Great presidents that never were

[Wakie]

Ben Franklin.  Not that I would have replaced Washington, but if he had lived long enough to be the 2nd President (instead of Adams) he would have been brilliant.

James Cox.  Often considered the ablest candidate not elected President.

Bobby Kennedy.  The one man who could have unified the country in the wake of Vietnam.

Lloyd Bentsen.  If he had been the candidate in '88 w/ a VP of Bill Clinton we could have had 16 years of brilliant Presidents.

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

Straha

[gorkay]

This question reminds me of the Nobel Prize for Literature, in that the list of writers who never won it is a lot more impressive than the list of writers who have. Similarly, you could compile a list of potential great Presidents that would be a lot more impressive than the list of actual great Presidents.

I agree that George Marshall would be at or near the top of any such list. One of the greatest Americans who ever lived, beyond a doubt. Two other names from our early history that come readily to mind are John Jay and George Mason. Nicholas Murray Butler, a brilliant man who was an advisor to many Presidents and was proposed for the office but never actually ran for it, is another one. In recent years, Mario Cuomo seemed to have everything it took to be a great President, except the desire to run.

[bbt]

No one's mentioned the obvious: Ralph Nader.

Maybe thats because most Americans believe he would be a disaster unlike anyone who's ever held the office....My picks are far more selective than most lists I've seen on this thread.I think we've been pretty fortunate to have the right President at the right time so far.

Robert Kennedy and  Howard Baker are the only two that I can  see at least over the past 100 years that should have at some point been President and I think both of them would have been great or at least near great Presidents

[Reaganfan]

Jeb Bush - Still Possible
George Allen
Douglas MacArthur
Barry Goldwater
Colin Powell
John McCain - Still Possible
Rudy Giuliani - Still Possible
Fred Thompson - Still Possible

[bbt]

Jeb Bush - Still Possible
George Allen
Douglas MacArthur
Barry Goldwater
Colin Powell
John McCain - Still Possible
Rudy Giuliani - Still Possible
Fred Thompson - Still Possible

Especially concerning MacArthur..........what the hell are you smoking?? I damn sure dont want any of that stuff it makes you crazy!

[DownWithTheLeft]

Strom Thurmond immediatley pops into mind along w/the younger Barry Goldwater

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Benjamin Franklin, George Birney and Victoria Woodhull would have been interesting presidents.

[Reaganfan]

Jeb Bush - Still Possible
George Allen
Douglas MacArthur
Barry Goldwater
Colin Powell
John McCain - Still Possible
Rudy Giuliani - Still Possible
Fred Thompson - Still Possible

Especially concerning MacArthur..........what the hell are you smoking?? I damn sure dont want any of that stuff it makes you crazy!

What's wrong with my list? Just because I didn't list the cast of "Hair"?

[YRABNNRM]

Bill Weld
Colin Powell

[Gabu]

Strom Thurmond immediatley pops into mind

The guy whose entire platform was basically the perpetuation of segregation?

[DWPerry]

I would LOVE to see either of these two men in the White House
Dr. Walter E. Williams or Dr. William Henry Cosby Jr.

[ilikeverin]

Henry Clay (though he ran thrice, o/c )

[True Democrat]

I'm only doing primary/general election candidates:

Republicans:
Wilkie
Rockefeller
Anderson (although he ran as an Independent)
Specter
Lugar

Democrats:
HHH
RFK (I know, if I were living in 1968 I would be condemned for listing both those men)
Jackson
Stevenson (though I would've voted against him both times)

[The Duke]

Of those who ran and lost?

Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Pat Brown, and Steve Forbes all had the potential to have been great.

Of those who never ran?

Alexander Hamilton, William Seward, George Marshall, Earl Warren, and George Schultz all had the potential to have been great.

[True Democrat]

Of those who ran and lost?

Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Pat Brown, and Steve Forbes all had the potential to have been great.

Of those who never ran?

Alexander Hamilton, William Seward, George Marshall, Earl Warren, and George Schultz all had the potential to have been great.

Alexander Hamilton was constitutionally barred from running for President.

[bbt]

Of those who ran and lost?

Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Pat Brown, and Steve Forbes all had the potential to have been great.

Of those who never ran?

Alexander Hamilton, William Seward, George Marshall, Earl Warren, and George Schultz all had the potential to have been great.

William Seward was defeated by Abraham Lincoln for the 1860 Republican nomination, so he did run..............read "Team Of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin, a great story of Lincoln's rivals for the nomination who Lincoln took into his cabinet when he was inaugurated

[12th Doctor]

I'm only going to go with people who were acctually in the general election, since going outside that opens up far to many possibilities.  My top three votes are:

1) HHH - obvious choice for a centerist, neoconservative, communitarian such as myself


2) Tom Dewey - even though I love Truman, I still think Dewey would have made a great President.  1948 was the last election between two truely great candidates for President... 1960 is the last election since then that even comes close ot comparing, and that is only because Nixon was less... well... Nixon... in 1960


3) Bob Dole - I certain that the history of the last 10 years, and the negative political climate it has engendered, woudl never have existed if this great man had been elected.

[The Duke]

William Seward was defeated by Abraham Lincoln for the 1860 Republican nomination, so he did run..............read "Team Of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin, a great story of Lincoln's rivals for the nomination who Lincoln took into his cabinet when he was inaugurated

Sorry, forgot about that.

Alexander Hamilton was constitutionally barred from running for President.

I'm pretty sure he was allowed to run even though he was born in the British West Indies.  Article II lays out the qualifications for running for President:

"No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States."

Doesn't the bolded text allow those who are not natural born citizens to run if they are, like Hamilton, citizens at the time the Constitution was ratified?

[jokerman]

Yeah, Hamilton would have been fine.

[12th Doctor]

In fact, Hamilton being elected President was what the Jeffersonians feared the most.

[??????????]

Jeb Bush - Still Possible
George Allen
Douglas MacArthur
Barry Goldwater
Colin Powell
John McCain - Still Possible
Rudy Giuliani - Still Possible
Fred Thompson - Still Possible

Especially concerning MacArthur..........what the hell are you smoking?? I damn sure dont want any of that stuff it makes you crazy!

MacArthur won that war and was fired for doing a good job.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Jeb Bush - Still Possible
George Allen
Douglas MacArthur
Barry Goldwater
Colin Powell
John McCain - Still Possible
Rudy Giuliani - Still Possible
Fred Thompson - Still Possible

Especially concerning MacArthur..........what the hell are you smoking?? I damn sure dont want any of that stuff it makes you crazy!

MacArthur won that war and was fired for doing a good job.

MacArthur was fired because he was a nutcase who wanted to nuke China.

[??????????]

Jeb Bush - Still Possible
George Allen
Douglas MacArthur
Barry Goldwater
Colin Powell
John McCain - Still Possible
Rudy Giuliani - Still Possible
Fred Thompson - Still Possible

Especially concerning MacArthur..........what the hell are you smoking?? I damn sure dont want any of that stuff it makes you crazy!

MacArthur won that war and was fired for doing a good job.

MacArthur was fired because he was a nutcase who wanted to nuke China.

When you actually get a clue about history, let me know.

[Verily]

Salmon Portland Chase. (He also happens to have been an ancestor of mine; no bias at all! )

Henry Clay, too, but his skills seem to have been more suited to legislating.