John Quincy Adams

The End Of A Half Century Of Statemanship, Leadership, And Contributions!

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President Joe Biden is in his last full day of his four years in the Oval Office.

This is a time for celebration and pride in the leadership of the 46th President of the United States.

Joe Biden did not do everything perfectly well, but no President or any other political leader can insure constant success.

But his Presidency, already rated as number 14 in one scholarly poll, will remain in the top third and likely will rise over time, particularly and sadly, after his future demise.

Joe Biden gave the nation a half century of statesmanship, leadership, and contributions, and he showed Americans what a leader is like who has true character, morals, ethics, compassion, decency, and empathy, rare in the Presidency historically.

His years in public office were only surpassed by one President, John Quincy Adams, who spent more than half his time in appointed office, not elective office, as Biden did with 36 years in the US Senate, 8 years in the Vice Presidency, and 4 years in the Oval Office.

This author and blogger “fell in love”, so to speak in the 1970s, after his original “hero”, Senator, Vice President and Presidential nominee Hubert Humphrey passed away, as Biden came across to me as the closest equivalent to the nature of Humphrey.

There is a sense of great pride and satisfaction that after two failed tries for the Oval Office, Biden finally won it, and took us out of the horrendous once in a century Covid 19 Pandemic, and restored faith in the Presidency after the disastrous, crime ridden, abusive four years of Donald Trump.

We now enter a very sad return of Trump, but all decent Americans cannot give up, but must fight in every legal fashion to limit the harm and damage that Trump will certainly wage.

The quest for a return of the Democratic Party and its common decency must be waged without pause.

Meanwhile, God Bless Joe Biden and his lovely wife, First Lady Jill Biden, and wish them the best in future years!

Jimmy Carter’s Post Presidency Unmatched By Any Other President!

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Jimmy Carter’s post Presidency of 44 years will, forever, remain unmatched.

Carter left office at the early age of 56, and survived health challenges to reach age 100, also highly unlikely, ever to be matched or surpassed.

Carter established the Carter Center to promote human rights in 1982, which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum was opened in 1986 in Atlanta, and this blogger and scholar visited the site two times, finding it a very impressive memorial to the President.

Carter also spent several years teaching at Emory University in Atlana.

Carter wrote a total of 33 books in his lifetime, more than any other President.

Carter participated in building housing for the poor through Habitat For Humanity.

Carter traveled the world, fighting disease, promoting free elections, and advocating resolution of various international conflicts.

Carter had varying relations with his successors and predecessors, becoming particularly close to President Gerald Ford, creating the closest friendship with a fellow President since John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

Other Presidents who were active after their Presidency included John Quincy Adams, who served in the House of Representatives for nearly 18 years, and wrote a diary from age 12 to age 80.

Also, Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore, and Theodore Roosevelt ran for the Presidency after their terms in office.

William Howard Taft served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for nine years after his Presidency.

Also, Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon, along with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama presently, have been active, but none on the level of Jimmy Carter.

Carter’s historical ranking is sure to rise from the mid 20s to the top one third over time, as his passing makes the true Carter scholarship ever more expansive in the next generation!

235 Years Since The Inauguration Of George Washington!

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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!

Rosalynn Carter Is 96, And Jimmy Carter Is 44 Days Till Age 99!

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Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter reached the age of 96 today, the second longest lived First Lady, behind Bess Truman.

Sadly, in the past few months, it has been revealed that Rosalynn Carter is in early dementia, but it has been reported that she has good days, and that she and her husband, former President Jimmy Carter, spend many hours together holding hands, in the longest marriage of any Presidential couple, more than 77 years!

They are the model of a Presidential couple, and both are so decent and kind, a model for other Presidents and First Ladies!

Jimmy Carter, despite being in hospice for six months, is still mentally alert, although physically more sick, but he is still as intellectual as ever. He has chosen to remain at home, rather than in a hospital, so he can be near his wife, who he first met when Rosalynn was a few days old, as Carter’s mother, “Ms. Lillian”, who was a nurse, delivered Rosalynn Smith!

Carter is often considered to be possibly the most intellectual, brightest and highest IQ President, or certainly among the top few, alongside Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams!

The couple is an inspiration at a time of the horrendous corruption and venality of Donald Trump, and Jimmy Carter is just 44 days away from reaching age 99!

