Tuesday, January 20, 2015

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.).

4 comments:

  1. 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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  2. I kind of like Cleveland (his sexual peccadillos aside).

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  3. Interesting that Cleveland's vice president during his second term
    was Adlai Stevenson...who left anoddly named progeny of assorted Adlais.

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  4. Lodge is another name that seems to crop up quite a lot; dynastic names in politics.

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