words and I’m sure he was a very nice guy outside of politics. Anyway, I’m pretty sure the average Conservative will give him a much better grade than I will, and liberals like Batty will probably give the guy an F.

But I have to try to be at least a little objective so, with points off for not being moderate enough for my tastes…

Overall rating: C-

https://millercenter.org/president/reagan

__________________

rubber soul

41. GEORGE HW BUSH (Watch out for that tree)





Born: June 12, 1924, Milton, Massachusetts
Died: November 30, 2018, Houston, Texas

Term: January 20, 1989- January 20, 1993
Political Party: Republican

Vice President: Dan Quayle

First Lady: Barbara Pierce Bush

Before the Presidency: George Bush was born into a wealthy family. Though wealthy, his parents insisted on modesty and public service. In fact, George’s father, Prescott Bush, would become a well-known Senator from Connecticut.

As a teenager, Bush attended a boarding school in Andover, Massachusetts. There, he excelled at soccer and baseball and was the Senior Class President. Upon graduation from the school on his eighteenth birthday, Bush signed up for the United States Navy.

Bush became a Navy pilot in 1943, earning the distinction as the youngest pilot in the Navy. He flew fifty-eight missions and was even shot down by Japanese fire. Luckily, he was recovered by a submarine and would be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Back home and still in the Navy, Bush married Barbara Pierce. They would raise six children including sons George W. and Jeb, both of whom would follow in their father’s footsteps. After his discharge from the Navy, Bush entered Yale University where he majored in economics. At Yale, Bush captained the baseball team and was a member of the secretive Skull and Bones society.

Bush was an adventurous sort and he moved to Texas in 1948. Two years later, he would form an oil company with a friend of his. By 1954, the company had expanded into Zapata Off-Shore Company. Buoyed by the success, Bush moved the family to Houston.

In Houston, Bush started his own political career as the chair of the Harris County Republican Party. Bush was a conservative and he had a way of working with people. In 1964, Bush ran for the Senate against incumbent Senator Ralph Yarborough, but he couldn’t escape the carpetbagger tag and Yarborough would be re-elected.

Bush fared better in his run for a House seat in 1966. Running as a Moderate Republican, he would be elected to two terms. He could have been elected to a third, but Bush thought he could beat the very liberal Yarborough in the 1970 Senate election. But the Democrats thought so too, and they nominated Conservative Lloyd Bentsen instead. Bush was going home.

He wasn’t home for long though. In December 1970, President Nixon appointed Bush as US Ambassador to the United Nations. He wasn’t very effective as he wasn’t part of Nixon’s inner circle (luckily for him in retrospect) but he was able to make friends and connections on his own and he proved to be quite adept at his position.

Nixon removed Bush as UN Ambassador in 1973 and asked him to be Chairman of the Republican National Committee, mainly because he was what Nixon wasn’t, honorable and with great integrity. Bush tirelessly defended Nixon throughout Watergate until the tapes were released. It was then Bush who advised Nixon that he had lost the support of his own party. Though not the final straw (that was likely Goldwater), it did eventually help Nixon on his decision to resign in 1974. Bush, subsequently, resigned as RNC Chairman soon after.

Bush’s career was far from over, however. President Ford quickly appointed him as the US Envoy to China. Bush was in his element there as he absorbed the culture especially. The liaison position would be short lived, however, as President Ford had a new position for him, CIA Director. The CIA was in desperate need for reform and Bush was seen as someone that could bring integrity back to the organization. Bush’s tenure there wouldn’t be long either as Ford would lose the 1976 election to Carter. So, the Bushes returned for Houston.

But the political career wasn’t over. He was already eying the 1980 Presidential nomination and he announced his candidacy in May 1979. Though considered the underdog to Reagan, he was seen as the more moderate (and thus, more electable) alternative. And, as a dark horse favorite, he surprised everyone by winning the Iowa Caucus and would be Reagan’s toughest competitor in the 1980 primaries.

