The Greatest President in 100 Years

[Meathead]

“He was a man with firm positions, with which he undoubtedly contributed to the fall of communism.” Vaclav Havel

"When talking about Ronald Reagan, I have to be personal. We in Poland took him so personally. Why? Because we owe him our liberty. This can't be said often enough by people who lived under oppression for half a century, until communism fell in 1989."
Lech Walesa

But of course a couple of pea-brained teenyboppers know more about the fall of communism than those who lived through it.

Teenybopper? I wish!

Ironic, Reagan supported workers and unions in Poland, just not in America.

Hey, where were you when you heard the news President Kennedy was shot in a motorcade in Dallas Texas? I had my left foot on the kitchen chair tying my sneaker to go play football, I heard the CBS bulletin on the Philco TV in the living room. I lived through the cold war. It should have ended almost 30 years earlier. If you want to stop being a real meathead, educate yourself on how the treasonous CIA tried numerous times to force America into a war with the Soviet Union. Start with May Day, 1960, Francis Gary Powers, and how the treasonous CIA prompted President Eisenhower to issue a dire warning about the military industrial complex in his farewell address.

"The fall of the Berlin Wall makes for nice pictures. But it all started in the shipyards."
Lech Walesa

I was in Europe in school when I heard about Kennedy. In the morning my mother told me he'd been shot. A few hours later we were informed of his death in school.

Well, at least you didn't contest the pea-brained part. Unlike your age, it is far more apparent. So, you're not going challenge Walesa or Havel or Reagan's contributions to the ending of the Cold War? I thought you just might be that stupid.

 

[regent]

The end of the cold war came about because two people wanted to end it, Reagan and Gorbachev.
Had either Reagan or Gorbachev wanted to keep the cold war alive it would have remained alive.
Still it seems that American presidents before Reagan also wanted to end the cold war, so in the end was it Reagan or Gorbachev that was the key to ending the cold war?

 

[Bfgrn]

“He was a man with firm positions, with which he undoubtedly contributed to the fall of communism.” Vaclav Havel

"When talking about Ronald Reagan, I have to be personal. We in Poland took him so personally. Why? Because we owe him our liberty. This can't be said often enough by people who lived under oppression for half a century, until communism fell in 1989."
Lech Walesa

But of course a couple of pea-brained teenyboppers know more about the fall of communism than those who lived through it.

Teenybopper? I wish!

Ironic, Reagan supported workers and unions in Poland, just not in America.

Hey, where were you when you heard the news President Kennedy was shot in a motorcade in Dallas Texas? I had my left foot on the kitchen chair tying my sneaker to go play football, I heard the CBS bulletin on the Philco TV in the living room. I lived through the cold war. It should have ended almost 30 years earlier. If you want to stop being a real meathead, educate yourself on how the treasonous CIA tried numerous times to force America into a war with the Soviet Union. Start with May Day, 1960, Francis Gary Powers, and how the treasonous CIA prompted President Eisenhower to issue a dire warning about the military industrial complex in his farewell address.

"The fall of the Berlin Wall makes for nice pictures. But it all started in the shipyards."
Lech Walesa

I was in Europe in school when I heard about Kennedy. In the morning my mother told me he'd been shot. A few hours later we were informed of his death in school.

Well, at least you didn't contest the pea-brained part. Unlike your age, it is far more apparent. So, you're not going challenge Walesa or Havel or Reagan's contributions to the ending of the Cold War? I thought you just might be that stupid.

"The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived and dishonest – but the myth – persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."
President John F. Kennedy

Experts on the Soviet Union and the United States from inside and outside Russia not only challenge the myth Reagan contributed to ending the cold war, they make a strong case that he extended it. And he wasted BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars on Star Wars and wasteful defense spending.


Long the leading Soviet expert on the United States, Georgi Arbatov, head of the Moscow-based Institute for the Study of the U.S.A. and Canada, wrote his memoirs in 1992. A Los Angeles Times book review by Robert Scheer summed up a portion of it:

Arbatov understood all too well the failings of Soviet totalitarianism in comparison to the economy and politics of the West. It is clear from this candid and nuanced memoir that the movement for change had been developing steadily inside the highest corridors of power ever since the death of Stalin. Arbatov not only provides considerable evidence for the controversial notion that this change would have come about without foreign pressure, he insists that the U.S. military buildup during the Reagan years actually impeded this development.

