Herbert Hoover

235 Years Since The Inauguration Of George Washington!

On this day in 1789, George Washington was inaugurated, 57 days late, as the first President of the United States, in the downtown Wall Street area of New York City.

Washington was the right person to start the Presidency of a new Republic, and he knew that it was essential that he give up power, in order to insure the survival and stability of the nation in the long term future.

We cannot thank Washington enough, or all of the later Presidents who knew when to leave!

And we can also be thankful that even in hotly contested elections in the future, Presidents who lost reelection—John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H. W. Bush–followed the tradition Washington had set by leaving office.

Also, we have to be thankful that in close elections, such candidates as Samuel Tilden in 1876, Al Gore in 2000, and Hillary Clinton in 2016 were gracious in defeat, and that Vice Presidents who lost the succession to their President—Richard Nixon in 1960, Hubert Humphrey in 1968—also were gracious in defeat, as was Gore in 2000.

Sadly, the crisis today is due to the reality that Donald Trump would not accept defeat graciously, and provoked a violent mob on January 6, 2021, for which he must be held accountable!

APSA Presidential Greatness Poll 2024–The Bottom 10 Presidents

The American Political Science Association Presidential Greatness Poll 2024 makes clear that Donald Trump is the absolute bottom of all 45 Presidents, below James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Franklin Pierce, William Henry Harrison, and Warren G. Harding, all with very low total scores, but Trump with a final score of 10.92 as compared to Buchanan’s 16.71, Johnson’s 21.56, Pierce’s 24.6, Harrison’s 26.01, and Harding with 27.76.

The other four at the bottom, numbers 36 to 39 in order, are Herbert Hoover, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, and Millard Fillmore.

Notice that of these 10 Presidents at the bottom, four are the Presidents preceding Abraham Lincoln and one following him.

The others are Harding and Hoover from the 1920s; and one month President William Henry Harrison and his successor John Tyler in the early 1840s, when the Presidency came under attack due to the first Vice President succeeding the President due to death of the incumbent.

And then there is Donald Trump, who ranks last for those participants in the poll who are identified as Democrats, Independents, Liberals, and Moderates; and even for those who identify themselves as Republicans or Conservatives, Trump only rises to number 43, with Buchanan and Johnson rated below Trump by Republicans, and Buchanan and Pierce rated below Trump by Conservatives.

Also note that the only Presidents of this group who served a full term were Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Herbert Hoover, and Donald Trump.

The 80th Congress (1947-1949) Vs. The 118th Congress (2023- )

It has often been claimed that the 80th Congress (1947-1949) under President Harry Truman was unproductive, or as Truman claimed it in his 1948 Presidential campaign, a “Do Nothing” Congress.

While it is true that the Republican dominated 80th Congress worked against Democratic President Truman and his “Fair Deal” proposals, most notably passing the anti Labor Taft-Hartley Act over the President’s veto, in reality a lot was accomplished in that Congress.

The following actions were accomplished:

The Truman Doctrine
The Taft-Hartley Act
The Presidential Succession Act
The National Security Act–including the Defense Department at the Pentagon in Virginia, the National Security Council, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, separate Department of the Air Force, and the Central Intelligence Agency
The Marshall Plan
22nd Amendment to the US Constitution

At the same time, NOTHING significant has been passed into law in the present first session of the 118th Congress, making it the least productive in modern times since the Great Depression 1931-1933 72nd Congress, split between a Democratic House of Representatives and Republican Senate under President Herbert Hoover!

118th Congress Least Productive Since Great Depression 72nd Congress!

The 118th Congress (2023-2025) is fast becoming the least productive since the 72nd Congress (1931-1933) under President Herbert Hoover at the worst times of the Great Depression.

Both the House of Representatives and US Senate are responsible for such poor performance, but clearly, if the House of Representatives is poorly organized and operated, the Senate cannot make up for it.

Both Congresses had one house Democratic, and one Republican, which also caused stalemate and gridlock.

The fact that the House of Representatives Republican majority has just voted an Impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden, with zero evidence of such abuse of power, is a sign of how incompetent and hopeless the 118th Congress is, even with a small Democratic majority in the US Senate.

Clearly, the most productive Congresses have been when one party, in all modern times Democrats, has had a vast advantage in the number of seats in both houses of Congress.

So those most productive Congresses were, chronologically:

63rd Congress (1913-1915) under Woodrow Wilson
73rd Congress (1933-1935) under Franklin D. Roosevelt
74th Congress (1935-1937) under Franklin D. Roosevelt
89th Congress (1965-1967) under Lyndon B. Johnson
111th Congress (2009-2011) under Barack Obama

The most productive of all were the 73rd Congress under FDR, and the 89th Congress under LBJ.

Presidential Libraries And Museums Issue Defense Of American Democracy!

