The U.S. Presidents Thread

[SGR]

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. 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:



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:



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

Definitely take a read of it if you're looking for some enrichment on presidents!

[Trollheart]

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?

[SGR]

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?

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.  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.

[Trollheart]

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.

[Buck_Mulligan]

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).

[SGR]

Who knew Al Stewart wrote a song about President Warren Harding? Only @Trollheart maybe (he also might remember when Harding got elected ), but perhaps it's something he's even forgot about!

[SGR]

Two of my favorite things - presidential history and Bigfoot.

Has anyone heard Teddy Roosevelt's story in his book The Wilderness Hunter of what seems like a fatal sasquatch encounter? The story was not Roosevelt's own, but rather told to him by an old trapper named Bauman - I'll include the text from the article:

In 1893, a book was published titled The Wilderness Hunter, written by future president and avid sportsman Theodore Roosevelt. It told of his life and sporting adventures in the American West some eighteen years before becoming president. In the book, one story  stands out among the others and it's one that you might not expect to find in a book written by the future president.

The story was told to Roosevelt by a man named Bauman,  who was referred to in the text as a "grizzled, weather-beaten old mountain hunter." There are no other details about Bauman except that he was of German heritage and had lived all his life on the frontier. The old mountain man tells the future president that he and an unnamed partner had planned to trap beaver in a remote section of the Montana wilderness near the Wisdom River (now the Big Hole). Other hunters  avoided the area after a trapper's mutilated body was discovered sometime earlier by a group of miners passing by his camp.

Still, the two men were not to be deterred by the stories told of the area and ventured deep into the remote Montana backcountry. There they made a quick lean-to shelter, and with few hours of daylight left, made their way up the river to scout. They returned at dusk to discover their cover destroyed and their belongings scattered around the campsite. Thinking it was a bear, they cleaned up, and Bauman set about making supper. His partner left to investigate some tracks, and what he found could not have been made by a bear, but something that walked upright on two legs like a man; but no man could have left those prints.

The trapper returned to camp and told his partner what he discovered. Bauman scoffed at his partner's concerns, but the man was adamant about his findings. The hunters settled into sleep, but it would not be a restful night. Sometime before dawn, Bauman was awakened by the sound of breaking branches and a foul-smelling odor.  He could see a big hulking shape looming in the distance and fired at it with his rifle, but whatever it was fled into the darkness. The two men built up the fire and sat up the rest of the night.

The next morning they stayed close together and worked their traps. Later, when they returned to camp, they again found the campsite destroyed. This time, the men built a more significant fire and agreed the next day to leave the area. In the morning, with the sun shining brightly, Bauman and his partner felt a bit foolish for letting their fears get the best of them, and while Bauman gathered the last of the traps, the other hunter returned to camp to make final preparations to leave. When Bauman finally returned, he was greeted by the horrific sight of his partner's body laid out with a broken neck and bite marks to his throat. Bauman paused only briefly to survey the scene trying to make sense of what had happened, and then, taking only his rifle, he fled the camp, making it to where the horses had been tied.

Bauman makes no mention of what he thought the creature was, and Roosevelt does not call it a Bigfoot or a squatch in his book, but it has hallmarks of Bigfoot stories; the foul smell, large hulking body, and the classic large tracks. Bauman was an old man when he told this tale to Roosevelt, and it must have made an impression on him to be included in his book. What do you think Bauman encountered all those years ago in the vast Montana wilderness?

[SGR]

When I find good presidential busts, I'm prone to buy them. I've got busts of Washington, Lincoln, Grant, Teddy Roosevelt, and Harry Truman on my bookshelves. But when it comes to stories about presidential busts, I'm not sure anything beats LBJ giving his own bust as a gift to the fuckin' pope. 

That Awkward Time President LBJ Gifted the Pope a Bust of Himself for Christmas

And of course, LBJ had hundreds of these busts of himself made - it wasn't even a unique gift for the pope. The balls on that guy...

[Trollheart]

Meh, sounds like a bust to me. If you're interested there's a small profile of FDR in my World War II journal, Flames Across the World...