George F. Kennan agrees. The former US ambassador to the Soviet Union, and father of the theory of "containment" of the same country, asserts that "the suggestion that any United States administration had the power to influence decisively the course of a tremendous domestic political upheaval in another great country on another side of the globe is simply childish." He contends that the extreme militarization of American policy strengthened hard-liners in the Soviet Union. "Thus the general effect of Cold War extremism was to delay rather than hasten the great change that overtook the Soviet Union."

Though the arms-race spending undoubtedly damaged the fabric of the Soviet civilian economy and society even more than it did in the United States, this had been going on for 40 years by the time Mikhail Gorbachev came to power without the slightest hint of impending doom. Gorbachev's close adviser, Aleksandr Yakovlev, when asked whether the Reagan administration's higher military spending, combined with its "Evil Empire" rhetoric, forced the Soviet Union into a more conciliatory position, responded:

It played no role. None. I can tell you that with the fullest responsibility. Gorbachev and I were ready for changes in our policy regardless of whether the American president was Reagan, or Kennedy, or someone even more liberal. It was clear that our military spending was enormous and we had to reduce it.

 

[Synthaholic]

“He was a man with firm positions, with which he undoubtedly contributed to the fall of communism.” Vaclav Havel

"When talking about Ronald Reagan, I have to be personal. We in Poland took him so personally. Why? Because we owe him our liberty. This can't be said often enough by people who lived under oppression for half a century, until communism fell in 1989."
Lech Walesa

But of course a couple of pea-brained teenyboppers know more about the fall of communism than those who lived through it.

Teenybopper? I wish!

Ironic, Reagan supported workers and unions in Poland, just not in America.

Hey, where were you when you heard the news President Kennedy was shot in a motorcade in Dallas Texas? I had my left foot on the kitchen chair tying my sneaker to go play football, I heard the CBS bulletin on the Philco TV in the living room. I lived through the cold war. It should have ended almost 30 years earlier. If you want to stop being a real meathead, educate yourself on how the treasonous CIA tried numerous times to force America into a war with the Soviet Union. Start with May Day, 1960, Francis Gary Powers, and how the treasonous CIA prompted President Eisenhower to issue a dire warning about the military industrial complex in his farewell address.

"The fall of the Berlin Wall makes for nice pictures. But it all started in the shipyards."
Lech Walesa

I was in Europe in school when I heard about Kennedy. In the morning my mother told me he'd been shot. A few hours later we were informed of his death in school.

Well, at least you didn't contest the pea-brained part. Unlike your age, it is far more apparent. So, you're not going challenge Walesa or Havel or Reagan's contributions to the ending of the Cold War? I thought you just might be that stupid.

They all contributed. But St. Ronnie Of RKO Studios does not get the majority of the credit. Gorby, the Pope, and Walesa are much more directly responsible.

 

[PoliticalChic]

The end of the cold war came about because two people wanted to end it, Reagan and Gorbachev.
Had either Reagan or Gorbachev wanted to keep the cold war alive it would have remained alive.
Still it seems that American presidents before Reagan also wanted to end the cold war, so in the end was it Reagan or Gorbachev that was the key to ending the cold war?

"The end of the cold war came about because two people wanted to end it, Reagan and Gorbachev."

Wrong.



"At no point, however, did Gorbachev want to yield Moscow's pride of place as the number two superpower. And he was blissfully confident that the risks were tolerable: "There is no reason to fear the collapse or the end of socialism", Gorbachev assured Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu three weeks after the Berlin Wall had been breached and three weeks before the Romanian dictator was executed by his own people.

Reagan was made from far sterner stuff than was his Soviet counterpart. His genial grin and wise-cracking demeanor concealed a spine of steel when push came to shove. Yet at their next meeting in Reykjavik in 1986, where Gorbachev would not budge on the "Star Wars" question, Reagan was decisive and unforgiving."
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2751/is_77/ai_n6353166/pg_6/?tag=content;col1

 

[Meathead]

Doubtless communism fell for many complex reasons. However, the US was the only superpower to confront it. Reagan abandoned the long-held policy of Detante and confronting (and frankly scaring the shit out of) the Soviets. It was under these pressures that Gorbachev rose to power, as even the old Soviet guard came to the realization that they needed someone who, as Maggie Thatcher put it, "we can work with'". Reagan's role in the demise of communism cannot be shortchanged. He started out to to change America, and he changed the world. He was undoubtedly hugely instrumental in the fall of communism, all that without firing a shot.

