Was Nixon the last "decent" president? If not, who was?

Question

What I mean by decent was someone that the country stood behind regardless of political affiliation?

What was the turning point in contemporary american politics that polarized everyone?

Answer 1

Nixon...really? He was one of the most polarizing presidents in U.S. history. To be honest, the only president that didn't split the masses was George Washington. Every other president in U.S. history had his backers and his detractors.

It seems like recently we have had two presidents, Bush and Clinton, that have caused deep divides in our nation...but this is nothing new. Even FDR during the Depression and the War had people that wanted him out of office.

Research the politics of the late 19th century when local newspapers often openly backed one candidate over another. The political cartoons and editorials were absolutely brutal.

Answer 2

Polarization is something that has always been a part of our culture. It was there when the good citizens of Boston tossed the Reverend Roger Williams out on his ear for criticising the actions of the church. In Virginia, you used to have to pay a fine or face prison if you didn't attend the Anglican church, the statute on Religious Freedom, one of the things Jefferson had put on his tombstone, eliminated that.
In government, our first administration was beset by partisan strife so severe that Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson left the capital (New York) and went home to Monticello.
The floor of Congress has witnessed some brilliant oratory, some bitter enmity, and one US Senator beating another so seriously with a cane he was bedridden for months afterward.
The fields of the eastern US have absorbed the blood of all men, regardless of the color of their skin, over political differences.

There are no presidents I can think of who were accepted without criticism, except possibly Washington. Certainly not Lincoln, not even in the north. That is to say, accepted without question through their entire administration, even Washington led an army into Pennsylvania to enforce the Whiskey Tax. The tar and feather boys weren't exactly writing valentines to anyone in government over that.

Individual Presidents are accepted, even loved, at some points in their terms. Usually, these come at times of crisis. Sometimes it takes their death to pull the country together. JFK was not particularly popular, he won by a very narrow margin, but after November 22, 1963, he was idolized.

I think Nixon was popular in 1969, at the very beginning, because people hoped he would get us out of Vietnam as he had promised, but he lost points when he didn't, and more when he invaded Cambodia in 1970. I recall he was applauded almost universally for the China Trip, but Watergate was still what unravelled everything.

Nixon taught my generation what the older generation already knew, you don't put too much faith in any one man, you only believe half of what you read and none of what you hear, and you try to work out the truth from your own experiences, and what you can gather from multiple sources that have always had different perspectives on the facts.

The current situation seems to be a review on that lesson.

One thing I can say about a President that everyone stood behind. On the night of September 11, 2001, we all heard a speech that was sympathetic, not conciliatory, and very definite about the belief that this country was not down for the count of 10. And that speaker was George W. Bush.
He hasn't really had a moment like that again, but then, getting 300 million people behind one man isn't an easy proposition, and he was able to do it once, but I bet he wishes it was under different circumstances.

Answer 3

Here are several rankings, using various criteria from various sources, of US Presidents Best to Worst. Looking at a consensus of the top 10, the most recent would be FDR.

The polarization however, which I believe is your real question, dates back to further. In some sense, as a nation, we've always been divided. All the way back to Jefferson vs Adams, this country has been polarized with few exceptions. From the Federalists vs the Anti-federalists to Republicans vs Democrats, few elections were one sided.

Another way of looking at it, is when were the largest margins in the popular vote. FDR (1936 24.3% margin) and Nixon (1972 23.2% margin) both won by very large margins in the popular vote, indicating they had a larger percentage of support from the general populous than we saw in 2000 (-.51% margin) and 2004 (2.4% margin).

Answer 4

I believe you're correct. The first polarizing president had to be Jimmy Carter.

His extremely poor communication skills and apparent inability to make decisions caused the Republicans to run, screaming, for the hills. I don't think Democrats were any better impressed with his geeky, unleaderlike approach to everything.

Reagan completed the polarization by being completely obtuse and idiotic. Here was a man who had no love for the country, no loyalty to his own federal workers, no compunction about dirty deals and backchannel mayhem. Republicans ate him up; he oozed fake respectability. Democrats' skin crawled just at the mention of his name.

After those guys, it's been two separate countries.

Answer 5

My parents certainly did not stand behind Nixon even before Watergate, and they certainly weren't alone, so as tempting as it might seem, I wouldn't point to that as the single major polarizing political event.

Even Kennedy had major detractors during his presidency -- though I agree that at that point people still "stood behind their president" much more than by Nixon's era.
In my opinion, the issue/event that had the singlemost divisive effect was our involvement in the Vietnam war. That, plus the government's military reaction to protestors and youth in general led subsequent generations to rethink the wisdom of blind faith in our leaders.

Answer 6

I disagree with your premise. Nixon was NOT decent. Not everyone stood behind him, although they did, and still should, stand behind our Country. In fact, he was well on his way to being impeached, until he slipped out of town and left us with a decent man - Gerald Ford. Not use their personal political preference determine whether they do or not.
Have you heard these bozos blame Bush for the fires in California? That's a bit extreme, don't you think?

Answer 7

FDR. 4 terms tells you that the nation backed him without much regard for political affiliation.

Answer 8

Me!
Signed, Abraham Lincoln

Answer 9

When the system, powers that control the govt., had Pres. Kennedy exicuted