who was best US wartime President?

[gpspartans]

curious here, of course Lincoln & Roosevelt come to mind first, but what about some of the others?

 

McKinley comes to mind. Quick war, total victory & gained a lot of territory from the war. however, I think he was more a passenger then a hands on manager of the affair.

 

would rate GWB #1 high if he had finished off the Gulf War by taking out SH.

[BEAST]

My votes is for Truman. Made two tough wartime decisions that were in the best interest of the country.

1. Drop both bombs

2. Fire MacArthur

[BROBS]

would rate GWB #1 high if he had finished off the Gulf War by taking out SH.

 

boy this is going to go downhill quickly.

 

would have to highly disagree with this statement.

you must only watch mainstream media.

 

how is this not political?

[tdogchristy90]

Lol. This is a slipper slope. Bush 1 made a point of only going by and sticking to the UN mandate. In terms of that he was spot on to kick him out of Kuwait and leave it at that. A good example of limited warfare and no mission creeping. ok back on track.

 

Overall the greatest president is Roosevelt in terms of seeing us through the Great Depression and ww2, helping to save the world ect. This is only better shown by being elected 4 times.

 

However as the best WARTIME president I would say Lincoln. Unlike Roosevelt, Lincoln faced war from the moment he entered office. It was his election to the presidency that sparked the war. Not to mention if you also consider giving the blacks the right to vote an extension of ending slavery then the war also got him killed. Roosevelt by contrast had two terms that were not war related. Lincoln's entire term was based around a war. Finally Lincoln was facing a threat that Roosevelt wasn't. Yes Hitler was a threat to the world and democracy but as his fear over opporation sea lion shows he wasn't an immediate existential threat to the US, it would have taken to much effort for him to invade the US, he mainly threatened Europe. Lincoln by contrast was definitely threatened by the splitting of the US and having confederate forces fighting as close as Virginia and Pennsylvania, the civil war unlike ww2 was tearing the country apart. So on a global scale and all around no doubt Roosevelt, on a purely war and US security terms it was Lincoln.

 

.

[Squad leader]

IMO Lincoln because he maintained the Union.

 

Dan.

[Bruce Linz]

Good Morning Everyone,

 

I would agree that Lincoln was the greatest war time president after all he preserved the Union.

 

Second choice Truman for ending World War II by dropping the bomb and later during Korea for canning MacArthur.

 

Semper Fi,

Bruce Linz

[warguy]

Has to be Lincoln and difficult to debate otherwise in MHO. More challenges in preserving the Union, call to arms, developing the citizen soldier, resisting negotiated peace settlements, stamina, assuring freedom for AlL Americans, finding through hiring and firing the right General, establishing a vision for reconstruction, on and on, and on. Second place though for me would be FDR. I mean he ran the war for four long years before succumbing to he ravages of it. Set up lend lease for the British before the American public was ready to commit, strengthened the allegiance with our allies, assured victory in Africa and Italy, committed to an invasion of France, etc.

[BEAST]

Since I have already voted for Truman and Lincoln/Roosevelt will be shoe-ins, I would also like to add, just for fun, President James Madison. During the War of 1812, as the British approached Washington, Madison and the cabinet went out to the front lines to see for themselves the enemy. I always thought think this would make a great movie seen with Russell Crowe as Madison. From HISTORY Magazine "Borrowing a pair of pistols from his treasury secretary, Madison rode out to witness the battle, as did most of his cabinet. In fact, the president nearly galloped right into the British lines until a scout stopped him and directed him to safety."'http://www.history.com/news/the-british-burn-washington-d-c-200-years-ago

[JasonT]

I agree Madison should be somewhere on the list. Though not nearly as great a leader as the others, he faced the danger and destruction of war head on and literally at his doorstep as Washington was burned.

 

As for previous post about HW Bush, the mission succeeded in liberating Kuwait. He stuck with the objective and got in an got out quickly with minimal casualties (avoiding a Vietnam situation). However, leaving Saddam in power only kicked the can down the road. I believe it was a lose-lose situation for him.

