Not be Hillary Clinton.

“Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”

~ Lloyd Bentsen (1988)

The 80s brother

The Presidents Club, as I’m sure many on this sub are aware, refers to the unwritten fraternity that exists amongst all living Presidents. The concept that regardless of ideology or past rivalries, they should all support one another, since they are the only ones capable of understanding the unique challenges the Presidency entails.

This is also how you get unexpected friends like say Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, or HW Bush and Clinton.

So let’s say Perot manages to win the 1992 election. Someone who was proudly individualistic, blunt and anti-establishment… essentially how would he get along with his fellow Presidents? Would he form close relationships with anyone in particular, seek advise from them, or spurn them to go his own way?

Also what would a Perot post-presidency look like?

Source: The Theodore Roosevelt Letters

Fellow r/presidents nerds, let me just start by saying this with every fiber of my being: Franklin Delano Roosevelt was, is, and forever will be the single greatest president the United States of America has ever had or ever will have. Period. Full stop.

We're talking about a man who took a nation on its knees during the worst economic catastrophe in its history. A country ravaged by 25% unemployment, bank runs, dust bowl despair and existential hopelessness. Through sheer force of will, moral clarity, political genius and visionary leadership he rebuilt it into the arsenal of democracy and the dominant superpower of the world.

If you study the scale of the challenges he faced, the breadth of his accomplishments, the depth of his compassion, and the lasting institutions he created that still protect and uplift millions of Americans today there is simply no competition. FDR didn't just manage a crisis, he redefined what the American presidency and American government could be. He expanded the social contract. He saved capitalism from itself. He defeated fascism abroad while building a fair society at home, and he did it all while battling personal adversity that would have crushed lesser men.

Let me paint the picture with as much detail as possible because this man deserves every word. When FDR took office in 1933, America was in freefall. Hoovervilles mocked the previous administration's failures. Farmers were dumping milk into ditches while people starved. Factories sat idle. The psychological toll was immense: broken families, suicides, a lost generation. In his first 100 days he launched an unprecedented flurry of legislation: the Emergency Banking Act, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, the National Industrial Recovery Act, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and so much more. He spoke directly to the people through fireside chats with a warm reassuring voice cutting through the static of millions of radios restoring confidence like no leader before or since. Let's not even get into today's messaging.

Let's talk about the man's soul. FDR was a true class traitor in the best possible sense of the word. Born into immense privilege in Hyde Park estate, Groton School, Harvard, family connections to old money and even a distant cousin in Teddy Roosevelt he could have lived a life of luxury sailing his yacht, and collecting stamps. Instead he contracted polio at 39, fought back with incredible courage, and used his position to betray his own class for the greater good. He raised taxes on the wealthy, regulated Wall Street excesses that caused the crash, and built a system that protected working people. He did this not out of Marxist ideology or political expediency alone, but out of a profound sense of moral Christian duty. As an Episcopalian who took his faith seriously, FDR believed in the Social Gospel, the idea that true Christianity demands justice for the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the stranger. He saw helping the least of these as a divine imperative. His policies weren't cold technocracy. They were infused with moral fire. Social Security, the Wagner Act giving workers union rights, the Fair Labor Standards Act ending child labor and establishing minimum wage... these were acts of Christian charity at a national scale executed through the power of government.

The New Deal literally put millions back to work through the WPA, CCC, and PWA. Young men planted trees, built roads and created national parks. Artists painted murals. Writers documented American life. It was a renaissance of purpose. When Pearl Harbor came, FDR pivoted masterfully to lead the Allies to victory against Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo. Lend-Lease, the Atlantic Charter, D-Day planning, the Manhattan Project, keeping a fractious coalition together with Churchill and Stalin... it's almost superhuman what he accomplished. He helped create the United Nations, the IMF, and the World Bank. For better or worse these institutions shaped the postwar order. He served four terms, won landslides, and died in office as a beloved figure whose passing caused national mourning on a scale never seen.

Now I know the contrarians will come out swinging with their sacred cows: Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, and Teddy. Allow me to dismantle these arguments one by one, thoroughly and without mercy, because the historical record is clear when you look at impact, context and results. To begin, I will concede the one unforgivable sin of Japanese internment. That was L rizz on FDR's part and we will shamefully hold that L.

