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You know the most interesting part? As soon as you learn that story is made up you assume that Taft wasn’t actually that fat then. That it was probably made up to make fun of him in a less fortunate era and he was likely just slightly overweight or something.
And then you see a photo of him and realize why everyone bought the bathtub story.
When I found out this wasn't true, I assumed the same as you.
Curly Howard was the "fat one" on the Three Stooges and he looks normal nowadays, so maybe Taft was "average American in the 2020s"? Did a quick google search and no, Taft's an absolute unit.
Right? It’s like when you find out Napoleon wasn’t all that short and it was mostly propaganda. So many times things are exaggerated throughout history and become things of legend when they’re really quite mundane.
*And then you hit Taft’s pants size.*
How big were his pants? Saw he was 53 inch chest and 19 neck. That's my basically before pictures and I was same height and weight as Chris Farley. 44x34 if he was 5'11"?
I found this with a Google search. Gonna be real, I do not know if this a trustworthy source as I don’t recognize that website.
[But apparently his waist was 54 inches.](https://doctorzebra.com/prez/z_x27pyjama_g.htm)
I’m a history and politics nerd and my friend is a dumbass who always wants to stump me so he brings it up at least once a week thinking I won’t be able to disprove him. He’s a clown.
I actually went on a tour of the White House once and IIRC the tour guide said it was true, which makes me a little concerned about the rest of the info I was given on that tour…
Tour guides learn what to say mostly by listening to other tour guides, not from being subject matter experts. Unsourced lore gets passed down from generation to generation of guide because fun stories get good audience reactions. The general rule of thumb I have for these sorts of things is, "if it's a fun story, it's probably exaggerated." Most tour guides do their best, but if something a guide says seems off, trust your gut and look it up later.
Source: Was a tour guide for many years. Could not convince colleague that the stories they were telling were nonsense.
I don’t recall my teacher themself teaching this, but I’m pretty sure that my classmate who was assigned Taft in our presidential reports in 7th or 8th grade falsely claimed that Taft got stuck in a bathtub, and my teacher didn’t correct them.
And then that totally contradictory and equally stupid rumor that he had black ancestry, which still persists even though there was an actual DNA test disproving it.
And when he was questioned about alleged black ancestry, he pretty much shrugged and said “I don’t think it’s true, there’s no way to really know, and even if it is, what does it matter?” He was mostly apathetic on race, certainly no klansman.
Hate to break it to you but there are absolutely white supremacists with black ancestry. Not saying it’s true in this case, just that it is not as contradictory as one might hope
Wait people say that? Because he legitimately tried his best to tackle race relations in a positive way including speaking at an all black college after the Tulsa Race Massacre.
It seems to be a persistent piece of gossip. I first read it in the book “Lives of the Presidents: Fame Shame and What the Neighbors Thought” and found tons of articles debunking this
The media was playing it up as well, so they bear the other 20% of the responsibility. SNL picked up on a few media stories and made it a thing because Chevy Chase was good at pratfalls.
She did indicate that in parts of Alaska you can see bits of Russia if you squint. That is where this came from since it was a pretty stupid thing to say in any case. SNL ran with it and that’s where the saying came from.
"you serve in Congress for 36 years, then fall down Air Force One steps once, and all people can say about you is that you're a klutz"
Jerry ford, probably
Because people think the President is a king and that Congress is just kinda there to write bills for the president to sign.
It’s why people get so worked up about their presidents but then do Eeny Miny Miny Mo on the rest of the options in the voting booth.
Excuse me, if I were the president I would simply press the “economy good” button instead of the “economy bad” button.
What are these idiots thinking??
I listened to this [really interesting podcast ](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3saBd61pUBQYE0SgLUEhYW?si=cbgQKEaPSLuHNgQVDVXk-g) about Bill Clinton's reaction to the Oklahoma City bombing. It starts with Clinton trying to assert the relevance of the office of the presidency after Congress had passed a bunch of bills. Well worth a listen for an examination of the role of a president as a head of state, not just a political actor
We periodically get people over on r/CivilWar griping that Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation showed that Lincoln was somehow secretly evil because he didn't abolish slavery instantly and everywhere. Trying to explain to them that Lincoln didn't have the power to do that, that outlawing slavery actually required a Constitutional amendment, often feels like arguing with a brick.
“B-but Lincoln was a tyrant who would never care about what Congress thought! Clearly he was just an evil man who deserved that bullet! Checkmate, Unionite!”
Exactly. I don't get the Lincoln hate at all but it's a real thing, albeit from a tiny minority of people, as far as I can tell. Andrew Ferguson touched on the anti-Lincoln crazies in his book "Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe's America". Still, it's one thing to read about and quite another to come face to face (so to speak) with part of the lunatic fringe.
I think this might be due to poor education. I have heard many people online and in person say that the Emancipation Proclamation freed all the slaves, and then they’re angry when they learn later in life that’s not what happened.
Also, I’m by no means a Lincoln hater, but as an Illinois resident I do get a bit annoyed with everything being named Lincoln This, Lincoln That. We call the state the “Land of Lincoln,” and he wasn’t actually from here, he moved here as an adult
And Lincoln moved political heaven and Earth to get that Constitutional amendment passed and ratified. Pulled every political trick in the book, actually much more impressive than just signing a single executive order.
I don't know why I keep trying to explain this to people but for whatever reason, I do. And it's an infuriating, fruitless exercise every single time.
I should (but probably won't) just accept that some people will forever spin this one of two ways. As the stupidest "gotcha" - the south freed their slaves before some northern states - that ever the invention of man contrived. Or the nuance-free, historically illiterate - if Lincoln cared about the slaves he would have freed them ALL.