In the end, though, it was Reagan’s nomination to lose, and he clearly didn’t. But Reagan was also a pragmatist in his own way, and he asked Bush to be his running mate. Bush accepted and the rest is history.

Bush proved to be a loyal Vice-President to Reagan as his own positions began turning to the right, especially on the abortion issue, something that put him at odds with his pro-choice wife. He also became a personal friend of Reagan’s and the two had weekly lunches. The Vice President also traveled widely and was on a number of task forces. He also was involved in foreign discussions and could be influential on such matters.

He also, though likely inadvertently, got tied up in the Iran-Contra Affair. And though there was never any proof, there were suspicions that he was not out of the loop as he insisted, and he would be investigated by a Special Prosecutor during his own Presidency.

In the meantime, Bush was getting ready for a Presidential run of his own.

Summary of offices held:

1942-1945: US Navy Lieutenant Junior Grade

1963-1964: Chairman, Harris County, Texas Republican Party

1967-1971: US House of Representatives

1971-1973: US Ambassador, United Nations

1973-1974: Chairman, Republican National Committee

1974-1975: Chief of the US Liaison Office to the People’s Republic of China

1976-1977: Director, Central Intelligence Agency

1981-1989: Vice President of the United States


What was going on: Invasion of Panama, Fall of the Berlin Wall, The Gulf War, recession, end of the Cold War

Scandals within his Presidency: Post Iran- Contra investigations and subsequent pardons

Why he was a good President: He can get some credit for the end of the Cold War as most of the Communist nations fell during his administration. While it is questionable whether we had a right to go to war with Iraq in the first place, he did show some restraint at the end. And there is also the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Why he was a bad President: He was a social conservative for the most part, and the Clarence Thomas nomination for the Supreme Court is now having some pretty chilling effects on basic freedoms today, all over the abortion issue basically. He also didn’t have a clue on how to handle the economy and seemed standoffish when people told him they were hurting.

What could have saved his Presidency: More of the kinder gentler conservative that he yearned to be at the GOP convention. A better grasp of the economic situation that he seemed to be ill prepared for.

What could have destroyed his Presidency: If the Gulf War turned out to be a disaster. Like it or not, the Gulf War is Bush’s lasting legacy and it saved him from being less than average.

Election of 1988: It was a foregone conclusion that Bush would run for the Presidency in 1988 but the nomination wasn’t etched in stone like it had been for Reagan. For one thing, he had to contend with the strong Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, and he would launch an aggressive campaign against Bush, who had been seen by some as a softie. Evangelist Pat Robertson was also making a quixotic run for the nomination but, realistically, it was between Bush and Dole.

With the help of James Baker, a Chief of Staff of Reagan’s and one of Bush’s closest advisers, and down and dirty campaign manager, Lee Atwater, Bush overcame a slow start and was the clear choice by the time the Republican Convention took place in New Orleans. He picked the youthful conservative, Dan Quayle of Indiana, as his running mate and it would prove to be his only blunder in the general campaign. Bush also hoped to blunt out the harsher aspects of the Reagan Administration as he called for a kinder, gentler, nation. He also made the ill-fated pledge, “Read My lips: No new taxes.”

In the meantime, the Democrats seemed ready to take back the White House and close to a dozen candidates had their hat in the ring ranging from Jesse Jackson to Tennessee Senator Al Gore to Colorado Representative Pat Schroeder among others. Even a young Joe Biden was in the race briefly.

But it was former Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis who had the edge. He was a traditional liberal, but he was also seen as kind of bland. He certainly didn’t have the charisma of Jesse Jackson in particular or even the nerdy appeal of Illinois Senator Paul Simon. But he was strong as a policy wonk and, after what ended up as a three way race between, he, Jackson, and Gore, Dukakis emerged as the Democratic Candidate.