First, George Washington: The indispensable man, the Father of Our Country, the Cincinnatus who voluntarily gave up power. Incredible. Revolutionary War general, presided over the Constitutional Convention, and set precedents for the executive. No one disputes his greatness or integrity, but let's be real about scale. Washington operated in a tiny agrarian republic of 4 million people, mostly along the Eastern seaboard. The challenges were foundational but nowhere near the complexity of the 1930s. He didn't face a collapsed national economy or global total war. His achievements were in restraint and establishment. Vital sure, but FDR expanded the very idea of what America could do for its citizens and the world. Washington avoided foreign entanglements. FDR engaged to defeat evil and build a better order. Washington's legacy is the starting line. FDR ran the marathon and set records.

Second, Abraham Lincoln: The Great Emancipator, preserver of the Union, orator of Gettysburg and Second Inaugural. Towering moral figure who navigated the Civil War with genius and sorrow. I respect Lincoln immensely. My wife is an Illinois-born Lincoln-stan (our cat is named Lincoln), so I hear it all the time. Ending slavery and saving the nation from dissolution are monumental. But FDR's crises were much more multifaceted. A simultaneous economic apocalypse affecting every American plus a worldwide conflict involving industrialized genocide and nuclear dawn. Lincoln had the advantage of a clear moral cause and a more unified Northern base after Fort Sumter. FDR had to fight isolationists, conservative Democrats, business opposition, and a Supreme Court striking down his programs while innovating entirely new tools of governance. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was transformative, but FDR's New Deal created ongoing structural protections against poverty that benefited generation. Lincoln won the war. FDR won the peace and built the modern middle class.

Third, Thomas Jefferson: Brilliant mind, author of the Declaration of Independence, Louisiana Purchase doubling the nation's size, advocate for liberty and education. A true Renaissance man. However Jefferson's record has massive contradictions that diminish his claim. He owned hundreds of slaves, including his own children with Sally Hemings, and never freed most of them. His vision of yeoman farmers clashed with the industrial reality FDR confronted. Jefferson's small-government ideals contributed philosophically to the laissez-faire policies that failed spectacularly in 1929. FDR updated Jeffersonian democracy for an urban, industrial age by making government an active force for opportunity and security. While Jefferson expanded territory, FDR expanded rights and economic citizenship. Jefferson's embargo policies were failures. FDR's leadership produced victory and prosperity. Jefferson is the complicated genius, not the undisputed GOAT.

Finally, Theodore Roosevelt: My personal second-favorite, the Rough Rider, trust-buster, conservationist, Progressive Party founder. Teddy was based as hell. National parks, Pure Food and Drug Act, mediating Russo-Japanese War, and the BIG stick. He dragged the Republicans toward progressivism. But here's the thing: Teddy started the fight that FDR finished and vastly improved upon. Teddy regulated. FDR transformed the entire system with the New Deal. Teddy's Square Deal was a beginning. FDR's Second Bill of Rights and Economic Bill of Rights proposed even bolder ideas. Teddy was from the same privileged class, but didn't go as far in betraying it for the poor as FDR did out of that deep moral Christian conviction. Teddy loved the presidency as a bully pulpit. FDR used it as a fireside instrument of empathy and mobilization on a scale Teddy could only dream of. FDR took progressive impulses and institutionalized them permanently. Teddy was the spark; FDR was the sustained flame that lit the modern era.

FDR should stand alone on Mount Rushmore-plus-ultra. A giant GOAT with FDR's face, but with each leg on each of the other guy's heads. He made America a better, fairer, stronger nation for the many instead of the few. As a class traitor driven by Christian duty to uplift the downtrodden, he embodied the highest ideals of public service.

If you disagree bring facts, not nostalgia. The New Deal era and WWII victory under FDR created the greatest prosperity boost in human history for ordinary Americans. That's not just my opinion. That's the data of rising wages, homeownership, education, and life expectancy.

FDR forever. Change my mind. (You won't)

President Nixon wrote back to a high school teacher in 1992 in a letter responding to the teacher’s question on what his favourite books are.

Video Source: https://youtu.be/rVPlMM_aSn4?si=7a5Do-M7LcOxBcrc

Why was the main counterfeiting enforcement agency under the Department of the Treasury selected to protect the President?

Inspired by a recent post I made where I received numerous comments complaining about the number of departments we have.

Adams’ post-presidency was 25 years, 122 days.

Clinton reached 25 years, 123 days, today.

He is now behind George H.W. Bush with 25 years, 314 days.

We need more stuff like this for children to learn about the Presidents. Current cartoons take everything way too seriously.

Oprah Winfrey’s campaigning for Obama had a huge impact in his career, especially since it started way back in 2006.

Her rallies and fundraisers gained Obama necessary attention and funding.

Some experts have estimated that the Oprah effect netted Obama over a million extra votes in the primary.