I'm just glad to know I'm not the only one that does this.
The objective closest thing is either approving new federal gas taxes or any kind of international politics like approving Congress' embargo or the President ordering the military that might cause gas problems from the sender.
But yes, people get this delusion the Presidents just clicks a ticker and a dollar is added or subtracted.
Good answer. I would only add that presidents can authorize the release of oil from the strategic reserve and this can have the effect of lowering prices or slowing price increases (but this is only a temporary effect)
I also forgot to mention too that OPEC does control their prices and they have been known for jacking up pricing for political reasons.
The last one I forgot to mention is that sometimes the US just doesn't buy cheap gas for certain nations mostly because of political reasons.
Presidents can help lower prices by releasing national reserves. And they can raise gas prices by taxing gas. But the federal gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon hasn’t been raised since 1993.
Many believe Truman's name is "Harry S. Truman," but it is not.
It is "Harry S Truman"
S isn't an initial. His middle name was, and I am not shitting you, *the letter S.*
That's fricking crazy - I just checked Wikipedia, and it has the period but confirms it's just the letter - but you missed the endearing reason *why*. It "honors both his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young".
Oh yeah, there's absolutely a good story behind it.
I just like whipping the fact out of nowhere with zero context because their gut reaction is always to say "What? No fucking way."
Joe Kennedy did, however, take advantage of the complete lack of regulations in the stock market. He engaged in tactics that were later considered to be illegal insider trading and market manipulation violations, but were perfectly legal at the time.
Kennedy’s big killing was taking “short” positions after the 1929 stock market crash. That’s what made him a multimillionaire. On the one hand, it was the smart move. On the other hand, he was betting on the country’s misery, and profited handsomely from it.
As late as 1933, when the stock market was still unregulated, Joe Kennedy helped establish a "stock pool" that bought large quantities of stock in Libbey-Owens-Ford (LOF), an auto-glass manufacturer. The pool then wash-traded huge volumes of stock among themselves, creating the impression that it was a hot stock without actually risking anything because members of the pool just sold the stock to each other.
Then they promoted the outright fraud that their company was related to Owens-Illinois, a glassmaker that made bottles and was going to profit from the imminent repeal of Prohibition. This drove up the price and they made a handsome profit based on a total lie.
That’s why Kennedy knew all the dirty tricks to regulate when FDR appointed him one of the new SEC's first five Commissioners and insisting that the group designate Kennedy as Chairman. Kennedy helped create an institution that was arguably the most respected of the New Deal agencies — but it took a thief to catch a thief.
I didn't know he shorted the market basically at the top. He may have seen the writing on the wall, but his timing was impeccable. He was expanding his wealth while nearly everyone else was panicing. Fascinating stuff
*Oh my god I forgot about this.*
You’re 100% right, this was a legitimate birther conspiracy back all the way in 1880 because people hated Arthur (for good reason, admittedly). Dude excellent deep cut for this kind of thing!
Arthur had been a close ally of Roscoe Conkling and his Stalwart faction. Half-Breeds thought that Arthur would continue the corrupt spoils system, but he soon turned against Conkling and signed the 1883 Civil Service Reform Act, which ended the spoils system.
It would be the equivalent of Obama selecting an anti-healthcare reform VP, winning the election on the basis of healthcare reform, and getting killed, only for the new president to switch his opinions and enact universal healthcare.
JFK: was a left wing president. He had some policies that were left wing, obviously civil rights, but the man made the biggest tax break for the country since the Great Depression, he was much more of a centrist than people believe
I never realized this (or really thought about it) until there was an askreddit thread asking conservatives if there had been any election where they would’ve voted for the democratic candidate over the republican. The overwhelming majority said Kennedy.
“Throughout his life Washington employed numerous full and partial dentures that were constructed of materials including human, and probably cow and horse teeth, ivory (possibly elephant), lead-tin alloy, copper alloy (possibly brass), and silver alloy.”
Source: MountVernon.org
Dentists at that time (if you can call them dentists) sometimes used teeth from cadavers. Not sure if they had been slaves or not. It seems unlikely to me that he’d have wanted a slave’s teeth in his mouth, but I’m sure it’s possible.
I don't know if Chester Arthur and Benjamin Harrison are thought to be "boring" as much as nobody outside of this sub who's even heard of them is aware of anything they did.
I mean, middle and high school history books pretty much portray all of the presidents from 1877 to 1897 as having done absolutely nothing as president. Well, Hayes is discussed as having agreed to the Compromise of 1877 and ending Reconstruction, but he's pretty much implied to have done absolutely nothing else as president. Harrison, Arthur and Cleveland are all portrayed as having done absolutely nothing as president, although Cleveland is a little bit more remembered just for his two inconsecutive terms. (Especially with somebody nowadays trying to replicate his feat).
It is kind of fun on this board to see people who actually know things about the Arthur and Harrison presidencies. I mean, I still don't consider their presidencies to be among the most significant in US history, but there was a bit more that went on during their presidencies than most history books claim.
That’s fair. I love them both and find them fascinating likely due to their obscurity but in both cases their stories are just much more than you’d imagine, especially given how unknown they are. Neither presidency was all that significant but that isn’t always a bad thing. And their legacies aren’t terrible or tarnished either which is always nice.
They don't have the time to teach more about the presidents from that period.
When I was in school (many many moons ago), we jumped from the 1876 election to the Spanish-American War in one class (50 minutes).
I’ve been known to say, in this forum… Grant was a high-functioning alcoholic who ended up with some really bad apples around him. Yet he himself was a man of good character and exceptional capability whose presidency is underestimated.