The general campaign was perhaps one of the nastiest in recent memory, not on Dukakis’ end so much, but on Bush’s. They successfully painted Dukakis as an extremist liberal (and, in many ways, a long political war against liberalism was beginning), and Bush famously confronted liberal newscaster Dan Rather in a TV interview.

The lowest point though was the Atwater led advertisement depicting the story of Willie Horton. He had been released under a Dukakis furlough program. Horton went on to rape a woman in Maryland. The Bush campaign jumped on the story and aired a commercial that clearly had racial overtones. It hurt Dukakis badly, but it also set race relations back a bit, even as Bush himself had African Americans in his inner circle.

And Dukakis didn’t do himself any favors either. After an Ill-advised photo op in a tank to prove he’d be tough on defense, he stumbled on a debate question about what he would do if his wife had been murdered. This was asked because Dukakis was an opponent of the death penalty. Dukakis didn’t give a straight answer, he simply iterated his opposition to the death penalty. It proved to be his death knell despite Dan Quayle’s screw up in the Vice Presidential debate when he tried to compare his experience to that of John Kennedy. Lloyd Bentsen, Dukakis’ running mate, pounced on the misstep when he declared that Quayle was no Jack Kennedy. Democrats afterwards wondered if Bentsen should have been their candidate instead of Dukakis.

But, alas, he wasn’t, and Bush would win an easy election in November.



First term: The first year of Bush’s term was very much a transformative year from a global standpoint as there were pro-democracy protests in China that Bush supported and the planned reunification of Germany which saw the Berlin Wall come down late in 1989. He also came up with a bailout plan during the back end of the Savings and Loan crisis that started in Ohio and Maryland in 1986 but by now had gone national. Another issue would be the ballooning deficit from the Reagan years that Bush had to decide how to handle.

But it would be foreign affairs and how to use the military that dominated Bush’s term, or at least the first half of it. By 1989, it was obvious that strongman Manuel Noriega of Panama was using his power to sell illegal drugs to cartels in the United States. Bush wanted to capture and try Noriega on drug charges in the States but that would mean violating International Law. No matter, just before Christmas 1989, The United States invaded Panama and Noriega would surrender just two weeks later. He would be tried in the States and convicted in 1992. He remains in prison to this day.

The most famous, or arguably infamous, period of Bush’s term would concern one Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Neighboring Kuwait was rich in oil reserves and Hussein decided he wanted the reserves for himself and Iraq. So, in the summer of 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait.

The Western World, and Bush in particular, were against the invasion, mainly because they thought it would affect oil prices in general but also because Iraq clearly violated international law. But the US only used invasion of Iraq as a veiled threat while forming a coalition that included not only most of Europe and a Soviet Union in transition, but also some key Arab states. Hussein responded by holding the British Embassy hostage and even, in a sinister way, stroke the head of some poor diplomat’s kid that outraged the British and Americans to no end. Invasion seemed inevitable.

And after one last demand for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait was denied, the Coalition invaded Iraq in what became known as the Gulf War. Bush was able to convince Israel to use restraint if attacked (and Iraq would attack the country with SCUD missiles in a vain hope that Israel would retaliate, and the other Arab countries would join him. Israel didn’t retaliate and the Arab countries didn’t turn towards Saddam). As for the war itself, it was over in a month and Saddam agreed to withdraw the troops from Kuwait. It was the high point of Bush’s Presidency, and he enjoyed record popularity numbers that were even higher than Reagan’s had been.

There was an argument on whether the US should have kept the war going until they had captured Hussein, but Bush and most of his advisors argued against that noting they would then have to win the peace if they actually occupied Iraq. A truly prophetic conclusion in wake of what Bush’s son would do a decade later.