The state of American Democracy is in great peril, and has led to all Presidential Libraries and Museums to issue a joint message expressing their alarm at the growing crisis presented by Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans, but without specifically naming individuals or anti democratic movements.

From Herbert Hoover through to Barack Obama, the joint statement of all the libraries and museums is like an alarm bell in the night, calling for compassion, tolerance, and pluralism.

The fact that these Presidential libraries and museums of both political parties felt a need to issue such a statement is recognition of the crisis democracy faces in 2024 and beyond!

The Longevity Of Presidents Analyzed

There is a lot of debate and discussion about Joe Biden’s age.

One needs to examine the history of Presidents and longevity.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, the time of modern America, 40 percent of Presidents (8) have had a short life span, as witness:

Theodore Roosevelt 60
William Howard Taft 72
Woodrow Wilson 67
Warren G. Harding 57
Calvin Coolidge 60
Franklin D. Roosevelt 63
John F. Kennedy 46
Lyndon B. Johnson 64

Other Presidents, 60 percent, (12), have had very long life spans, including

Herbert Hoover 90
Harry Truman 88
Dwight D. Eisenhower 78
Richard Nixon 81
Gerald Ford 93
Jimmy Carter 99 on the coming October 1
Ronald Reagan 93
George H W Bush 94
Bill Clinton 77 and counting
George W. Bush 77 and counting
Donald Trump 77 and counting
Joe Biden 81 on the coming November 20

Then, in a classification by himself, is Barack Obama (62), and seemingly in great health and physical shape!

My conclusion: Presidents and people in general are living longer and healthier, and one cannot deduce from the problems of Senator Diane Feinstein and Senator Mitch McConnell that President Joe Biden will be unable to finish his time in office.

But if, sadly, that becomes an issue, there is absolutly nothing wrong, and a lot very positive, about the ability of Vice President Kamala Harris to take over the Presidency.

When one considers Vice Presidents who succeeded their Presidents during a term, three of them—-Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Lyndon B. Johnson excelled—-while the other six who succeeded were far from outstanding.

But we managed to survive all of the time, and Kamala Harris is 59 years old, the general age of most Presidents upon taking office, and perfectly capable of being Chief Executive if an emergency arises!

Impeachment Power Being Abused, When It Should Be Rarely Utilized!

The reckless move toward impeachment of President Joe Biden, and or Attorney General Merrick Garland or Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas by the small margin Republican majority in the House of Representatives, is an issue that brings to attention that the impeachment power has been horribly abused, when it should be rarely utilized!

To impeach a cabinet officer is extremely rare, and basically is a no brainer, as it would not lead to conviction in the US Senate.

To impeach a President was always rare, with the only exceptions being Andrew Johnson and later Richard Nixon, although Nixon resigned the Presidency before the whole House of Representatives could vote to impeach him on the charges brought by the majority of the House Judiciary Committee.

The Bill Clinton impeachment was purely political, while the two impeachment cases against Donald Trump were totally justifiable, and the proposal to “expunge” the impeachments is preposterous, and will not take away the stain and the history of the reality of Trump’s abuses in office!

Attempts to impeach the following Presidents went nowhere:

John Tyler
James Buchanan
Ulysses S. Grant
Grover Cleveland
Herbert Hoover
Harry Truman
Lyndon B. Johnson
Ronald Reagan
George H W Bush
George W. Bush
Barack Obama

Unless a case is clear, as with Nixon and Trump, there is NO justification for abusing the impeachment power!

Republicans, Democrats, And The Economy: The Truth!

Republicans for generations have claimed they are the “better” political party for the American economy, than are the opposition Democrats!

This is a bald faced lie, but gullible people keep on “drinking the KoolAid”!

The Republican party continues to call for the demise of Social Security (passed under Franklin D. Roosevelt); Medicare and Medicaid (passed under Lyndon B. Johnson); and in the past 12 years for repealing the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare).

Right wingers condemn the Affordable Care Act because it was an African American president who promoted this expansion of health care that was first promoted as a basic right by Republican President Theodore Roosevelt as the Bull Moose Progressive Party nominee for President in 1912.

It took a generation for the cousin of TR to move toward social justice; and 50 years for Johnson to promote the health care initiatives of Harry Truman; and another nearly 50 years for Barack Obama to go beyond Medicare and Medicaid. Note that all of the Presidents engaged in this quest, except for Theodore Roosevelt, were Democrats.

But beyond that, all of the economic downturns since 1953 took place under Republican Presidents, with the exception of the brief recession under Democratic President Jimmy Carter in 1980, which led to his defeat for a second term. But there were three recessions under Dwight D. Eisenhower; one under Richard Nixon and one shared by Nixon and Gerald Ford; one under Ronald Reagan; one under George H. W. Bush; and two under George W. Bush. This list included the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression under Reagan and the “Great Recession” under George W. Bush, which set back the economy for years. Additionally, the COVID 19 Pandemic led to an economic crisis under Donald Trump.