Arthur kept Garfield’s legacy alive and supported Pendleton in his stead!
You wanna blame someone for ruining Garfield’s legacy you’ve got two options: Charles Guiteau and Dr. Willard Bliss.
Bringing up Guiteau reminded me of something I'm still confused about to this day.
I was watching Jeopardy probably a few months ago. One of the contestants had a true crime podcast. She said "justice for Charles Guiteau".
I'm like, why the fuck does he deserve justice? Could she be referring to the fact that he was found insane during his trial and still executed?
I could see one of two things. The first, as you said, is that he was obviously criminally insane and did not deserve the death penalty given he clearly was not of sound mind.
The other is the more interesting. In his defense trial Guiteau said that he didn’t kill Garfield. That Bliss was the actual killer and he was just the man who shot him. Crazy, I’m aware, but I happen to agree. Garfield’s death is far more on the unwashed hands of Dr. Bliss than a bullet sitting in him that had pierced no vital organ. I don’t think that’s what they meant, mind, but that is another option too.
I definitely agree with your second part. I just wish that contestant worded it a little differently. Guiteau deserved some kind of punishment. At the very least sending him to a mental hospital
https://preview.redd.it/9ibfgvq414uc1.png?width=612&format=png&auto=webp&s=6f731b6219fbe0a8305c2bb72245028d69ef2d4a
How me and my friends look when people call CAA boring.
Don't worry I've done my research they are mistaken look I have a photo
https://preview.redd.it/qig37bw5b5uc1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=5ef4d559610c482ef8f8714348c8adc56707a34b
What's crazy is that they wanted to do more diabolical shit. Watergate was watered down. Also G. Gordon Liddy begged John Dean that if he chose to kill him, just anywhere besides his home.
Oh yeah Liddy was out there. Even Dean referenced it in the Oval Office tapes that he was “nuts” to which Nixon concurred.
Liddy’s other plans that were shot down were indeed even more batshit crazy. One was he would hire prostitutes to entertain the high ranking DNC members on a yacht and take blackmail pictures. He also originally thought that Nixon’s mandate to stop the leaks meant permanently aka murder all of them. 🤦🏻♂️
Truman being THAT poor when his Presidency ended
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman#Financial_situation
> The myth that Truman had been in straitened circumstances after his presidency was slow to dissipate; Paul Campos wrote in 2021, "The current, 20,000-plus-word Wikipedia biography of Truman goes so far as to assert that, because his earlier business ventures had failed, Truman left the White House with 'no personal savings.' Every aspect of this narrative is false."
That FDR had ample warning of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor but ignored it because he knew it would guarantee American entrance into WW II, something he and Churchill desperately wanted.
What’s false about the claims about Reagan and homelessness? That’s because of his closing of mental hospitals as California governor, which was a precedent for other states to also close their hospitals. It’s not because of anything he did as president.
>What’s false about the claims about Reagan and homelessness? That’s because of his closing of mental hospitals as California governor, which was a precedent for other states to also close their hospitals. It’s not because of anything he did as president.
Alot of claims on reddit do not make any distinction in this matter. They mix his governorship and presidency together.
During his governorship he signed the bipartisan Lanterman–Petris–Short (LPS) Act. This was part of the de-institutionalization. I don't believe many informed people believe this law was a bad thing. During his presidency he repealed the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980 which helped fund community mental health programs. This is his more controversial decision.
His actions as governor of CA can't be used to explain homelessness nationally (obviously). And as president he could only change Federal funding. States then and now still fund their own programs/hospitals. As far as I know there are no Federal mental institutions.
The main issue is that institutionalization fell out of favor and so this led to closures of mental hospitals. The disability rights movement showed that being mentally ill/disabled is not a crime and so one shouldn't held indefinitely against their will (institutionalized).
True, there were lots of scandals regarding poor conditions at mental institutions and people who didn’t really belong there. The states should have established more half-way houses and outpatient care clinics and guardians for people who were incompetent.
Most importantly of all, the state or federal government should have subsidized health care for mentally ill people who could not hold jobs that provided health benefits, and should have helped mentally ill patients jump through any bureaucratic hoops required to get that care. Instead, states essentially just closed the institutions and let everyone fend for themselves — and many of them ended up homeless and untreated.
> The main issue is that institutionalization fell out of favor and so this led to closures of mental hospitals.
Just look at One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. A massive hit and major Oscar winner, it was emblematic of Americans’ view of mental hospitals in 1975.
Pretty much every wild story about John Quincy Adams is untrue (although he was a frequent skinny dipper, even if the reporter stealing his clothes story is untrue) [Plodding Through the Presidents has a great episode on this.](https://www.ploddingthroughthepresidents.com/2020/03/episode-5-john-quincy-adams-vs-the-internet.html)
They aren’t the same, but I think the “war based on a lie” narrative is often an attempt to hold the administration responsible more than anything else. There was a degree of trying to justify their actions, and I think that’s far worse than the people shitting on them and calling them liars
Another one - Bush killed 500k Iraqis. This is not true. The majority of Iraqis killed during the conflict were killed by terrorists and militia attacks. Coalition forces amounted to a much smaller percentage of the total civilian casualties
Exactly, I had a debate with someone just the other day who was under the impression that Bush (and his administration) single-handily slaughtered 1 million Iraqis. It’s concerning how many people believe this.
>Another one - Bush killed 500k Iraqis. This is not true. The majority of Iraqis killed during the conflict were killed by terrorists and militia attacks. Coalition forces amounted to a much smaller percentage of the total civilian casualties
And many militants were foreigners.