In 1991, Bush’s numbers were at an all-time high, but all good things have to end. If Bush was a master at handling foreign affairs, he was all but a disaster when it came to the economy. He had already reneged on his no new taxes pledge when he signed a tax hike later in 1991. Even worse, the economy was taking such a hit that by 1992, the US was in yet another recession, the biggest since the early eighties. The war hero Bush was now seen as out of touch with the American Public and, despite signing the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act and seeing the reunification of Germany and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Bush’s election chances were not all that high.

Election of 1992: Bush had no trouble winning renomination but there were rumblings from the right wing of the party, who supported Nixon-era firebrand Pat Buchannan. Buchannan, in fact would prove to be a bit of an annoyance to the Bush family for years.

A bigger problem for Bush though would come from the maverick billionaire, H. Ross Perot, who decided to run as an independent. He formed the Reform Party and was gaining popularity as a tell it like it is centrist.

And, of course, the Democrats had their own candidate in former Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton. Clinton was a charismatic sort who had a knack of feeling empathy with the average voter while Bush came off as a bit unfeeling and even cold. It was something that was obvious in the three way debate between Bush, Clinton, and Perot as the differing personalities were front and center in front of a national audience. While Perot confused people with his down home slogans and Clinton looked like he almost wanted to hug people in pain, Bush stuck to his platform instead of empathizing and kept looking at his watch. It didn’t make for good optics. And Quayle, as usual, wasn’t much help either as we learned he couldn’t spell potato and he condemned a fictional character for being a single mother (guess she should have had an abortion then?).

We’ll never know how big a loss it would have been for Bush or if he would have been able to make the election closer thanks to Perot’s strong third party showing, but in the end, Clinton would score a fairly solid victory. President Bush was a one term President.


Post Presidency: After the Presidency, the Bushes returned to Houston where they lived quietly for the most part. That’s not to say Bush didn’t stay active, however. He stayed involved with various boards while also spending time at their Kennebunkport, Maine home.

Bush also would get involved in politics again as two of his sons were now pursuing political careers. Son Jeb seemed to be the one with the brighter future and the elder Bush aggressively campaigned for him in his quest for Governor of Florida, which he would win. George W., in the meantime, was running for Governor of Texas and Bush campaigned for him as well. Soon, he would have two sons as State Governors.

And in 2001, one of those sons would become President after a controversially close election. And though the younger Bush’s policies were sometimes conflicting with the elder’s, the Elder Bush let his son make his own mistakes.

Bush also teamed up with former President Bill Clinton with a campaign for relief after the Tsunami that hit Indonesia in 2004. Bush also had an organization known as the Thousand Points of Light Foundation that specialized in humanitarian endeavors.

In the end, Bush 41, as he was now called, became about as respected an elder statesman as one could possibly be, even going against the Republican tide when he acknowledged voting for Hillary Clinton instead of Trump in 2016.

George HW Bush died on November 30, 2018, at the age of 94.

Odd Notes: George Bush notoriously threw up on the Japanese Prime Minister.

Bush met Babe Ruth while playing baseball at Yale.

Final Summary: Again, I have to admit my liberal bias here, but socially, Bush would not lead my list of favorite Presidents. I’m also not a warmonger, so Bush doesn’t get many points on that score either.

But even if he acted indifferent in the public arena, he really did have a heart of gold. The Americans With Disabilities Act is enough proof of that plus some of his post presidency endeavors. No, he wasn’t exactly Jimmy Carter, but he didn’t just rest on his laurels either. Even when it came to race, as despicable as the Willie Horton ad was (and it may be partially responsible for the civil divide we have today), Bush himself wanted a diverse administration and he was especially close to his Security Advisor, Colin Powell. And he did raise taxes when he knew he’d take a big political hit. With him, America really did come first.

I just wish he had been a bit more moderate.

Overall rating: C

https://millercenter.org/president/bush

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The Batlord

Wasn't that oil company tied to the CIA?

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rubber soul

Don't know but it wouldn't surprise me.

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The Batlord

And he always refused to say why he was in Dallas when JFK got merced.

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