Here's a thread to talk about all the U.S. presidents throughout history. Whether it be stories, facts, videos, or other. As some of you might now, I'm a tad fixated on presidential history myself. Obviously talk about whatever president you want, but my preference would be that we don't focus on Trump too much (we have a different thread for that, and honestly, if I had my druthers, we wouldn't talk about Biden too much either since we've already discussed him to death and his term finished so recently). References to Trump are fine, but if the conversation devolves into what Trump's doing now or recently, then it will spoil the whole point of the thread.
Who's your favorite U.S. president and why? Which president had the best facial hair? Which president had awful foreign policy? Which president do you think is underrated? Which president was pure evil? Who are your top 5 presidents?
One of my favorite presidents is Ulysses Grant. Not so much for his presidential terms, which were marked by corruption because one of his greatest faults was trusting people too much, but because of the man he was. One of my favorite stories of Grant was during the Civil War - he actually spent downtime picking up flowers from battlefields to send along with letters to his beloved wife Julia. And later on after the war, Julia felt a little self-conscious about her lazy eye, because she didn't feel she was beautiful enough for such a renowned general and statesman such as Grant - but Grant reassured her: "I love you just the way that you are". Grant also freed slaves who were gifted to him before the civil war when he was struggling financially - and during his presidency he went after the KKK. In fact, he created the DOJ and their first goal was to protect black rights during reconstruction (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/created-150-years-ago-justice-departments-first-mission-was-protect-black-rights-180975232/). And during his dying days, suffering from throat cancer with little time left, he dedicated all of his energies to finishing his memoirs so that the proceeds could go to sustaining his family after his passing (because in his post-presidency, he lost most of his money to shady and unscrupulous business partners) - here's a picture of Grant in these efforts - he finished these memoirs which became a big seller only three days before his death to put things into perspective:
(https://www.nps.gov/articles/images/Ulysses-S-Grant-Writing-Personal-Memoirs.jpg?maxwidth=650&autorotate=false)
Of course, when I think of Grant, I never generally think of that picture first, I think of the steadfast leader who stuck to his guns, showed great courage, and fought for his beliefs to save the union - totally unpretentious, and totally badass:
(https://pastexplore.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ulysses-s-grant-colorized.jpeg)
What say you? What are your thoughts on the cavalcade of US presidents?
Edit:
One of our dearly missed members,
@Rubber Soul, did an excellent journal on the American Presidents, which can be found below:
The American Presidents (https://scd.community/index.php?topic=29.0)
Definitely take a read of it if you're looking for some enrichment on presidents!
Can I suggest we somehow merge, or at least post extracts from Rubber Soul's journal in here? He researched and wrote a lot about these guys, and it would be nice for his journal to live on and maybe get some debate going?
Quote from: Trollheart on Mar 04, 2025, 01:47 AMCan I suggest we somehow merge, or at least post extracts from Rubber Soul's journal in here? He researched and wrote a lot about these guys, and it would be nice for his journal to live on and maybe get some debate going?
I added a link to his journal (which I've admittedly not read all of myself) to my original post. It's definitely a little too lengthy to merge here, I think. :laughing: He created an impressive piece of work with that journal, and in some ways, I think it stands proudly on its own merits. If others want to reference it for further discussion, or to bolster their own opinions or points of view, I see no problem with that. :)
I don't know. I was thinking, as people discuss certain presidents, maybe it might be nice to slot in his entries on that pres? If not, if the general feeling is no, leave it where it is, then fine. But I just feel it might make a bit of a resurgence here. Maybe.
After the obvious choices of Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson, I'd go with the 4th prez James Madison for much the same reasons as Jefferson. For both it is more for what they did before they became president.
In Jefferson's case he was the chief drafter of the Declaration of Independence. Madison is known as the father of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights (the first 10 amendments to the Constitution).