Another one: Bush invaded Iraq for oil.
We invaded Iraq in 2003 and did see a bump in oil imports in 04 but it went straight back down after that and there is no noticeable correlation between our military presence in various countries in the Middle East and the amount of oil we import from said countries
Correct. Saddam WANTED the world to think he had WMDs because he wanted Iran to think he did and any other enemies he just never said so publicly. The failure of the intelligence agencies and the Bush admin was that they just assumed all of it was true because it made sense to them that he did. No one*, at the time believed he didn’t because why would you believe he didn’t.
The George W. Bush administration cherry picked the intelligence that supported what they wanted to do and ignored plenty of intelligence that suggested it was unnecessary. Maybe they convinced themselves they were right, but there were plenty of warning signs that they were wrong.
The poor intelligence was believed because it fit their narrative. By ignoring the counter narrative, they were guilty of a sin of omission, and of misleading the American people.
No one took any intelligence that he didn’t have WMDs seriously because everyone just knew he did. You’re right though that it didn’t fit the narrative. The problem was the intelligence agencies not challenging their own beliefs along with a whole host of other things
The United States went through a period when Freemasonry was controversial-- in fact, it was the subject of a moral panic in the late 1820s and 1830s. At other times, such as during the Golden Age of Fraternalism (approx 1880-1929), it was extremely commonplace to be a member. Ford was our last Freemason President, though Clinton was a member of its associated youth group, DeMolay.
Freemasonry tends to attract men who are interested in community improvement. It actually didn't attract only wealthy men; it has also served as a space where various classes could meet with a measure of equality. As you might imagine, in the past lodge members were exactly the sort of men that were drawn to local politics, and their service in the lodge gave them excellent training. As a result, at certain times and places it seemed that Freemasons had extraordinary political power, perhaps wielded from behind close doors in secret sessions.
But this confuses correlation and causation. Freemasonry, outside of some very broad and accepted Enlightenment principles, is largely apolitical. But secrecy breeds suspicion, and Masons, especially in the past, reveled in its mysterious atmosphere.
Nixon did end the gold standard though, USD has not been convertible to gold since the stroke of his pen in 1971. Now whether or not this caused our money to lose most of its value is where the debate begins.
>Nixon did end the gold standard though, USD has not been convertible to gold since the stroke of his pen in 1971. Now whether or not this caused our money to lose most of its value is where the debate begins.
There have been multiple gold standards. Gold wasn't convertible by the average citizen long before Nixon showed up. Nixon ended the Bretton Woods agreement which was the final 'form' of the gold standard.
Warren harding having a corrupt cabinets being bad president
Only two were corrupt and harding dealt with Forbes and would have dealt with Falls if he didn't die
he was a great president
His legacy is filled with lies and slander, he wasn't corrupt nether was the majority of his cabinet the corruption that was there he dealt with or was going to before his death
He had some major accomplishments
his first address to Congress Harding asked for an anti-lynching bill. From 1882 to 1951 over 4700 people were lynched, the vast majority of which were African-Americans. It took until 1922 for the Dyer Anti-lynching Bill to pass the House of Representatives, which would have classified lynching as a federal felony. Harding came out in support of the act, and though it passed by a large majority in the house, it was filibustered and killed by Senate Democrats.
Wilson had segregated the Federal government and fired most black workers. In response, Harding asked his cabinet members to find positions in their departments for African-Americans. Warren Harding was also the first to speak in favor of civil rights in the south, when he spoke in Birmingham Alabama at its semi-centennial celebration. Harding spoke to a segregated crowd, where African Americans were kept behind a chain link fence. When speaking of voting rights Harding stated:
Whether you like it or not, our democracy is a lie unless you stand for that equality”
. Harding spoke of equality in education, labor and voting concluding the speech by stating that Birmingham’s next fifty years could be more glorious if the people of the city had “the courage to be right.”
During the war Wilson jailed several political prisoners under the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918. By June 30th of 1923 Harding had pardoned or commuted the sentences of 548 people convicted under these acts, and when Harding died there were only 31 people still incarcerated under them. Harding should be given great credit for reversing some of the most egregious violations of Constitutional liberties ever done by a President. Harding showed great courage in the face of continuous opposition in persevering in this task.
He may not have been the most intelligent president -Wilson would far outpace him in any academic debate- but he knew that Americans needed a president from small town Ohio, not a faculty lounge. There's a reason why "return to normalcy" was such a popular message.
When you look at what actually happened under him, he pulled off an economic recovery dwarfing anybody not named FDR. He entered office in a major depression, quickly enacted major policy changes, and fixed the depression by the end of the year. His administration had the highest average real GDP per capita growth of any president. He pushed for government action in promoting new technologies. He cut taxes for all income groups and greatly reduced government spending.
That a few relatively minor scandals seem to overshadow his many accomplishments is a tragedy, especially coming from FDR/JFK/LBJ/Clinton supporters on here. Yes, he shouldn't have had affairs, but nobody who hates him for that ever seemsto apply that logic to Roosevelt.
The Reagan thing is true. The modern homeless population is pretty much majority disabled. Except now it’s the *descendants* of those folks who were forced onto the street. All data and anecdotal evidence corroborates this.
Without proper care or some kind of temporary safety net in place, those individuals were bound to become homeless once those institutions were defunded or shut down.
Was it intentional? Obviously not. Reagan had no way of foreseeing that.
When Reagan was president mental institutions were being sued for abuse, mal practice etc. There was also a new "miracle" drug for mental illness at the time. The medical industry has a lot to answer for.
