Most underrated American Presidents of all time?

[Bob]

I think two of the most underrated presidents were Calvin Coolidge and Grover Cleveland --

Just curious… of which other Presidents folks here believe history has given the snub... as I was getting tired of the endless Obama and Romney threads.

[peacepipe]

calvin coolidge is underated.
http://hnn.us/articles/9815.html

In foreign policy, he restored diplomatic relations with Mexico, which he described as "our sister republic," and asked Congress to provide funds to settle claims resulting from the 1914 American invasion. In September 1923, he sent the Pacific Fleet to Japan to help provide relief for the earthquake that had killed 130,000 people, acting so quickly that the American ships arrived there even before their Japanese counterparts.

Probably the most notable thing that Coolidge did during his first months in office was to deliver a stunning State of the Union address to Congress in December 1923. He spoke in person to a joint session and made thirty identifiable requests in bold and forthright language. In addition to a tax cut, he asked for such measures as the enactment of environmental legislation, the expansion of health benefits for veterans, the passage of a constitutional amendment limiting child labor, the creation of a separate cabinet department of education and welfare, the expansion of the civil service system, the reorganization of the U.S. foreign service, the creation of a new reforestation policy, the establishment of reformatories for women and young men serving their first prison sentence, the funding of medical courses at Howard University and the establishment of a permanent Court of International Justice. he would of been kicked out of the republican party if were running today.

[mhgaffney]

Where did all of these vacuous threads come from?

[Rohirrim]

In foreign policy, he restored diplomatic relations with Mexico, which he described as "our sister republic," and asked Congress to provide funds to settle claims resulting from the 1914 American invasion. In September 1923, he sent the Pacific Fleet to Japan to help provide relief for the earthquake that had killed 130,000 people, acting so quickly that the American ships arrived there even before their Japanese counterparts.

Probably the most notable thing that Coolidge did during his first months in office was to deliver a stunning State of the Union address to Congress in December 1923. He spoke in person to a joint session and made thirty identifiable requests in bold and forthright language. In addition to a tax cut, he asked for such measures as the enactment of environmental legislation, the expansion of health benefits for veterans, the passage of a constitutional amendment limiting child labor, the creation of a separate cabinet department of education and welfare, the expansion of the civil service system, the reorganization of the U.S. foreign service, the creation of a new reforestation policy, the establishment of reformatories for women and young men serving their first prison sentence, the funding of medical courses at Howard University and the establishment of a permanent Court of International Justice.

Damn! He sounds like a Marxist!

[Garcia Bronco]

James Monroe
Chester Arthur

[cutthemdown]

Bush Jr for sure.

[baja]

Jimmy Carter

[Blart]

LBJ if you could somehow erase Vietnam.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Poverty
Could have been great.

[Bob]

calvin coolidge is underated.
http://hnn.us/articles/9815.html

he would of been kicked out of the republican party if were running today.

Maybe...he was also good about lowering taxes and not talking to damn much...

[Bob]

LBJ if you could somehow erase Vietnam.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Poverty
Could have been great.

I don't have an ax to grind with LBJ -- honestly...

but wasn't he racist?

[Bob]

In foreign policy, he restored diplomatic relations with Mexico, which he described as "our sister republic," and asked Congress to provide funds to settle claims resulting from the 1914 American invasion. In September 1923, he sent the Pacific Fleet to Japan to help provide relief for the earthquake that had killed 130,000 people, acting so quickly that the American ships arrived there even before their Japanese counterparts.

Probably the most notable thing that Coolidge did during his first months in office was to deliver a stunning State of the Union address to Congress in December 1923. He spoke in person to a joint session and made thirty identifiable requests in bold and forthright language. In addition to a tax cut, he asked for such measures as the enactment of environmental legislation, the expansion of health benefits for veterans, the passage of a constitutional amendment limiting child labor, the creation of a separate cabinet department of education and welfare, the expansion of the civil service system, the reorganization of the U.S. foreign service, the creation of a new reforestation policy, the establishment of reformatories for women and young men serving their first prison sentence, the funding of medical courses at Howard University and the establishment of a permanent Court of International Justice.

Damn! He sounds like a Marxist!

When was the last time a Democrat lowered taxes? Was it JFK?

[El Jué]

Garfield might have been one of the giants had he survived his doctors' treatment.

[Bob]

Garfield might have been one of the giants had he survived his doctors' treatment.

Apparently Garfield didn't give a government post to some attorney who felt entitled to it, so he shot him...

Garfield was also pretty good about states rights and responsible spending.

[Rohirrim]

When was the last time a Democrat lowered taxes? Was it JFK?

See? This just shows what a ridiculous clown you are.


Beneath all of the Republican and Tea Party grumbling about taxes, one key fact continues to be ignored. According to the Tax Policy Center, Federal taxes are lower than at any time since 1955. Obama has now reduced taxes by more than any president since Dwight D. Eisenhower.

