Best U.S. president ever?
Who is the best U.S. president of all time?
The question is asked at regular intervals, particularly toward the end of a presidential term as now with Barack Obama.
An obvious choice for first place is Franklin D. Roosevelt. He had such a grip over the electorate that they changed the law after his death — so that no president could be elected more than twice.
Comparing presidents is a kind of a national sport in the United States. There are perhaps not quite as many opinions as there are Americans, but many there are, and the topic is always on everyone’s mind and kept up to date.
My personal favorites are two very different men: John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. Different in every way, yet (I think) "typical Americans."
Many may protest when I put Kennedy and Reagan equally high. But most important for both was to govern the country well and both were successful, in my opinion. Nixon also, at least partially succeeded, but something inside him did not fit properly and so things went the way they did.
I admired Ronald Reagan for his policies that won the Cold War and led to the dissolution of the USSR. But even more because he was elected president when he was 69 years old. Far into the retirement age, he sought the hardest job there is. Kennedy never had time to do all the things he could have done, and grew into a great symbol of light and hope after his murder.
Reagan and Kennedy both end up pretty high, in 11th and 14th place on the ranking recently presented by the Brookings think tank. Brookings asked 100 American political scientists to rank the country's 43 presidents.
The winner was unsurprisingly Abraham Lincoln, followed by George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt in third.
Americans in general likely rank Washington, Lincoln and possibly Eisenhower as the foremost as well. The choice of Washington is obvious, as is Lincoln as a figure of light and Eisenhower because he led the country to victory in World War II.
Personally — I must admit — I liked Nixon rather well, but here I know I’m not getting backed up in my views. Nixon flew to Beijing, met with Mao and helped China out of isolation and alienation. It was his greatest achievement, no doubt the work of a great statesman. At the same time, he sought détente with the Soviet Union and brought the Vietnam War to an end (which undoubtedly could have gone faster).
My final review is that Nixon led the super-power with skill and balance. His own demons led him to become entangled in the Watergate scandal and led to his downfall.
Nixon ends up far down the Brookings list, in 35th place just before George W. Bush.
Few politicians in the world — if any — are the subject of such tenacious, thorough and tireless scrutiny as U.S. presidents. Although media might sometimes take it easy with favorites like Kennedy, Nixon, who was unpopular, was regularly hit with negative reviews, whether deserved or not.
The question of who is the best president is obviously impossible to answer. The circumstances vary, the world is changing and the country too. Perhaps the United States — to its glory — is the country that is changing most rapidly of all. It is a young country, full of people from different parts of the world: the unhappy, the ambitious, the most enterprising and the most hopeful.
Obama then? It's too early to determine his place in history. But on the Brookings list he is currently ranked number 18 of the 43.
|
World Reporter
Ulf Nilson, World reporter since his first assignments to Hungary in 1956. Correspondent and Sweden’s man in America for 20 years, Ulf Nilson is still a regular columnist in Sweden’s daily Expressen, and regular contributor in Nordstjernan. He has authored or co-authored over fifty books. He lives in southern France or at his beloved Värmdö, just 30 minutes north of Stockholm. He
• covered the US, including Vietnam during the war years
• marched in the civil rights marches
• interviewed Martin Luther King
• met presidents Johnson, Nixon, Reagan and George H. W. Bush
• and, as one of Sweden’s most well-known journalists, also met with every politician, industry leader or cultural personality—all the movers and shakers of Sweden through five decades of a proliferate professional life.
|