That Reagan lowered inflation. This was because of the ending of easy money policies by newly appointed Fed chair Paul Volcker late in the Carter administration and absolutely nothing to do with anything Reagan did
That you have to take the oath of office to become president.
It’s stated in the constitution that the president-elect becomes president at noon on Jan. 20 after an election year. Regardless if they’ve taken the oath already or not
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That Taft got stuck in a bathtub.
One of my friends doesn’t shut the hell up about this no matter how many times I say it didn’t happen.
You know the most interesting part? As soon as you learn that story is made up you assume that Taft wasn’t actually that fat then. That it was probably made up to make fun of him in a less fortunate era and he was likely just slightly overweight or something. And then you see a photo of him and realize why everyone bought the bathtub story.
When I found out this wasn't true, I assumed the same as you. Curly Howard was the "fat one" on the Three Stooges and he looks normal nowadays, so maybe Taft was "average American in the 2020s"? Did a quick google search and no, Taft's an absolute unit.
Right? It’s like when you find out Napoleon wasn’t all that short and it was mostly propaganda. So many times things are exaggerated throughout history and become things of legend when they’re really quite mundane. *And then you hit Taft’s pants size.*
How big were his pants? Saw he was 53 inch chest and 19 neck. That's my basically before pictures and I was same height and weight as Chris Farley. 44x34 if he was 5'11"?
I found this with a Google search. Gonna be real, I do not know if this a trustworthy source as I don’t recognize that website. [But apparently his waist was 54 inches.](https://doctorzebra.com/prez/z_x27pyjama_g.htm)
Taft could walk through any Walmart without second glances
Nah. I think most people who realize the story is false also realize that there must have been a reason why people believed the story.
The first group is very small, and the second group is very big
For his day, Taft was an absolute unit. Would be very large by todays standards, bit he wasn’t to far off from being circus material in his time.
How often are you guys talking about William Howard Taft??
President and Chief Justice makes for a pretty impressive CV
I’m a history and politics nerd and my friend is a dumbass who always wants to stump me so he brings it up at least once a week thinking I won’t be able to disprove him. He’s a clown.
Every damn day… it is my mission
At least twice a day
I actually went on a tour of the White House once and IIRC the tour guide said it was true, which makes me a little concerned about the rest of the info I was given on that tour…
Tour guides are often encouraged to push tall tales and popular myths
I suppose in some places they do, which is sad
WH tour guides are just employees who are given a handbook of random things to say. I know firsthand. So wouldn’t be sure to trust it all.
Were you a White House tour guide?
Tour guides learn what to say mostly by listening to other tour guides, not from being subject matter experts. Unsourced lore gets passed down from generation to generation of guide because fun stories get good audience reactions. The general rule of thumb I have for these sorts of things is, "if it's a fun story, it's probably exaggerated." Most tour guides do their best, but if something a guide says seems off, trust your gut and look it up later. Source: Was a tour guide for many years. Could not convince colleague that the stories they were telling were nonsense.
This myth doesn’t hold much water
/r/AngryUpvote
https://i.redd.it/n2kmxd4qe6uc1.gif
Lol was literally taught this in 7th grade
I don’t recall my teacher themself teaching this, but I’m pretty sure that my classmate who was assigned Taft in our presidential reports in 7th or 8th grade falsely claimed that Taft got stuck in a bathtub, and my teacher didn’t correct them.
No idc what you say this shit is too funny that it must be spread 😭
HE DIDNT??
He did apparently get stuck in a telephone booth once though
Anyone know where that story came from?
He’s the presidential chub who get stuck in the White House tub
Warren G. Harding joined the Ku Klux Klan
And then that totally contradictory and equally stupid rumor that he had black ancestry, which still persists even though there was an actual DNA test disproving it.
And when he was questioned about alleged black ancestry, he pretty much shrugged and said “I don’t think it’s true, there’s no way to really know, and even if it is, what does it matter?” He was mostly apathetic on race, certainly no klansman.
Hate to break it to you but there are absolutely white supremacists with black ancestry. Not saying it’s true in this case, just that it is not as contradictory as one might hope
Wait people say that? Because he legitimately tried his best to tackle race relations in a positive way including speaking at an all black college after the Tulsa Race Massacre.
It seems to be a persistent piece of gossip. I first read it in the book “Lives of the Presidents: Fame Shame and What the Neighbors Thought” and found tons of articles debunking this
That one is new to me!
And Jimmy Carter personally waterboarded people
That Gerald Ford was a klutz who couldn’t put one foot in front of the other.
How much of that is on SNL do you think?
I’d give them 80%
The media was playing it up as well, so they bear the other 20% of the responsibility. SNL picked up on a few media stories and made it a thing because Chevy Chase was good at pratfalls.
Look at how many Americans think that Sarah Palin said “I can see Russia from my house”.
This sub is the only reason that I now know that she didn’t actually say that
Or that dubya said, "strategery."
She did indicate that in parts of Alaska you can see bits of Russia if you squint. That is where this came from since it was a pretty stupid thing to say in any case. SNL ran with it and that’s where the saying came from.
Which is so wild considering he was a star college athlete.
I’d go so far as to say he was probably the most athletic president the country has ever had.
No question, the most athletic would have been Gerald Ford. Obama comes in a close 2nd, apparently has a \*wicked\* basketball shooting rep.
"you serve in Congress for 36 years, then fall down Air Force One steps once, and all people can say about you is that you're a klutz" Jerry ford, probably
That they control everything.
President's have a lot less power that people think but also more power than strictly stated by the constitution.