The latest economic report shows the lowest peacetime unemployment rate since World War II; the unemployment rate lowest since 1969 at 3.4 percent; a tremendous economic recovery since the COVID 19 Pandemic; 33.8 million jobs over the sixteen years of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama; 12.1 million jobs in two years of Joe Biden, an all time high; while only 1.9 million jobs under Republican Presidents George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump were created for 16 years; and with Donald Trump the first President since Herbert Hoover to have a net loss of jobs!

Also, Gross Domestic Product has been 3.4 percent under Joe Biden, as compared to 1 percent under Trump; and more jobs created under two years of Biden than any President in four years! And the uninsured rate on health care is down to 8 percent due to Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) than it has ever been, and if Texas and Florida had agreed to expansion of Medicaid, it would be MUCH lower! Additionally, more businesses are being formed than ever before, and wage growth, while not keeping up with inflation, has been rapidly expanding.

Once the inflation struggle, affected by the Russia-Ukraine War and the machinations of oil nations, are dealt with, inflation, already coming down, will be mastered. But no President can alone prevent or provoke inflation!

So the Democrats can be proud of their accomplishments economically over the long haul, and it is time for the myth of Republican “prosperity” to be laid to rest as yet another myth that needs to be retired!

The Republican Party is there for the wealthy, the privileged, and the bigots who promote white supremacy, racism, nativism, and misogyny, and with the political corruption under Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Donald Trump being massive, while Democratic Presidents have NOT presided over corruption at a notable level, but rather mostly manufactured by Republican propagandists!

Republicans are “better” in promoting propaganda, while Democrats are far better in accomplishment of improving economic opportunity for the American people!

Hooray! Jimmy Carter Turns 98, An Event To Celebrate! A Much Underrated President!

Former President Jimmy Carter turned 98 today, an amazing age and still with his wife, Rosalynn, alongside him after 76 plus years of marriage!

Not only is Carter the longest lived President, nearly three and a half years older than George H. W. Bush at his passing, but Rosalynn Carter passed both Lady Bird Johnson and Nancy Reagan, as she turned 95 on August 18, only behind Bess Truman, who lived to past 97 years of age!

Jimmy Carter is a true treasure, a man of decency, compassion, empathy, and sincerity, much like President Joe Biden, who was the first US Senator at age 33 in 1976, to endorse Carter for President, at a time when it seemed highly unlikely that Carter would win the Democratic Presidential nomination, and go on to defeat President Gerald Ford, and become the 39th President of the United States from 1977-1981.

Carter has had a retirement nearly 42 years in January 2023, more than ten years longer than the longest retired President before him, Herbert Hoover.

Carter has had cancer since 2015, but he has managed to cope and go on with his life with proper medical treatments and continue to promote Habitat For Humanity, the Carter Center, and to publish more than 30 books in retirement.

He will rate higher in history once he passes, as occurred with Harry Truman, but as it is, he is much underrated,when one considers the Camp David Accords with Israel and Egypt, the Panama Canal Treaty, the promotion of human rights, the advancement of the environment as the best one term environmental President, and the establishment of three Cabinet agencies–Energy, Health and Human Services, and Education as his major accomplishments. He was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his lifetime of promotion of peace and diplomacy.

Carter has managed to outlive nearly everyone in public office and in his Presidency, with his Vice President, Walter Mondale, passing in early 2021 after the longest retirement of a President and Vice President, more than 40 years as a team staying in touch. And one must realize that Carter utilized Mondale as a closer confidante than any President has had with their Vice President!

A truly amazing man, and someone to be saluted and appreciated for the greatness of this person who exudes the true meaning of his faith, Christianity!

Donald Trump, The Most Character Flawed President In American History!

America has had 45 men who have been President.

All of them had human frailties, as all of us have.

Some have been seen as horrible in their time in office, and lacking character.

This would include Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson, and Richard Nixon for sure.

And others would be seen as failures in other ways, including Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Warren G. Harding, and Herbert Hoover for sure.

But there is no President quite like Donald Trump!

This is the “truthful” President, who has lied more than 30,000 times since 2015, more than any President by far!

This is a “genius” who hides his college grades!

This is a “businessman”, who had six bankrupticies!

This is the “billionaire” who continues to hide his tax returns!

This is the “Christian” who never goes to church!

This is the “father” who has been a terrible role model for his children!

This is the “philanthropist” who has defrauded charities!

This is the “patriot” who dodged the draft!

This is the “playboy” who pays for sex, and has had three wives, while ‘cheating” excessively!

This is the “employer” who cheats those he employed for his properties!

This is the “innocent man” who refuses to testify, utilizing the 5th Amendment!

And beyond these eleven statements, there are so many more, and that the total is uncountable!

The question is how Donald Trump can be so horrendous in character, and live within his own skin!

Clearly, he has no conscience, and the thought that he could become President again is a literal nightmare!