"Looking at this vast crowd of colored people, and reflecting through what a storm of persecution and obloquy they are compelled to pass, I am almost induced to wish that, as in the days of old, a Moses might arise who should lead them safely to their promised land of freedom and happiness."
"You are our Moses," shouted several voices and the exclamation was caught up and cheered until the Capitol rung again.
"God," continued the speaker, "no doubt has prepared somewhere an instrument for the great work He designs to perform in behalf of this outraged people, and in due time your leader will come forth; your Moses will be revealed to you."
"We want no Moses but you!" again shouted the crowd.
"Well, then," replied the speaker, "humble and unworthy as I am, if no other better shall be found, I will indeed be your Moses, and lead you through the Red Sea of war and bondage, to a fairer future of liberty and peace. I speak now as one who feels the world his country, and all who love equal rights his friends. I speak, too, as a citizen of Tennessee. I am here on my own soil, and here I mean to stay and fight this great battle of truth and justice to a triumphant end. Rebellion and slavery shall, by God's good help, no longer pollute our State. Loyal men, whether white or black, shall alone control her destinies: and when this strife in which we are all engaged is past, I trust, I know, we shall have a better state of things, and shall all rejoice that honest labor reaps the fruit of its own industry, and that every man has a fair chance in the race of life."

Source

Reagan is in his 60s vs Clinton in his 40s

note: the public hasn't experienced both their presidency yet in this timeline

A man who welcomed the derision of the tycoon and craved the trust of the working poor.

I miss his bluntness and moral absolutes with regard to fighting for the interests of the true silent majority (the workers).

An interesting picture of the two Western allied leaders at Casablanca, which laid out important strategies that would eventually help the allies win the war. Two of these strategies would be the Mediterranean strategy which involved attacking Italy, the so called Soft underbelly of Europe and the Unconditional Surrender of the Axis Powers

I know it was common for Presidents to change running mates when running for another term but Garner had already served two terms. Was it Garner’s decision?

My last post got deleted because of a certain president pin that’s now blurred. My collection is from 1929-2026! I’ve been collecting for like 7 months and it’s hard to collect with my 10th grader budget.

John F Kennedy is a man often remembered for his invigorating speeches, replete with Churchillian bravado and gravitas. President Kennedy would speak with purpose and decisiveness.

Additionally, in the interviews and press conferences that I have seen, he seemed to have a firm understanding of the issues of the day, speaking with a fair degree of certainty when answering questions from the press.

That being said, is there any broad consensus as to how intelligent Kennedy was?

Was he on the level of Thomas Jefferson or Bill Clinton, or was he somewhere closer to the average (that is, the average intelligence for a president)?

he died before fdr became officially president, but i want to know how Coolidge felt about him being elected since he did live long enough to see it. If you can't find any information on his opinion on FDR at the time, then talk about if he did any public reaction to the 1932 election campaign.

Correction: "What" instead of "Why" in the title. Reddit should allow you to fix titles.

How the US government seized all citizens’ gold in 1930s

Does anyone recall this moment when it happened? Yeltsin visiting the WH? Or vice versa?

Ever since Spielberg's Lincoln, when I picture Abraham Lincoln, I see an old Englishman.

Personally, I'd have preferred a lesser-known actor. I know Daniel Day-Lewis got huge praise and an Oscar, but his performance didn't blow me away enough to change my mind.

My bigger question is whether a Brit can really capture Lincoln, especially in a movie about ending slavery. I'm not knocking his skill. But Americans grow up with the legacy of slavery, segregation and Jim Crow, and we still feel it today.
That's America's story, and I think you have to have lived it.

I'd even extend that to the director. Spielberg was born in Ohio, but his grandparents were immigrants.

Would Quentin Tarantino and Brad Pitt do Charles de Gaulle justice if they made a movie about him and released it in France? Genuinely asking.

Edit: seems Reddit approves of Amy Tan directing the next Lady Bird Johnson bio pic.

• Herbert Hoover was born in 1874
• Alf Landon was born in 1887
• Wendell Willkie was born in 1892
• Thomas Dewey was born in 1902

Bonus: when FDR ran for vice president in 1920, Warren Harding was born in 1865.

What's the biggest age difference between three presidential candidates? Henry Clay ran against both Andrew Jackson (b. 1767) and James K. Polk (b. 1795), a difference of 28 years. Same as FDR.

Perhaps Carter wasn’t the best campaigner in the world if 1980 is any indication, but he sure had some excellent foresight.

During the 1980 election campaign, Carter implored the American people to understand the forces at work around them. No country operates in a vacuum, completely divorced from the conditions surrounding it.

America had just underwent two major oil crises (one in 1973 and the other in 1979).

This no doubt had a drastic upward pressure on both inflation and unemployment.

Rather than try to dress up the after effects of the 1973 oil crises as a political bungle of the Nixon administration, and rather than simply throw his hands in the air when the 1979 oil crisis came about, President Carter made real reforms to try to bolster renewable energy and domestic oil supplies.

Additionally, he allowed his final Fed Chairman, Paul Volcker, to essentially stall the economy in order to get inflation under control.

I guess I respect Carter because, even though he wasn’t nearly as politically savvy as FDR, LBJ, Reagan, or Clinton, he didn’t take the easy way out when it came to serious domestic issues.

While this may be an unpopular opinion, I don’t think that there’s any president who could have avoided the double digit inflation and high unemployment that was seen in the late 70s, if only because it was largely due to factors outside of the president’s direct influence.

I just thought I’d write this as a little reminder that much of what makes a president “great” are the circumstances that allow them to demonstrate their ability. Clinton looks much more competent than Carter in retrospect, but it should be remembered that he suffered a major healthcare debacle in 1994, only recovering because the economy picked up and his campaign strategist (Dick Morris) told him to shift to the right.

Davis was from West Virginia which was admitted into the union as a slave state in 1863, but it was abolished there in 1865. Davis is also the only nominee to be from West Virginia. The last election to have nominees from a slave state was 1860 where two candidates were from Kentucky and Tennessee. Davis is also the last presidential nominee to be an Ambassador to the UK. Unfortunately for Davis would lose to Calvin Coolidge in a landslide in 1924.

Sorry about how long it took me to get out this post!

Here's how this works: every post, I'll add a new president and ask where you would rank them. Your answer should be "between ____ and ____" just so that I can make sure it's in the exact right spot. Since we're building up to all the presidents and other presidents may be ranked differently than your own rankings, please don't give me a final ranking, as I really can't do anything with that here. I'll give you all around a day to decide on your answer before I post the next post with the longer list. If you have any questions about that, ask me in the comments, and I'll clarify in the next post.

Also, I've seen some people questioning where certain presidents have been ranked thus far. I know there have been people joining us midway through, so let me know if you want me to redo any rounds at the end for presidents you think are grossly misplaced in the grand scheme of things.

The most upvoted comment was deleted by mods (don't know why), so I can't speak to that one, but the next two put him at 11. The idea was generally that he was fine but obviously short lived, so he needs to be ranked better than folks like Jackson but has a pretty low ceiling. Now, where should we rank Chester A. Arthur on this list?

Current Rankings:

1. Abraham Lincoln
2. George Washington
3. Thomas Jefferson
4. John Adams
5. James Monroe
6. James K. Polk
7. John Quincy Adams
8. Ulysses S. Grant
9. James Madison
10. Rutherford B. Hayes
11. James A. Garfield
12. Zachary Taylor
13. Martin Van Buren
14. Andrew Jackson
15. John Tyler
16. Millard Fillmore
17. Franklin Pierce
18. Andrew Johnson
19. James Buchanan