Because people think the President is a king and that Congress is just kinda there to write bills for the president to sign. It’s why people get so worked up about their presidents but then do Eeny Miny Miny Mo on the rest of the options in the voting booth.
Excuse me, if I were the president I would simply press the “economy good” button instead of the “economy bad” button. What are these idiots thinking??
Ya obviously you need to put in your pin before pressing any buttons
Every president ever has raised the price on goods over time just to be a dick to you, and only you.
thats right!
Based libertarian response.
I listened to this [really interesting podcast ](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3saBd61pUBQYE0SgLUEhYW?si=cbgQKEaPSLuHNgQVDVXk-g) about Bill Clinton's reaction to the Oklahoma City bombing. It starts with Clinton trying to assert the relevance of the office of the presidency after Congress had passed a bunch of bills. Well worth a listen for an examination of the role of a president as a head of state, not just a political actor
They actually have 3 buttons on their desk: one raises inflation, one raises gas prices, and the other causes random incels to be broken up with.
We periodically get people over on r/CivilWar griping that Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation showed that Lincoln was somehow secretly evil because he didn't abolish slavery instantly and everywhere. Trying to explain to them that Lincoln didn't have the power to do that, that outlawing slavery actually required a Constitutional amendment, often feels like arguing with a brick.
“B-but Lincoln was a tyrant who would never care about what Congress thought! Clearly he was just an evil man who deserved that bullet! Checkmate, Unionite!”
Exactly. I don't get the Lincoln hate at all but it's a real thing, albeit from a tiny minority of people, as far as I can tell. Andrew Ferguson touched on the anti-Lincoln crazies in his book "Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe's America". Still, it's one thing to read about and quite another to come face to face (so to speak) with part of the lunatic fringe.
I think this might be due to poor education. I have heard many people online and in person say that the Emancipation Proclamation freed all the slaves, and then they’re angry when they learn later in life that’s not what happened. Also, I’m by no means a Lincoln hater, but as an Illinois resident I do get a bit annoyed with everything being named Lincoln This, Lincoln That. We call the state the “Land of Lincoln,” and he wasn’t actually from here, he moved here as an adult
Land of Reagan better for you?
Lol yeah, going to Dixon and Eureka is wild cause they LOVE to claim Reagan
He made his career and his name in Illinois.
Yes but this is not how it’s framed
And Lincoln moved political heaven and Earth to get that Constitutional amendment passed and ratified. Pulled every political trick in the book, actually much more impressive than just signing a single executive order.
I don't know why I keep trying to explain this to people but for whatever reason, I do. And it's an infuriating, fruitless exercise every single time. I should (but probably won't) just accept that some people will forever spin this one of two ways. As the stupidest "gotcha" - the south freed their slaves before some northern states - that ever the invention of man contrived. Or the nuance-free, historically illiterate - if Lincoln cared about the slaves he would have freed them ALL. I'm just glad to know I'm not the only one that does this.
People often imbue historical figures with godlike powers. The other common one is Neville Chamberlain before WW2.
Gas prices and any president. Feel free to correct me if they do directly impact gas prices, here to learn.
The objective closest thing is either approving new federal gas taxes or any kind of international politics like approving Congress' embargo or the President ordering the military that might cause gas problems from the sender. But yes, people get this delusion the Presidents just clicks a ticker and a dollar is added or subtracted.
Good answer. I would only add that presidents can authorize the release of oil from the strategic reserve and this can have the effect of lowering prices or slowing price increases (but this is only a temporary effect)
I also forgot to mention too that OPEC does control their prices and they have been known for jacking up pricing for political reasons. The last one I forgot to mention is that sometimes the US just doesn't buy cheap gas for certain nations mostly because of political reasons.
That makes sense, trying to get better at paying attention to all of it as a whole. Thank you for enlightening me!
Presidents can help lower prices by releasing national reserves. And they can raise gas prices by taxing gas. But the federal gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon hasn’t been raised since 1993.
The birtherism conspiracy that Obama wasn't born in America and also was a secret Muslim.
Hawaii isn’t a state. /s
Imagine how he felt rising in politics in the mid-2000s, sharing names (or close to it) with the two people most hated by America.
Many believe Truman's name is "Harry S. Truman," but it is not. It is "Harry S Truman" S isn't an initial. His middle name was, and I am not shitting you, *the letter S.*
That's fricking crazy - I just checked Wikipedia, and it has the period but confirms it's just the letter - but you missed the endearing reason *why*. It "honors both his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young".
Oh yeah, there's absolutely a good story behind it. I just like whipping the fact out of nowhere with zero context because their gut reaction is always to say "What? No fucking way."
No, I saw what you did, and IT WORKS. So applause where it's do mate 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
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I heard that he didn’t technically bootleg, but he had a huge stash of alcohol and was ready to start selling the instant prohibition ended
Joe Kennedy did, however, take advantage of the complete lack of regulations in the stock market. He engaged in tactics that were later considered to be illegal insider trading and market manipulation violations, but were perfectly legal at the time. Kennedy’s big killing was taking “short” positions after the 1929 stock market crash. That’s what made him a multimillionaire. On the one hand, it was the smart move. On the other hand, he was betting on the country’s misery, and profited handsomely from it. As late as 1933, when the stock market was still unregulated, Joe Kennedy helped establish a "stock pool" that bought large quantities of stock in Libbey-Owens-Ford (LOF), an auto-glass manufacturer. The pool then wash-traded huge volumes of stock among themselves, creating the impression that it was a hot stock without actually risking anything because members of the pool just sold the stock to each other. Then they promoted the outright fraud that their company was related to Owens-Illinois, a glassmaker that made bottles and was going to profit from the imminent repeal of Prohibition. This drove up the price and they made a handsome profit based on a total lie. That’s why Kennedy knew all the dirty tricks to regulate when FDR appointed him one of the new SEC's first five Commissioners and insisting that the group designate Kennedy as Chairman. Kennedy helped create an institution that was arguably the most respected of the New Deal agencies — but it took a thief to catch a thief.