According to the Orange County Register, “For the past two years, a family of four earning the median income has paid less in federal income taxes than at any time since at least 1955, according to the Tax Policy Center. All federal, state and local taxes combined are a lower percentage of per-capita income than at any time since the 1960s, according to the Tax Foundation. The highest income-tax bracket is its lowest since 1992. At 35 percent, it’s well below the 50 percent mark of much of the 1980s and the 70 percent bracket of the 1970s.”

The problem is that the tax cuts have not promoted economic growth and have caused the federal deficit to explode, “Those lower taxes have helped give the U.S. government the lowest revenues as a percentage of gross domestic product of seven industrialized countries surveyed in 2010 by the Congressional Research Services. (The other countries were Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and France.) The U.S. also had the lowest spending as a percentage of the GDP. But with the biggest gap between revenues (31.6 percent of GDP) and expenditures (42.2 percent of GDP), the U.S. also posted the largest deficit as a percentage of GDP – 10.5 percent.”

The answer to America’s revenue shortfall is to raise taxes. The US revenue gap could be closed immediately with a tax increase, but Republicans and tea partiers go insane as soon as the prospect is mentioned even in the most delicate manner. The Tea Party set believes to their core that they are being overtaxed, but reality doesn’t match their perception.

In fact, most Americans have no idea that Barack Obama has lowered taxes. According to a 2010 CBS News/New York Times Poll, only 12% of Americans knew that Obama has lowered taxes. 53% thought that he kept taxes the same, and 24% believed that Obama has raised taxes.



Not surprisingly, only 2% of Tea Party supporters knew that Obama had lowered taxes. 44% of them thought that the President has raised their taxes.

The right believes this because they got the idea from Fox News and talk radio. Four days ago, Fox News.com ran a story claiming that Obama is going to raise taxes. The tax increase boogeyman is a favorite of the right, because it is easy to put out there and it motivates their base every time.

The Republicans’ insistence on defining Obama as a tax and spender combined with the President’s own reluctance to take credit for his accomplishments has resulted in many Americans being misinformed about where their money is actually going.

What many on the right don’t understand is that the people who benefit most from their protests are the super-rich. The AP reports that, “The Internal Revenue Service tracks the tax returns with the 400 highest adjusted gross incomes each year. The average income on those returns in 2007, the latest year for IRS data, was nearly $345 million. Their average federal income tax rate was 17 percent, down from 26 percent in 1992.” Meanwhile the average rate for everyone else dropped from 9.9% to 9.3%.

While the Tea Party takes to the streets to keep tax rates low for billionaires, Barack Obama has lowered their taxes to historically low levels.

The bottom line is that beneath all the GOP spin the fact remains. Barack Obama, not Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush is the greatest tax cutter in American history.

http://www.politicususa.com/obama-great-tax-cutter/

Keep listening to Fox News. It's just making you stupider and stupider.

[El Jué]

"...The problem is that the tax cuts have not promoted economic growth and have caused the federal deficit to explode..."

All pretty good information except for that bull**** line above. There is no tax rate that could be high enough to confiscate (or low enough to stimulate) enough tax receipts to cover the kind of spending we've experienced over the past 12 years or so.

[Bob]

See? This just shows what a ridiculous clown you are.


Beneath all of the Republican and Tea Party grumbling about taxes, one key fact continues to be ignored. According to the Tax Policy Center, Federal taxes are lower than at any time since 1955. Obama has now reduced taxes by more than any president since Dwight D. Eisenhower.

According to the Orange County Register, “For the past two years, a family of four earning the median income has paid less in federal income taxes than at any time since at least 1955, according to the Tax Policy Center. All federal, state and local taxes combined are a lower percentage of per-capita income than at any time since the 1960s, according to the Tax Foundation. The highest income-tax bracket is its lowest since 1992. At 35 percent, it’s well below the 50 percent mark of much of the 1980s and the 70 percent bracket of the 1970s.”

The problem is that the tax cuts have not promoted economic growth and have caused the federal deficit to explode, “Those lower taxes have helped give the U.S. government the lowest revenues as a percentage of gross domestic product of seven industrialized countries surveyed in 2010 by the Congressional Research Services. (The other countries were Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and France.) The U.S. also had the lowest spending as a percentage of the GDP. But with the biggest gap between revenues (31.6 percent of GDP) and expenditures (42.2 percent of GDP), the U.S. also posted the largest deficit as a percentage of GDP – 10.5 percent.”

The answer to America’s revenue shortfall is to raise taxes. The US revenue gap could be closed immediately with a tax increase, but Republicans and tea partiers go insane as soon as the prospect is mentioned even in the most delicate manner. The Tea Party set believes to their core that they are being overtaxed, but reality doesn’t match their perception.

In fact, most Americans have no idea that Barack Obama has lowered taxes. According to a 2010 CBS News/New York Times Poll, only 12% of Americans knew that Obama has lowered taxes. 53% thought that he kept taxes the same, and 24% believed that Obama has raised taxes.



Not surprisingly, only 2% of Tea Party supporters knew that Obama had lowered taxes. 44% of them thought that the President has raised their taxes.