 

[Rozman]

Doubtless communism fell for many complex reasons. However, the US was the only superpower to confront it. Reagan abandoned the long-held policy of Detante and confronting (and frankly scaring the shit out of) the Soviets. It was under these pressures that Gorbachev rose to power, as even the old Soviet guard came to the realization that they needed someone who, as Maggie Thatcher put it, "we can work with'". Reagan's role in the demise of communism cannot be shortchanged. He started out to to change America, and he changed the world. He was undoubtedly hugely instrumental in the fall of communism, all that without firing a shot.

And Obama got that chick all the birth control she needed...
You just can't downplay Obama's place in history with that.

 

[regent]

If Stalin had still been the honcho in the USSR would the cold war have ended?

 

[PoliticalChic]

If Stalin had still been the honcho in the USSR would the cold war have ended?

If the dog didn't stop, would he have caught the rabbit.....and other imaginary topics.



How about you keep the parameters at what actually happened, and what Gorbachev actually said.

He had no intention of losing the Cold War.

Reagan, Thatcher and the Pope forced him to.

 

[editec]

I think if I were forced to choose the greater POTUS of the XXth century, I'd have to go with Theodore Roosevelt.

Wasn't perfect, but balance I think he did more good than bad.

 

[Papageorgio]

Last 100 years

1. FDR
2. Ike
3. Wilson
4. Truman
5. Obama
6. Reagan

Wilson is the asshole who put us under Banker Control. Is that why you listed him?

Wilson was the biggest racist to walk the White House, he was all for eugenics and the wiping out of inferior races,

No wonder rightwinger thinks so highly of him. He set the tone for Progressives today.

 

[Bfgrn]

I think if I were forced to choose the greater POTUS of the XXth century, I'd have to go with Theodore Roosevelt.

Wasn't perfect, but balance I think he did more good than bad.

In the framework of the cold war, Nikita Khrushchev had his favorite.

Kennedy often said he wanted his epitaph to be "He kept the peace." Even Khrushchev and Castro, Kennedy's toughest foreign adversaries, came to appreciate J.F.K.'s commitment to that goal. The roly-poly Soviet leader, clowning and growling, had thrown the young President off his game when they met at the Vienna summit in 1961. But after weathering storms like the Cuban missile crisis, the two leaders had settled into a mutually respectful quest for détente. When Khrushchev got the news from Dallas in November 1963, he broke down and sobbed in the Kremlin, unable to perform his duties for days. Despite his youth, Kennedy was a "real statesman," Khrushchev later wrote in his memoir, after he was pushed from power less than a year following J.F.K.'s death. If Kennedy had lived, he wrote, the two men could have brought peace to the world.

Read more: Warrior For Peace - The Lessons of J.F.K. - TIME

 

[rightwinger]

Last 100 years

1. FDR
2. Ike
3. Wilson
4. Truman
5. Obama
6. Reagan

Wilson is the asshole who put us under Banker Control. Is that why you listed him?

Wilson was the biggest racist to walk the White House, he was all for eugenics and the wiping out of inferior races,

No wonder rightwinger thinks so highly of him. He set the tone for Progressives today.

Wilson was a product of his times and had views towards blacks and women that were representative of his era

 

[regent]

If Stalin had still been the honcho in the USSR would the cold war have ended?

If the dog didn't stop, would he have caught the rabbit.....and other imaginary topics.



How about you keep the parameters at what actually happened, and what Gorbachev actually said.

He had no intention of losing the Cold War.

Reagan, Thatcher and the Pope forced him to.

Historians play around with the what-ifs it helps shed light on the possible actions.
So maybe it has to be done slowly and methodically.
Did either Gorbachev and Reagan not want to end the cold war?
If not, was it Reagan or Gorbachev that did not want the cold war?