[Rakkasan187]

Cold War Presidents that come to mind are John F. Kennedy (Cuban Missile Crisis) and the President I served under and in my humble opinion one of the greatest; Ronald Reagan. (Although the Carter Administration did a large portion of the negotiating leg work, Ronald Reagan was instrumental in seeing the Iranian Hostages released shortly after his term in office began, whether this was a coincidence or an attempt by Iran to make it possible to renew relations, that can be left up for everyone to decide on their own); The rescue of Medical students on the Island of Grenada and the restoration of the Government there, his famous speech in Berlin to Soviet President Gorbachov (Mr. Gorbachov, Tear Down this Wall).

 

These were key moments in history where service members were still making the ultimate sacrifice even in the absence of declared Wars..

 

Leigh

[pchepurko]

Lincoln, he fought the war with a divided nation and for most of the war his generals who led the army in the east where no good. Roosevelt had out stand generals and the nation was united.

[gpspartans]

great responses. agree with all. just a matter of ranking with them

[Brian Keith]

Madison looses points for having to borrow a pair of pistols I wonder, if the president wanted to, would the Secret Service allow him to be personally armed today?

BKW

[rr01]

I'm going to give the nod to Reagan for ending a war we never had to really fight. FDR fumbled horribly by staying in office and believing he could charm Stalin. I believe if FDR had listened to his generals and crossed the Channel in '43 there may never have been any atomic attacks. Shoulda. Coulda. Woulda.

[flytiger]

Bush, both.

[cutiger83]

For a choice as the best president during war time would be Franklin D Roosevelt. His fireside chats from 1933-1944 and demeanor such as standing to give his speech after Pearl Harbor helped reassure the citizens and got us thru one of the hardest times for our country.

[bheskett]

This is an interesting thread. A slippery slope as well with this being a politically charged season. The original question is simply who not why, and if posters are not careful this thread will get shut down if things get ugly. Not that anyone has, just a friendly reminder. I personally can not think of any one stand out. They all have their merits and downfalls. The resent ones are at a huge disadvantage because all of their papers are not yet declassified.

 

Just my 2 cents

Bob

[manayunkman]

They all made very sloppy mistakes that we are still paying for today.

 

It's a wonder that we are still here today.

[ScottG]

Well, much can be said of Lincoln preserving the union, but at what cost? Slaves free in states that had seceded and not in union controlled border states. A state coming into the union illegally and against the terms set by congress. The suspension of habeus corpus, the use of the military against what he termed citizens of the U.S. and the list goes on...

The institution of slavery was in place before, and into his election to the Presidency. The north had the population, the representatives, and arguably the means to end slavery for decades, yet it didn't happen. So, if Abe's goodness is a criteria for him making the list, perhaps a deeper look into his views on slavery are warranted. Did slavery exist to make the south wealthy or did it make a finite number of plantation owners wealthy? Why did they need slaves? To pick cotton as it was long labor intensive work? Did said cotton feed the industrial machine of Mississippi or say Alabama? Or did it feed the textiles mills and barons of industry in the north? Preserving the union was certainly a massive deed, but were the reasons justifiable under our constitution?

Secession is legal, states like Texas are even considering it now. So, depending on your perspective, your geographical location, or your ability to actually read and understand history for what it is, and not be taken in by all of the political correctness, perhaps Abe isn't the best candidate? Arguably, Jefferson Davis could make the list. What a can of worms there!

I served from Reagan through GWB and I would rate W very high when it came to the handling of the wars and his administrations treatment of our troops. His Father did well in my opinion but faltered on the home front. Clinton was despicable as a Commander in chief, but we certainly enjoyed our good economy. I also like that Wilson gave Pershing the absolute authority to command, his League of Nations ideas were less than successful, but he certainly did his best to keep America from war, and then prosecute it to its fullest when the time came. So, its a tough call for me. Scott.

[tarbridge]

Sorry.This thread will be locked.I have hid a couple of posts already for personal criticism.We really would have liked to have kept it viable.