Worst myth

[buritobr]

What do you think?

[The Govanah Jake]

The people who say Kennedy would be a conservative republican today.

[TheSaint250]

I'd say conservative JFK, even though liberal Eisenhower is wrong as well.

[Don Vito Corleone]

I'd say conservative JFK, even though liberal Eisenhower is wrong as well.

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

I clicked on this thread expecting a half dozen or so actual myths.

Instead, I got a myth and a fact.

[darklordoftech]

The JFK one. People who were Democrats but became Republicans in the 1964-1980 timeframe often say that everything was great under JFK and that his assasination was the beginning of America's decline. Whether Eisenhower was conservative or liberal isn't relevant to anything that happened after his Presidency.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Ike was a solid moderate, JFK was a moderate liberal.  The worst myth I've heard is the "conservative Obama" one.

The JFK one. People who were Democrats but became Republicans in the 1964-1980 timeframe often say that everything was great under JFK and that his assasination was the beginning of America's decline. Whether Eisenhower was conservative or liberal isn't relevant to anything that happened after his Presidency.

Most people who were Democrats before 1964 didn't become Republicans until after 1980, or were neocons, not Dixiecrats.

[RINO Tom]

Both are for really dumb people, but "Liberal Eisenhower" bothers me more.

[Don Vito Corleone]

Ike was a solid moderate, JFK was a moderate liberal.  The worst myth I've heard is the "conservative Obama" one.

The JFK one. People who were Democrats but became Republicans in the 1964-1980 timeframe often say that everything was great under JFK and that his assasination was the beginning of America's decline. Whether Eisenhower was conservative or liberal isn't relevant to anything that happened after his Presidency.

Most people who were Democrats before 1964 didn't become Republicans until after 1980, or were neocons, not Dixiecrats.

Where the hell did you hear that?

[America Needs R'hllor]

No one really thinks that Eisenhower is a liberal, rather that he's a moderate conservative. But conservative JFK is completely wrong.

[Mr. Smith]

Conservative JFK.

[Young Conservative]

Liberal Eisenhower, since that's the false one.

[Mr. Smith]

Liberal Eisenhower, since that's the false one.

Raised taxes to 90%, lots of infrastructure, kept New Deal programs, put Earl Warren into the SC, warned against the military complex...those are some pretty good arguments without context.

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

The worst myth I've heard is the "conservative Obama" one.

Thats a fact; not a myth.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Liberal Eisenhower, since that's the false one.

Raised taxes to 90%, lots of infrastructure, kept New Deal programs, put Earl Warren into the SC, warned against the military complex...those are some pretty good arguments without context.

"90% tax rates" in the 1950s US as signaling some kind of social democracy is the worst myth.  No one paid that.  Capital gains tax rates were essentially the same as today.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Both are terrible and ought to be against the Terms of Service, but "the conservative JFK" is perhaps slightly more off-base. It is true that political considerations with regard to Congress (controlled by Democrats for most of the 1950s) required Eisenhower to moderate on some issues; of course, that is a long way from being a liberal.

[Figueira]

Out of all the hot takes about JFK, "JFK was a great President who would weep for how far left the Democratic Party has moved today" is the worst.

[SWE]

Liberal Eisenhower makes a bit of sense if you have a very surface level, middle school level knowledge of the man. Conservative JFK has no basis.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Liberal Eisenhower, since that's the false one.

Raised taxes to 90%, lots of infrastructure, kept New Deal programs, put Earl Warren into the SC, warned against the military complex...those are some pretty good arguments without context.

no thats not true , he cut the rate from 92% to 91%

[RINO Tom]

Liberal Eisenhower, since that's the false one.

Raised taxes to 90%, lots of infrastructure, kept New Deal programs, put Earl Warren into the SC, warned against the military complex...those are some pretty good arguments without context.

Without context, of course.  As shua said, no one was paying that, and the effective tax rate was absolutely lower back then.  Eisenhower also helped lower it.  His biggest infrastructure achievement, the interstate highway system, was quite literally defense spending, something liberals are not so fond of in excess.  He didn't have a lot of say in getting rid of New Deal programs given their popularity and his Congress, but he privately expressed a lot of discomfort with the size of government post-New Deal.  Most of Earl Warren's "liberal" reputation seems to be from his decisions on civil rights, and even if you subscribe to the idea that supporting individuals' civil rights is some inherently "liberal" view (I do not), most Northern conservatives in the GOP agreed with that viewpoint, so it certainly didn't add to Eisenhower's reputation as a "liberal."

Ike was, above all else, a pragmatist.  From what I have read on him, however, he was privately quite conservative.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Liberal Eisenhower, since that's the false one.

Raised taxes to 90%, lots of infrastructure, kept New Deal programs, put Earl Warren into the SC, warned against the military complex...those are some pretty good arguments without context.

Without context, of course.  As shua said, no one was paying that, and the effective tax rate was absolutely lower back then.  Eisenhower also helped lower it.  His biggest infrastructure achievement, the interstate highway system, was quite literally defense spending, something liberals are not so fond of in excess.  He didn't have a lot of say in getting rid of New Deal programs given their popularity and his Congress, but he privately expressed a lot of discomfort with the size of government post-New Deal.  Most of Earl Warren's "liberal" reputation seems to be from his decisions on civil rights, and even if you subscribe to the idea that supporting individuals' civil rights is some inherently "liberal" view (I do not), most Northern conservatives in the GOP agreed with that viewpoint, so it certainly didn't add to Eisenhower's reputation as a "liberal."

Ike was, above all else, a pragmatist.  From what I have read on him, however, he was privately quite conservative.

He even said that  appointing Earl Warren was a  mistake :

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/6773392-i-made-two-mistakes-and-both-of-them-are-sitting