How many fascist Presidents have we had?

[So the Heroes Fall]

I say four:

John Adams
William McKinley
Woodrow Wilson
George W. Bush

Reagan is borderline but I'll err on the conservative side.

[WillK]

I say four:

John Adams
William McKinley
Woodrow Wilson
George W. Bush

Reagan is borderline but I'll err on the conservative side.

In what way was John Adams a fascist?

[So the Heroes Fall]

Alien and Sedition Acts

[WillK]

Alien and Sedition Acts

And?   You got to help me out here cause I don't see how that makes him a fascist. 

[WillK]

I say four:

John Adams
William McKinley
Woodrow Wilson
George W. Bush

Reagan is borderline but I'll err on the conservative side.

And while your at it, help me understand why you put McKinely on the list?

[Matt Damon™]

None.

[DownWithTheLeft]

I agree with Adams and I add the two men who worked harder to expand their own power and that of the federal government while at the same time dumping on the constitution any chance they got:

Lincoln/FDR

[SPC]

Adams, Alien and Sedition Acts
Lincoln, declaring war on his own country, etc.
McKinley, Phillipines occupation
Roosevelt, consolidation of executive power
Wilson, supression of free speech, imposition of income tax, etc.
Roosevelt, adoption of economic fascism through the New Deal
Truman, nationalizion of the steel mills
Kennedy, theory of service to one's country
Johnson, see Roosevelt and replace New Deal with Great Society
Nixon, need I say more?
Reagan, see Lincoln, but replace Civil War with Drug War
Clinton, see Lincoln, but replace Southerners with Branch Davidians
Bush, need I say more?

13 by my conservative count.

[So the Heroes Fall]

Alien and Sedition Acts

And?   You got to help me out here cause I don't see how that makes him a fascist. 

Basically the most anti-freedom legislation ever passed in the country. Plus blatantly unconstitutional.

I say four:

John Adams
William McKinley
Woodrow Wilson
George W. Bush

Reagan is borderline but I'll err on the conservative side.

And while your at it, help me understand why you put McKinely on the list?

Brutal imperialist. He occupied the Philippines in a manner blatantly imperialist and basically justified it the same way Tsarist Russia would justify its imperialism and repression.

[Lief]

Authoritarian ≠ Fascist

thanks.

[WillK]

Alien and Sedition Acts

And?   You got to help me out here cause I don't see how that makes him a fascist. 

Basically the most anti-freedom legislation ever passed in the country. Plus blatantly unconstitutional.

Hardly. I can think of several more anti-freedom legislative acts. 
And if thats your sole criteria agaisnt Adams, than you ought to include at least Jefferson, Wilson, FDR, and Truman on your list.

[Ghyl Tarvoke]

Authoritarian ≠ Fascist

thanks.

^^^^^

Nixon however was the closest.

[Nixon in '80]

I fail to see how Reagan is anywhere near borderline...

and no, I'm not saying this just because I admire him.

[The Man From G.O.P.]

0

[Purple State]

None. There is a difference between taking measures to strengthen your office or the nation and serving as an authoritarian leader.

Fascism tends to not allow free and democratic elections in which one loses while holding an iron-clad grip on the running of the nation. I didn't realize the US ever had a dictatorial regime. And before anyone says FDR, he wasn't the sole force. Congress originates laws. That by itself removes the chances of fascism.

[So the Heroes Fall]

None. There is a difference between taking measures to strengthen your office or the nation and serving as an authoritarian leader.

Fascism tends to not allow free and democratic elections in which one loses while holding an iron-clad grip on the running of the nation. I didn't realize the US ever had a dictatorial regime. And before anyone says FDR, he wasn't the sole force. Congress originates laws. That by itself removes the chances of fascism.

You'd have a tough time finding any type of authoritarian regime out there that doesn't have some sort of "legislature" that rubber-stamps the dictator's decrees.

[© Tweed the Younger]

FDR would be the closest, if not really a doctrinaire fascist.

[GMantis]

By the narrow, forgotten definition, only Andrew Jackson.
By a wider definition: him, McKinley and Wilson.
By an even wider definition, that mocks the term: well, almost all American presidents, with the doubtfull exception of Harding, Coolidge and Carter.

[Matt Damon™]

None but we came close with the business plot in '34.

[JohnFKennedy]

How has this ludicrous and completely anachronistic thread ended up in the 'History' forum?

[Vasall des Midas]

42.

[Jacobtm]

The term "fascism" is largely devoid of meaning at this point in history.

Can anyone truly define "fascism"? Are we to understand it as the beliefs layed out in Mussolini's "Fascist Manifesto", or perhaps to take the actions of Mussolini's government and then call that fascism? Is it the Nazi government we should look to for a definition, or maybe Generalissimo Franco's rule of Spain? Should we turn to Political Scientists' essays?

I doubt there's really any way to define Fascism that wouldn't in practice incorporate a broad swathe of dictatorships that have existed in the last 200 years.

[N.i.K.]

O.

[SPC]

FDR would be the closest, if not really a doctrinaire fascist.

[Sibboleth]

Can anyone truly define "fascism"?

Of course. And plenty of people have done so. That doesn't mean that everyone will agree, of course.