The right believes this because they got the idea from Fox News and talk radio. Four days ago, Fox News.com ran a story claiming that Obama is going to raise taxes. The tax increase boogeyman is a favorite of the right, because it is easy to put out there and it motivates their base every time.

The Republicans’ insistence on defining Obama as a tax and spender combined with the President’s own reluctance to take credit for his accomplishments has resulted in many Americans being misinformed about where their money is actually going.

What many on the right don’t understand is that the people who benefit most from their protests are the super-rich. The AP reports that, “The Internal Revenue Service tracks the tax returns with the 400 highest adjusted gross incomes each year. The average income on those returns in 2007, the latest year for IRS data, was nearly $345 million. Their average federal income tax rate was 17 percent, down from 26 percent in 1992.” Meanwhile the average rate for everyone else dropped from 9.9% to 9.3%.

While the Tea Party takes to the streets to keep tax rates low for billionaires, Barack Obama has lowered their taxes to historically low levels.

The bottom line is that beneath all the GOP spin the fact remains. Barack Obama, not Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush is the greatest tax cutter in American history.

http://www.politicususa.com/obama-great-tax-cutter/

Keep listening to Fox News. It's just making you stupider and stupider.

Unlike you -- I can learn from someone who is different from me. JFK did lower taxes -- and my question, was not completely a sarcastic jab -- I thought that maybe Clinton lowered taxes, but could not remember. What I need to learn about from legit sources then is what he lowered and how, and if he has raised any taxes at the same time (so it becomes just a political shell game approach). It is easy to lie with statistics, so yes, I am cynical about a president who so often talks about the rich not paying their fair share -- so I might be wrong -- and if so, i have learned something new, and wont be the first time. I assumed incorrectly for example that Clinton created more debt, but based on what I have read (here on the Mane) he lowered our debt levels -- so that raised my view of him.

I would also add, that politically speaking the more Obama talks about fairness and pitting every group against each other and using envy for political gain -- the worse he will do in the polls. It seems intellectually inconsistent for him to lower taxes, when he spends so much more time talking about raising them.

[peacepipe]

Unlike you -- I can learn from someone who is different from me. JFK did lower taxes -- and my question, was not completely a sarcastic jab -- I thought that maybe Clinton lowered taxes, but could not remember. What I need to learn about from legit sources then is what he lowered and how, and if he has raised any taxes at the same time (so it becomes just a political shell game approach). It is easy to lie with statistics, so yes, I am cynical about a president who so often talks about the rich not paying their fair share -- so I might be wrong -- and if so, i have learned something new, and wont be the first time. I assumed incorrectly for example that Clinton created more debt, but based on what I have read (here on the Mane) he lowered our debt levels -- so that raised my view of him.

I would also add, that politically speaking the more Obama talks about fairness and pitting every group against each other and using envy for political gain -- the worse he will do in the polls. It seems intellectually inconsistent for him to lower taxes, when he spends so much more time talking about raising them.clinton raised taxes.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57345810-503544/poll-most-back-raising-taxes-on-millionaires/
60% - 35% support raising taxes on those making over a million

http://capitalgainsandgames.com/blog/bruce-bartlett/2341/23-polls-say-people-support-higher-taxes-reduce-deficit
here you got 23 different polls showing raiseing taxes as part of solving the deficit.

[BroncoInferno]

James K. Polk. I recommend this excellent book on his one-term presidency:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51MzKonaTuL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

[Smiling Assassin27]

John Adams is my choice.

[BroncoBeavis]

Alexander Hamilton

He was so underrated he wasn't even President. :)

[Rohirrim]

FDR.


The Right thinks he was worse than Stalin.

[Blart]

I don't have an ax to grind with LBJ -- honestly...

Oh I think you do.


As a part of the Great Society, Johnson believed in expanding the government's role in education and health care as poverty reduction strategies.[1] These policies can also be seen as a continuation of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, which ran from 1933 to 1935, and the Four Freedoms of 1941.

[Garcia Bronco]

Garfield might have been one of the giants had he survived his doctors' treatment.

You mean the bullets he had to eat after being on the job a couple of weeks.

[Garcia Bronco]

Johnson got us so deep in to Vietnam. He's again one of the worst Presidents we've ever had.

[Requiem]

Arthur, Cleveland and Coolidge. In some respects for American Expansion, I'd highly Polk. Just depends on what you are looking for.

[Bob]

John Adams is my choice.

Have you ever seen the HBO special on him -- it was actually pretty darn good.

[Bob]

Oh I think you do.

I have not spent very much time reading up on him -- I have heard about the great society and some of the social programs...but I try to refrain bashing on a guy until I know enough from both sides to form an opinion. I am inclined to like JFK -- and wonder how he would fit in today's political society.

I am almost done with The forgotten Man which looks at FDR, I've tried to read up on the Gilded Age, and the Progressive era (1900-1919).

[El Jué]

You mean the bullets he had to eat after being on the job a couple of weeks.

I mean that the bullets wounded him. His doctors killed him.