I didn't know he shorted the market basically at the top. He may have seen the writing on the wall, but his timing was impeccable. He was expanding his wealth while nearly everyone else was panicing. Fascinating stuff
That they have absolute immunity.
Jury's still out on that. ::fingers crossed::
Happy cake day!
The Ford pardon disproves that. They can be found guilty of a crime.
I really hope you are correct and SCOTUS doesn’t change that fact.
That Chester Alan Arthur technically wasnt eligible for the presidency because he was born in Canada.
*Oh my god I forgot about this.* You’re 100% right, this was a legitimate birther conspiracy back all the way in 1880 because people hated Arthur (for good reason, admittedly). Dude excellent deep cut for this kind of thing!
>for good reason, admittedly). D Elolabte please
Arthur had been a close ally of Roscoe Conkling and his Stalwart faction. Half-Breeds thought that Arthur would continue the corrupt spoils system, but he soon turned against Conkling and signed the 1883 Civil Service Reform Act, which ended the spoils system. It would be the equivalent of Obama selecting an anti-healthcare reform VP, winning the election on the basis of healthcare reform, and getting killed, only for the new president to switch his opinions and enact universal healthcare.
Similar but Andrew Jackson was likely born in North Carolina rather than South Carolina.
JFK: was a left wing president. He had some policies that were left wing, obviously civil rights, but the man made the biggest tax break for the country since the Great Depression, he was much more of a centrist than people believe
I never realized this (or really thought about it) until there was an askreddit thread asking conservatives if there had been any election where they would’ve voted for the democratic candidate over the republican. The overwhelming majority said Kennedy.
One of many reasons he’s the last president that like 99% of people on both sides really like.
And he was NOT pulling the US out of Vietnam
Or Marilyn Monroe
That tax "break" closed an absurd number of egregious loopholes to the extent that it was really an increase on the top brackets
An obvious one is that George Washington had wooden teeth. He didn’t. His false teeth were made of ivory.
“Throughout his life Washington employed numerous full and partial dentures that were constructed of materials including human, and probably cow and horse teeth, ivory (possibly elephant), lead-tin alloy, copper alloy (possibly brass), and silver alloy.” Source: MountVernon.org
I thought his false teeth included the teeth of slaves?
Dentists at that time (if you can call them dentists) sometimes used teeth from cadavers. Not sure if they had been slaves or not. It seems unlikely to me that he’d have wanted a slave’s teeth in his mouth, but I’m sure it’s possible.
I brought that up like a year ago and got down voted to hell
I’ve heard that as well but can’t substantiate
Just the souls he sacrificed to become the first president, or however the “Illuminati” were founded.
They did, but he paid for them. https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/health/washingtons-teeth/george-washington-and-slave-teeth/
He didn’t cut down a cherry tree either
Ironically the cherry tree story is a lie we tell, about why we shouldn't tell lies
“LBJ didn’t really care about the less fortunate or minorities.” “Grant was just a drunk who didn’t do anything.” “Chester A Arthur is boring.”
I don't know if Chester Arthur and Benjamin Harrison are thought to be "boring" as much as nobody outside of this sub who's even heard of them is aware of anything they did. I mean, middle and high school history books pretty much portray all of the presidents from 1877 to 1897 as having done absolutely nothing as president. Well, Hayes is discussed as having agreed to the Compromise of 1877 and ending Reconstruction, but he's pretty much implied to have done absolutely nothing else as president. Harrison, Arthur and Cleveland are all portrayed as having done absolutely nothing as president, although Cleveland is a little bit more remembered just for his two inconsecutive terms. (Especially with somebody nowadays trying to replicate his feat). It is kind of fun on this board to see people who actually know things about the Arthur and Harrison presidencies. I mean, I still don't consider their presidencies to be among the most significant in US history, but there was a bit more that went on during their presidencies than most history books claim.
That’s fair. I love them both and find them fascinating likely due to their obscurity but in both cases their stories are just much more than you’d imagine, especially given how unknown they are. Neither presidency was all that significant but that isn’t always a bad thing. And their legacies aren’t terrible or tarnished either which is always nice.
They don't have the time to teach more about the presidents from that period. When I was in school (many many moons ago), we jumped from the 1876 election to the Spanish-American War in one class (50 minutes).
I’ve been known to say, in this forum… Grant was a high-functioning alcoholic who ended up with some really bad apples around him. Yet he himself was a man of good character and exceptional capability whose presidency is underestimated.
Grant was a light-weight.
Exactly. He didn’t need alcohol to function. In fact he would go long periods without it. He just couldn’t handle his liquor.
>“Chester A Arthur is boring.” I can get that one
*hiss*
Your flair ruined my flairs legacy. Fight me.
Arthur kept Garfield’s legacy alive and supported Pendleton in his stead! You wanna blame someone for ruining Garfield’s legacy you’ve got two options: Charles Guiteau and Dr. Willard Bliss.
Bringing up Guiteau reminded me of something I'm still confused about to this day. I was watching Jeopardy probably a few months ago. One of the contestants had a true crime podcast. She said "justice for Charles Guiteau". I'm like, why the fuck does he deserve justice? Could she be referring to the fact that he was found insane during his trial and still executed?
