Top Ten Presidential Mistakes
1. James Buchanan’s failure to take the threat of secession seriously, and allowing the divide to necessitate the Civil War.
2. Andrew Johnson's deciding to side with Southern whites and oppose improvements in justice for Southern blacks beyond abolishing slavery.
3. Lyndon Johnson increasing our involvement in the Vietnam War.
4: Woodrow Wilson's refusal to compromise on the Treaty of Versailles after World War I.
5: Richard Nixon's involvement in the Watergate cover-up.
6: James Madison's failure to keep the United States out of the War of 1812 with Britain.
7: Thomas Jefferson's Embargo Act of 1807, a self-imposed prohibition on trade with Europe during the Napoleonic Wars.
8: John F. Kennedy allowing the Bay of Pigs Invasion that led to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
9: Ronald Reagan and the Iran-Contra Affair, the effort to sell arms to Iran and use the money to finance an armed anti-communist group in Nicaragua.
10. Fill in your own!
List courtesy of the University of Louisville's McConnell Center
2. Andrew Johnson's deciding to side with Southern whites and oppose improvements in justice for Southern blacks beyond abolishing slavery.
3. Lyndon Johnson increasing our involvement in the Vietnam War.
4: Woodrow Wilson's refusal to compromise on the Treaty of Versailles after World War I.
5: Richard Nixon's involvement in the Watergate cover-up.
6: James Madison's failure to keep the United States out of the War of 1812 with Britain.
7: Thomas Jefferson's Embargo Act of 1807, a self-imposed prohibition on trade with Europe during the Napoleonic Wars.
8: John F. Kennedy allowing the Bay of Pigs Invasion that led to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
9: Ronald Reagan and the Iran-Contra Affair, the effort to sell arms to Iran and use the money to finance an armed anti-communist group in Nicaragua.
10. Fill in your own!
List courtesy of the University of Louisville's McConnell Center
posted by The Cruise at 8:32 AM
3 Comments:
10. McKinleys introduction of the Gold Standard, which was finally repealed in 1933 (Depression and all that). He beat William Jennings Bryan, who was the representative of the Democrats who had recently combined with the Populists.
An idea dominant in the short-lived Populist Party, who were mainly farmers in the West, was that the government could introduce silver into circulation ('Free Silver'). Their thinking was simple (they were farmer folk, y'all).
A massive increase in currency caused by 'Free Silver' = An increase in money in the economy = inflation ($1, for instance, becomes worth less) = the massive debts which western farmers owe to the big city folk on the east coast are massively reduced in value. Hurray!
The Populists were able to stick this onto the Democrat agenda because they controlled 1,027,329 votes in the 1892 election before they combined with the Democrats. The idea was not popular outside of the agrarian west though. Suprise! It was in the interest of relatively few economic groups other than the farmers for interest to leap through the roof. They had a whole host of other wacky ideas too, and these were slowly enacted in the decades after Populism declined. These included: a graduated income tax, direct election of Senators, civil service reform, a working day of eight hours and the involvemnet of women in politics.
The actual effects of 'Free Silver' seem very uncertain to me. The associated upheaval of the economy could have devastated some areas of the economy, but maybe helped other struggling areas. Anyway, it didn't happen, because McKinley beat ole' Jennings Bryan by 600,000 votes.
Demands for 'Free Silver' died out as people gradually came to realise that they had no idea what effect it would have on the economy, the farmers who had supported Populism became alienated and apathetic about politics, and voters started to think about things like some form of social justice and aid to the weak and poor, the blatant corruption of city bosses, the 'infamy of the business classes', and impending European war.
William Jennings Bryan continued to be active in the agrarian west, and was the main prosecution in the Scopes 'Monkey' Trial, where a science teacher was tried for teaching, in contravention of a recently passed law, that Humans had 'evolved' from monkeys. The trial is notable because Creationism suffered a major defeat, and the press from all the big cities descended on Tennessee to laugh at all the pigfucking inbreds who lived there. H. L. Mencken, one of the best known reporters in the 1900s, called Jennings Bryan a "buffoon" and his speeches "theologic bilge", and called the inhabitants of the particular town where the trial took place "yokels" and "morons".
10. Clinton and Monica Lewinski. Actual effects on peoples lives is null, but this provided an argument point for the neo-conservative movement as a "cultural" family values argument to counter to any type of rational debate. Further polarizes American politics as portrayed by media outlets, which set the stage for new realities.
Future position: W and administration pushing current war with Iraq through emotional manipulation. This war will have long and lasting negative consequences on internation relationships and internal cohesion.
Adam you got the real # 10 correct.
You are right that it doesn't affect us one whit by itself, but the media reaction to it has set the standard of reporting news.
The proliferation of blogs as a news source, and the demand for editorialization instead of lack of bias is a slope. A slippery one.
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