Agree or Disagree. Besides Bush, Reagan was the worst president of the 20th Century?

Question

We would not be having the problems in the Middle East if Reagan would have not supported the Contra's in Iran. Alot of our current pain can be traced back to him. Anyone who says he ended the Cold War, should really look at history and notice that without Kennedy the cold war would have been a real war.

Answer 1

Absolutely agree. This whole gas thing is like a re-run of the
Regan administration.

When Regan was in office, I had to struggle to pay bills & eat too, after he was out of office, I was able to catch up. Now,
it's the same old thing, - only worse. I know of
so many who are without health insurance, simply because
they can't afford it. So disturbing.

I wonder - Repub administration = high gas prices?
They do seem to go together.

Answer 2

Well, he certainly doesn't deserve to have an airport (or anything else) named after him, and his legacy is lacking. The homeless as a class in society didn't exist until his presidency threw people from institutions onto the street. He reduced funding for children's programs like school lunches and forced states to take up the cause or ignore it at their whim. He ran up a staggering debt, which started the new Republican governing strategy: promise to reduce government and then just gift a bunch of money to the ultra-rich through targeted and needless tax cuts. He built up an expensive nuclear arsenal that is dangerous and useless (you can only destroy the world once, numbers 2-100 are redundant). If you grew up in farm country in the '80s you're also aware that he began the continuing assault on the family farm in favor of corporate farms that continues today. He was senile in his final 2-3 years as well.

So what did he do well? He was an articulate voice against the evils of communism and he believed in American values, whatever those may be.

All that said, we've had some bad Presidents. NIxon? Destroyed Americans' ability to trust government. Carter? Too nice for the job (I wish Bush were as ineffectual; the world would be a safer place). Hoover, a great ex-president, who did nothing as the nation fell apart in the face of a depression. I think the worst is too tough to call. In Reagan's case we need at least another 50 years of history to know for sure.

Answer 3

I'm a Liberal.

Reagan 'bad" ? NO, he new how to Lead !

Kennedy STARTED the Cold War ! Really.

Dwight D. Eisenhower (one of the great ones) Warned American about starting the Cold War ! Did we listen ? Nooooo.

Kennedy said Ike was wrong ! Kennedy's platform was that we needed to be hard on the Commies. That we needed to build up our Defense (nukes).

Pope John Paul ended the Cold War. But Christians hate Catholics so the Pope gets Zero credit.

Bush is however the very worst President in the last 80 years.

Answer 4

Reagan was the second coming of Christ compared to the gloomy glumpy incompetent he succeeded.

Carter is definitely the worst.

Bush and Reagan are not even close to the worst.

Supported the Contras in Iran? OMG, what a freaking bonehead you are! The Contras were insurgents fighting for freedom in Nicaragua from a communist thugocracy.

Answer 5

disagree. hate Bush, but disagree. I think Reagan did a lot diplomatically with Russia, we used to be scared of nuclear proliferation from a superpower, now we can't even get a third world country (Iran) to talk to us about their weapons program. I also credit Clinton's surplus in the economy to Reaganomics, an idea that many shunned in the 80s, and even though he said that we wouldn't reap the benefits of it until after his presidency (which we did) he still pressed forward with it. And, I used to think that like Bush, he was very secretive ("I don't recall " was his favorite phrase during the hearings) but it turns out he really did have Alzheimers disease. Nope, Bush takes the cake for worst president ever, uncontested

Answer 6

Speaking of looking at history, you really need to study the history of the Middle East and take a closer look at the modern issues that occurred during WWI and WWII. A book written “What Went Wrong?: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response”, by Bernard Lewis would be a good start for one like yourself whom seems to not have a good understanding of the region.

Answer 7

Disagree. It is a toss up between Carter and FDR.

If Carter had retaliated against Iran in 1979, shown some balls, made them pay for their crime, the Middle East would be a much different place now.

FDR lead this country down the path of socialism from which it will NEVER recover. NEVER.

Answer 8

Disagree: Nixon, Bush II, Bush I, Reagan

Answer 9

DISAGREE!!!!!!

The problems we are having in the Middle East is due to Islamic radicals. Fanatics who have hijacked their own religion and intend to kill so called infidels. This would be the case no matter who was President. We are lucky enough to have someone sitting in the Oval Office who cares enough about the issue to do something about it. Look at Canada, they just arrested 17 people who intended to do their country harm, and they are not even involved in the war in Iraq. This just goes to show that these terrorist will come to us if we are over there or not.

Answer 10

And how long have you been studying politics?

Reagan was one of the best presidents our country has ever had. He DID end the cold war. Don't forget about Reaganomics.

You must be one of those 'hindsight' geniuses. you are good at going back and trying to find fault in someone.