On the Notion that We Shouldn't "Second-Guess" Our Past Presidents
We can put them on Mount Rushmore (i.e., glorify them) but we can't criticize them/take them down? Sorry, but I must have missed that memo (as did a lot of folks when it came to James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, etc.).
There is certainly enough information out there on all the presidents. We can disagree with presidential historians (me, I rank US Grant far above Reagan) depending on our POV. (and it is a bit fun to be a devil's advocate hobbyist) And we can get away with poor scholarship these days: I knew a person who wrote a dissertation on Pope Joan as a study in leadership and received an MA in business leadership...from a Jesuit university!!
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There is certainly enough information out there on all the presidents. We can disagree with
presidential historians (me, I rank US Grant far above Reagan)
depending on our POV. (and it is
a bit fun to be a devil's advocate
hobbyist) And we can get away with poor scholarship these days:
I knew a person who wrote a dissertation on Pope Joan as a study
in leadership and received an MA
in business leadership...from a
Jesuit university!!
I kind of like Cleveland (his sexual peccadillos aside).
Interesting that Cleveland's vice president during his second term
was Adlai Stevenson...who left anoddly named progeny of assorted Adlais.
Lodge is another name that seems to crop up quite a lot; dynastic names in politics.
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