Battle of the polar opposites: FDR vs. RWR

[politicus]

FDR, no contest.

[Maistre]

Ironically, FDR was one of Reagan's favorite Presidents.

Voted Reagan.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

FDR, no contest.

[Cory]

To say FDR curbstomps Reagan is an understatement.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

To say FDR curbstomps Reagan is an understatement.

[bedstuy]

- Tried to circumvent his Constitutional authorities when it came to one of our most important and ideally non-partisan beaches of government: the Supreme Court.  Can you imagine the reaction here if Bush had tried to add justices??  Haha.

How did that circumvent the Constitution?  You're so upset about that and you have no idea what Constitution even says.

I'll go with Reagan. The New Deal was a total failure at ending the Depression as it cartelized countless industries, grossly distorted agriculture, and imposed labor regulations which unemployed masses of workers. Fortunately for FDR, a panacea for the unemployment problem appeared when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, where FDR had "conveniently" stationed a huge portion of the US fleet (and fired top generals who objected). Unemployment tends to decline when you cart off masses of your citizens to fight overseas. I'd bring up Japanese internment too but Reagan's drug policies were/are just as bad.

Reagan was bad in his own right for a variety of reasons, but at least had some sensible policies. Even with regard to those he was lacking (he ended up repealing nearly half of his initial tax cuts), but he still better than FDR, the ultimate welfare-warfare President.

There's so much bad historical revisionism here.  The New Deal had some bad policies.  The NRA was a horrible program, I don't dispute that.  But, the New Deal did stabilize the economy and massively decrease unemployment.  If the New Deal hadn't been rolled back in 1936, in part over deficit concerns,  we would have never had the double-dip "Roosevelt Recession."  WW2 mattered as well, but the New Deal worked, clumsy and tentative as it was.

As for that conspiracy theory about Pearl Harbor, you should be ashamed of yourself.  There's no point in debating that, but suffice to say, no actual US scholar agrees with you.  Do you also hate Bush because you think he was behind 9/11?

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

I'll go with Reagan. The New Deal was a total failure at ending the Depression as it cartelized countless industries, grossly distorted agriculture, and imposed labor regulations which unemployed masses of workers. Fortunately for FDR, a panacea for the unemployment problem appeared when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, where FDR had "conveniently" stationed a huge portion of the US fleet (and fired top generals who objected). Unemployment tends to decline when you cart off masses of your citizens to fight overseas. I'd bring up Japanese internment too but Reagan's drug policies were/are just as bad.

Reagan was bad in his own right for a variety of reasons, but at least had some sensible policies. Even with regard to those he was lacking (he ended up repealing nearly half of his initial tax cuts), but he still better than FDR, the ultimate welfare-warfare President.

There's so much bad historical revisionism here.  The New Deal had some bad policies.  The NRA was a horrible program, I don't dispute that.  But, the New Deal did stabilize the economy and massively decrease unemployment.  If the New Deal hadn't been rolled back in 1936, in part over deficit concerns,  we would have never had the double-dip "Roosevelt Recession."  WW2 mattered as well, but the New Deal worked, clumsy and tentative as it was.

I've never understood the "FDR's New Deal lengthened the Depression" line. Statistics don't back it up:

1929
GDP: $103.6 billion
Unemployment: 3.2% (or around there, because the old way is not the most accurate)

1933
GDP: $56.4 billion
Unemployment: 25% or even as high as 33%

1940
GDP: $101.4 billion
Unemployment: 11.1%

And FDR's commitment to low deficits and aversion to debt (the debt was $16.9 billion in 1929 and $43 billion in 1940, and the largest deficit posted during this time was only $5 billion and government spending never really exceeded $10 billion in one year during the 1930s). Yet unemployment kept falling from 1933 - 1937, and then again from 1938 - 1941, and GDP grew during the whole period minus a stall from the double-dip recession.

If anything, the above figures and the Recession of 1937-1938 prove that the New Deal wasn't big enough. I always get a laugh out of people who say "The Great Depression wasn't ended by government spending, it was ended by WW2!".....like, um, where do you think all the spending and demand came from in WW2?

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

FDR ===> Greatest President.

RWR ===> Easily the Worst.

Not a terribly difficult poll, this one.

[Rockefeller GOP]

FDR ===> Greatest President.

RWR ===> Easily the Worst.

Not a terribly difficult poll, this one.

Yeah, Reagan was way worse than Buchanan and Johnson.  Totally.

[bedstuy]

FDR ===> Greatest President.

RWR ===> Easily the Worst.

Not a terribly difficult poll, this one.

Yeah, Reagan was way worse than Buchanan and Johnson.  Totally.

It's a valid opinion, it's pretty darn subjective how you evaluate a President. 

Also, are you going to respond to this?

Could you respond

- Tried to circumvent his Constitutional authorities when it came to one of our most important and ideally non-partisan beaches of government: the Supreme Court.  Can you imagine the reaction here if Bush had tried to add justices??  Haha.

How did that circumvent the Constitution?  You're so upset about that and you have no idea what Constitution even says.

[Goldwater]

FDR ===> Greatest President.

RWR ===> Easily the Worst.

Not a terribly difficult poll, this one.

Yeah, Reagan was way worse than Buchanan and Johnson.  Totally.

It's a valid opinion, it's pretty darn subjective how you evaluate a President. 

Yeah, people will have varying opinions of different Presidents because of differing political opinions, but your views have to be pretty extreme to not consider someone like Buchanan or (Andrew) Johnson the worst President in history. I mean, I'm sure someone saying that Obama or LBJ was worse than them would be considered crazy by most of the forum, and rightfully so.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

It's almost fact that Buchanan and Johnson were the worst presidents.