It is certain that no President in the future will surpass his age accomplishment, and his historical reputation is rising, including his amazing post Presidency, nearing 43 years, certainly the most accomplished and admirable of any President!

May Jimmy Carter reach his 100th birthday on October 1, 2024, and with his First Lady at his side!

Calvin Coolidge Became the 30th President A Century Ago!

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Precisely a century ago, Vice President Calvin Coolidge succeeded to the Presidency upon the death of President Warren G. Harding.

Coolidge would be shocked to see how the Presidency has been transformed since his time, as he was a believer in a limited Presidency, and is seen as the most conservative President of the 20th century, with the possible exception of Ronald Reagan, who greatly admired him.

Coolidge would have been opposed to the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson, based on his conservative, small government philosophy.

But he also would have been greatly disturbed by the corruption of Richard Nixon and Donald Trump, as his administration moved to prosecute the corruption of his predecessor, who had sadly presided over the most political corruption since Ulysses S. Grant.

It has often been said that Calvin Coolidge would have fit in better in the 19th century, with John Quincy Adams fitting in better a century later in Coolidge’s place!

We can also say he most certainly would not have fitted well in the succession of Republican Chief Executives, particularly Nixon and Trump!

National Popular Vote Interstate Compact Gains Minnesota Support, Now At 205 Electoral Votes!

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The movement to change the Presidential Election process from the Electoral College system that has allowed five Presidential elections to be won by the national popular vote loser, has made more progress in the past few days, with Minnesota becoming the 16th state plus the District of Columbia to agree to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact!

Five Presidential Elections have seen the “vote of the people” denied with the popular vote loser becoming President as follows:

1824 Andrew Jackson loses to John Quincy Adams despite 38,000 vote lead
1876 Samuel Tilden loses to Rutherford B. Hayes despite 252,000 vote lead
1888 Grover Cleveland loses to Benjamin Harrison despite 90,000 vote lead
2000 Al Gore loses to George W. Bush despite 540,000 vote lead
2016 Hillary Clinton loses to Donald Trump despite 2.86 million vote lead

The total number of electoral votes needed to win the Presidency is 270, with the 16 states and DC adding up to a total of 205 electoral votes.

The problem is in a divided America all of the states and DC that have agreed to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact are “blue” states.

In order of their adoption by the state legislatures and signing by the governors are the following states: (starting in April 2007 until May 2023)

Maryland
New Jersey
Illinois
Hawaii
Washington
Massachusetts
District of Columbia
Vermont
California
Rhode Island
New York
Connecticut
Colorado
Delaware
New Mexico
Oregon
Minnesota

Two states–Maine and Nevada–passed the compact, but in Maine, a followup required vote failed and in Nevada the Republican governor vetoed the legislation. But in the past two weeks, Nevada passed the legislation again, and it seems almost ready to add its six electoral votes to the total, making it, when it happens, 211 electoral votes.

Six other states saw one of the houses of the state legislature pass the bill–Arizona (11), Arkansas (6), Michigan (15), North Carolina (16), Oklahoma (7), and Virginia (13). If these six states were to pass such a bill in the future, it would mean 68 more electoral votes, which with the present 205, would add up to 273, three more than needed, and if Nevada joined the list, it would be 279!

But even if more states were to join this compact, it is likely that there would be a constitutional challenge if, in a future Presidential election, this compact came into reality, and it could cause a major division in the nation.

The Presidency And Native Americans

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A recent article on History News Network has rated Presidents on “Integrity and Humanity in Dealing with Native American Nations”, a significant analysis of how the “original” Americans have been treated by American government.

It is not a positive picture overall, and we have had Presidents who were particularly horrid in their treatment of native Americans, and others who had a more open minded and considerate reaction to the plight of native Americans.

The list of Presidents who are seen as villains includes:

Thomas Jefferson
Andrew Jackson
Martin Van Buren
Andrew Johnson
James Garfield
Theodore Roosevelt
Donald Trump

The list of Presidents who are seen as reformers includes:

John Quincy Adams
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry Truman
Lyndon B. Johnson
Richard Nixon
Gerald Ford
Bill Clinton
Barack Obama

Overall, sadly, native Americans were treated with violence, disrespect and paternalism, with their lands stolen, and forced out of their ancestral lands!

C-Span Presidential Historians Survey 2021 Announced Today!

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For all Presidential followers, including scholars and specialists in the American Presidency and Presidential history, today is a great day, as C-Span announced its Presidential Historians Survey results for 2021!