 

[Papageorgio]

Wilson is the asshole who put us under Banker Control. Is that why you listed him?

Wilson was the biggest racist to walk the White House, he was all for eugenics and the wiping out of inferior races,

No wonder rightwinger thinks so highly of him. He set the tone for Progressives today.

Wilson was a product of his times and had views towards blacks and women that were representative of his era

No he didn't FDR wasn't that way, Teddy and Coolidge weren't that way. How disgusting you excuse racism.

 

[rightwinger]

Wilson was the biggest racist to walk the White House, he was all for eugenics and the wiping out of inferior races,

No wonder rightwinger thinks so highly of him. He set the tone for Progressives today.

Wilson was a product of his times and had views towards blacks and women that were representative of his era

No he didn't FDR wasn't that way, Teddy and Coolidge weren't that way. How disgusting you excuse racism.

Not at all

Keep in mind we are talking about an era roughly half way between the Civil War and the Civil Rights era. Blacks were free, but in no way considered equal in our society. That was still 50 years away. It was not only the rednecks in the South but the intellectuals of the day who considered blacks to be biologically inferior

Wilson also had some archaic views towards women and their ability to take a leading role in our society

It is hard to look at politicians from 100 years ago and judge them by todays standards

 

[Papageorgio]

Wilson was a product of his times and had views towards blacks and women that were representative of his era

No he didn't FDR wasn't that way, Teddy and Coolidge weren't that way. How disgusting you excuse racism.

Not at all

Keep in mind we are talking about an era roughly half way between the Civil War and the Civil Rights era. Blacks were free, but in no way considered equal in our society. That was still 50 years away. It was not only the rednecks in the South but the intellectuals of the day who considered blacks to be biologically inferior

Wilson also had some archaic views towards women and their ability to take a leading role in our society

It is hard to look at politicians from 100 years ago and judge them by todays standards

And Lincoln was 50 years earlier and didn't treat black they way Wilson did.

 

[rightwinger]

No he didn't FDR wasn't that way, Teddy and Coolidge weren't that way. How disgusting you excuse racism.

Not at all

Keep in mind we are talking about an era roughly half way between the Civil War and the Civil Rights era. Blacks were free, but in no way considered equal in our society. That was still 50 years away. It was not only the rednecks in the South but the intellectuals of the day who considered blacks to be biologically inferior

Wilson also had some archaic views towards women and their ability to take a leading role in our society

It is hard to look at politicians from 100 years ago and judge them by todays standards

And Lincoln was 50 years earlier and didn't treat black they way Wilson did.

Lincoln had his own social and political structure to deal with. To Lincoln, just allowing blacks to be free was a major step

The America of the early 1900s had a KKK a million strong. It was a major political power. It was hard enough passing anti-lynching legislation let alone civil rights legislation.

 

[Papageorgio]

Not at all

Keep in mind we are talking about an era roughly half way between the Civil War and the Civil Rights era. Blacks were free, but in no way considered equal in our society. That was still 50 years away. It was not only the rednecks in the South but the intellectuals of the day who considered blacks to be biologically inferior

Wilson also had some archaic views towards women and their ability to take a leading role in our society

It is hard to look at politicians from 100 years ago and judge them by todays standards

And Lincoln was 50 years earlier and didn't treat black they way Wilson did.

Lincoln had his own social and political structure to deal with. To Lincoln, just allowing blacks to be free was a major step

The America of the early 1900s had a KKK a million strong. It was a major political power. It was hard enough passing anti-lynching legislation let alone civil rights legislation.

Which Wilson had no intention of doing, he was for eugenics and stopping the black race from procreating. He hated blacks, he wanted them all dead, it was his agenda. He was an evil person with bigotry and hatred behind his moves.

 

[rightwinger]

And Lincoln was 50 years earlier and didn't treat black they way Wilson did.

Lincoln had his own social and political structure to deal with. To Lincoln, just allowing blacks to be free was a major step

The America of the early 1900s had a KKK a million strong. It was a major political power. It was hard enough passing anti-lynching legislation let alone civil rights legislation.

Which Wilson had no intention of doing, he was for eugenics and stopping the black race from procreating. He hated blacks, he wanted them all dead, it was his agenda. He was an evil person with bigotry and hatred behind his moves.