Show us your Lincoln collectables!

[Rob Wick]

Mark,

Taylor Branch's magnificent trilogy on America in the years of Martin Luther King would be, in my opinion, required reading for anyone wanting to understand not only both Robert and John's approach to civil rights, but to other American political leaders as well. It's a definite eye-opener and kills a lot of sacred cows. It also shows how possible it is for us as a society to fall back into that same condition unless we vigilantly fight to keep that from happening.

Best
Rob

[Mark MacKenzie]

Thanks, Rob, I appreciate your recommendations.

[LincolnMan]

I was listening to the CD Audio Book "Great Presidents" by Professor Allan Lichtman, Ph.D. His list of great presidents is as follows:

George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Andrew Jackson
James K. Polk
Abraham Lincoln
Theodore Roosevelt
Woodrow Wilson
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry S. Truman
John F. Kennedy
Lyndon Johnson
Ronald Reagan

[LincolnMan]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

This is an advertisement that was in the February 7, 1914 edition of The Literary Digest. It says, in part:

This month we celebrate the birthday of a great man. He believed in national institutions. He believed in making things better and of greater benefit for men, women, and children. He believed in such conscientiuosness, exactness, and fidelity to an established ideal as are manifiested in the production of

WELCHES "The National Drink"

[Hess1865]

Read one of Robert Caro's books on LBJ [especially the second one!] and you will find out what a sleazo he was.
But I'll say this-'ol Landslide Lyndon sure knew how to get the job done!

[Laurie Verge]

I think LBJ got the job done because he knew where all the skeletons and scandals were hidden in Congress. Blackmail can be a very useful tool.

[LincolnMan]

So LBJ is probably in the top ten best because of the Civil Rights Act being passed during his administration?

[Rob Wick]

Bill,
Not just the Voting Rights Act and other Civil Rights legislation, but generally for the Great Society programs as well.

Best
Rob

[LincolnMan]

Thanks Rob. My brain needed a kick-start- I completely didn't remember that. Rob, do you agree that he rates in the top ten?

[Rob Wick]

Bill,

I do. I think there are two ways to rate a president. The first, and most important, is by how well they do in a crisis situation, which is why I think Lincoln and FDR are always near the top. Second, and of lesser importance, is how effectively they are able to get their agenda across. This is where I think LBJ rates high. I think had he not gotten us deeper into Vietnam, he might rank in the top five.

Best
Rob

[Joe Di Cola]

To Rob and Bill,
I agree overall with the assessment and with placing LBJ in the top 10. The more I learn and read, the more I feel that the significant legislation, passed with pipartisan activity, will come to dominate the assessment of LBJ. To me, Rusk and McNamara through LBJ under the bus re the war. I think they should have left the cabinet.
I am often surprised at JFK in the top 10! To me he was a mediocratity with a captal 'M'! If he had completed a full two terms, I feel that Civil Rights and other forward-looking legislation would have been delyed. It's one thing to be charming, witty, etc. and yet another to be a political animal and realist. One contriubtor used "sleaze" to describe LBJ--Johnson had adroit political skills honed over decades to get things done-I don't care how provincial he may have sounded. Compare Johnson on JFKs death to the weak, cojone-devoid, statement of the current chief executive on the tragic events in Connecticut yesterday, and LBJ comes out on top.
I didn't mean to go on so long--it must be the drugs! I have to go look for a used Stratocaster--maybe I can now play like Jimi Hendrix.

[Rob Wick]

Glad to see you're back, Joe!

[Laurie Verge]

I have to agree with your political assessment of LBJ and JFK, Joe. Despite my being of the Camelot generation and being enchanted with his wife and children, I'm one of those who also questioned whether or not JFK would have been elected to a second term. The only true grit that he had going for him, IMO, is his facing down the Cuban missile crisis.

I said earlier on this post that Johnson knew where the skeletons and scandals were and used them as bargaining chips. Years of experience and those types of skills are what make good leaders in my opinion. I would definitely move him up on the presidential scale.

[LincolnMan]

Yes, JFK probably rates high because of his handling of the Cuban missile crisis.

[RJNorton]

Wikipedia has a chart and lots of presidential survey results here. I noticed in the one poll where a panel of historians was asked to rate just the presidents from 1900 on, only the two Roosevelts were ranked ahead of Lyndon Johnson.