It will take time to analyze the results, but a few points stand out:

Barack Obama went up from 12th to 10th in the overall listings.

Donald Trump ended up tied for 42nd out of 44, with Franklin Pierce, with only James Buchanan at 44 and Andrew Johnson at 43 below him.

Woodrow Wilson slipped from 11th to 13th as he continues to decline in overall rankings.

Andrew Jackson slipped dramatically from 18th to 22nd, and is now just in the middle of the overall rankings.

James K. Polk slipped from 14th to 18th, a continued decline in overall rankings.

John Adams and John Quincy Adams both rose four points from earlier rankings.

Bill Clinton dropped from 15th to 19th, a dramatic decline after having risen in earlier rankings.

Jimmy Carter ended up tied with James A. Garfield at 26th, and in the “battle” of Gerald Ford vs Carter, Carter came out ahead for the third time in the four C-Span surveys, in 2000, 2008 along with 2021, with Ford ahead in 2017.

Donald Trump, The Republican Party, And Two “Big Lies”!

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Donald Trump lost the national popular vote twice, by massive margins, much more than George W. Bush in 2000, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, Benjamin Harrison in 1888, and John Quincy Adams in 1824.

Together, he lost by nearly 10 million votes–2.85 million in 2016, and 7.1 million in 2020.

The “Big Lie” is that Donald Trump won EITHER time, 2016 and 2020.

It is clear that the Russians and Vladimir Putin helped to fix the election in 2016 in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, giving Trump the victory by a combined total of about 78,000 votes.

In 2020, Trump lost much more massively, even in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, along with Georgia and Arizona, but his party is perpetuating a myth that helped to provoke the Capitol Insurrection of January 6, 2021, for which Donald Trump should be held accountable and be in prison!

Conservatism and the Republican Party are being destroyed, and the idea that nearly 70 percent of Republicans in polls believe the “Big Lie”, and refuse to acknowledge Joe Biden won the Presidency is beyond any sense of reality. This undermines American democracy, rule of law, and respect for the Constitution.

The Republican Party officeholders, with the exception of a small group, including Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney, Adam Kinzinger, Lisa Murkowski, and a few others, has become a Fascist Party, a right wing Populist Party, a worshipper of Donald Trump, as if he is their Adolf Hitler or Benito Mussolini, unwilling or unable to accept the truth, and living in an alternate reality!

Joe Biden Victory Looking More Impressive As Vote Count Has Reached 99 Percent!

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Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the Presidential Election of 2020 looks more impressive by the day, and now, 99 percent of the vote is in, and Biden has 80.1 million votes to Trump’s 73.9 million votes, so a lead in popular votes of 6.2 million!

Assuming the same division of votes in the remaining one percent not yet tabulated, the final vote should be 80.9 million votes for Biden, and 74.6 million votes for Trump, a margin of 6.3 million votes.

This is nearly two and a half times the popular vote lead of 2.85 million that Hillary Clinton had over Donald Trump in 2016, and it makes Trump on the losing side of the popular vote in the two elections by a total of 9.1 million!

So Trump in the popular vote was twice a massive loser, with George W. Bush the loser in 2000 by 540,000; Rutherford Hayes in 1876 the loser by about 250,000; Benjamin Harrison the loser in 1888 by about 90,000; and John Quincy Adams the loser in 1824 by about 38,000.

And Joe Biden won the Sun Belt states of Arizona and Georgia, and retook the Midwest states that Hillary Clinton lost by small margins in 2016—Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin!

When Donald Trump won in 2016, he declared it a landslide with 306-232 in the Electoral College, but now that Joe Biden has accomplished the same electoral vote by taking five states from Biden, suddenly it is sore loser behavior, very infantile, on the part of Donald Trump, but the plans for the inauguration and setting up of the government over the next 53 days will continue to move forward!

Trump may never concede, but it does not matter, and only makes him look terrible in the eyes of history. And he may not show up at the Inauguration, which only John Adams in 1801, John Quincy Adams in 1829, and Andrew Johnson in 1869 failed to do!

And let us be honest, who cares if Trump shows up or acts civil, since that is NOT his nature, and his presence would actually besmirch the festivities, as we finally have dignity, decency, competence, knowledge, compassion and empathy back in the White House, which is sorely needed after the nightmare disaster of the corrupt Trump regime!