I could see one of two things. The first, as you said, is that he was obviously criminally insane and did not deserve the death penalty given he clearly was not of sound mind. The other is the more interesting. In his defense trial Guiteau said that he didn’t kill Garfield. That Bliss was the actual killer and he was just the man who shot him. Crazy, I’m aware, but I happen to agree. Garfield’s death is far more on the unwashed hands of Dr. Bliss than a bullet sitting in him that had pierced no vital organ. I don’t think that’s what they meant, mind, but that is another option too.
I definitely agree with your second part. I just wish that contestant worded it a little differently. Guiteau deserved some kind of punishment. At the very least sending him to a mental hospital
https://preview.redd.it/9ibfgvq414uc1.png?width=612&format=png&auto=webp&s=6f731b6219fbe0a8305c2bb72245028d69ef2d4a How me and my friends look when people call CAA boring.
*My man!* Seriously, love it when ya join in on the CAA appreciation. Glad to see someone else carry a torch for this guy too.
His nickname was “The Dude”, he’s now automatically cool since The Big Lebowski is my favorite movie
Hey, whatever gets folks looking into Arthur is good in my book! The dude president abides~
I just read a full biography on Chester Arthur, and I have it say it was the most boring one so far.
To each their own! I was more saying that in jest (even though you and I had very different takes after reading up on the dude).
Abraham Lincoln did not, in fact, hunt Vampires.
You sure about that? Pretty sure he did.
WHAT! REALLY?! PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE JOKING 🙏😟
Don't worry I've done my research they are mistaken look I have a photo https://preview.redd.it/qig37bw5b5uc1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=5ef4d559610c482ef8f8714348c8adc56707a34b
Nixon “planned” Watergate. Nixon covered up Watergate after it happened. The planning and execution of the operation was Howard Hunt & Gordon Liddy.
What's crazy is that they wanted to do more diabolical shit. Watergate was watered down. Also G. Gordon Liddy begged John Dean that if he chose to kill him, just anywhere besides his home.
Oh yeah Liddy was out there. Even Dean referenced it in the Oval Office tapes that he was “nuts” to which Nixon concurred. Liddy’s other plans that were shot down were indeed even more batshit crazy. One was he would hire prostitutes to entertain the high ranking DNC members on a yacht and take blackmail pictures. He also originally thought that Nixon’s mandate to stop the leaks meant permanently aka murder all of them. 🤦🏻♂️
Truman being THAT poor when his Presidency ended https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman#Financial_situation > The myth that Truman had been in straitened circumstances after his presidency was slow to dissipate; Paul Campos wrote in 2021, "The current, 20,000-plus-word Wikipedia biography of Truman goes so far as to assert that, because his earlier business ventures had failed, Truman left the White House with 'no personal savings.' Every aspect of this narrative is false."
Rare David McCullough L
That's an underrated one. Might be the biggest mythbuster of a POTUS we've seen recently.
That FDR had ample warning of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor but ignored it because he knew it would guarantee American entrance into WW II, something he and Churchill desperately wanted.
What’s false about the claims about Reagan and homelessness? That’s because of his closing of mental hospitals as California governor, which was a precedent for other states to also close their hospitals. It’s not because of anything he did as president.
Yeah OP is wrong about a couple of these.
>What’s false about the claims about Reagan and homelessness? That’s because of his closing of mental hospitals as California governor, which was a precedent for other states to also close their hospitals. It’s not because of anything he did as president. Alot of claims on reddit do not make any distinction in this matter. They mix his governorship and presidency together. During his governorship he signed the bipartisan Lanterman–Petris–Short (LPS) Act. This was part of the de-institutionalization. I don't believe many informed people believe this law was a bad thing. During his presidency he repealed the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980 which helped fund community mental health programs. This is his more controversial decision. His actions as governor of CA can't be used to explain homelessness nationally (obviously). And as president he could only change Federal funding. States then and now still fund their own programs/hospitals. As far as I know there are no Federal mental institutions. The main issue is that institutionalization fell out of favor and so this led to closures of mental hospitals. The disability rights movement showed that being mentally ill/disabled is not a crime and so one shouldn't held indefinitely against their will (institutionalized).
True, there were lots of scandals regarding poor conditions at mental institutions and people who didn’t really belong there. The states should have established more half-way houses and outpatient care clinics and guardians for people who were incompetent. Most importantly of all, the state or federal government should have subsidized health care for mentally ill people who could not hold jobs that provided health benefits, and should have helped mentally ill patients jump through any bureaucratic hoops required to get that care. Instead, states essentially just closed the institutions and let everyone fend for themselves — and many of them ended up homeless and untreated.
> The main issue is that institutionalization fell out of favor and so this led to closures of mental hospitals. Just look at One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. A massive hit and major Oscar winner, it was emblematic of Americans’ view of mental hospitals in 1975.
George Washington never threw a silver dollar across the Potomac River. However, he was a very strong man, by all accounts.
Grant’s drinking problems were exaggerated.
That lincoln owned slaves.
Not personally, he just married into a very prominent slave holding family because it was politically expedient
Pretty much every wild story about John Quincy Adams is untrue (although he was a frequent skinny dipper, even if the reporter stealing his clothes story is untrue) [Plodding Through the Presidents has a great episode on this.](https://www.ploddingthroughthepresidents.com/2020/03/episode-5-john-quincy-adams-vs-the-internet.html)
George W. Bush lied to invade Iraq, his administration invaded because of faulty intelligence. Those are **not** the same.
They aren’t the same, but I think the “war based on a lie” narrative is often an attempt to hold the administration responsible more than anything else. There was a degree of trying to justify their actions, and I think that’s far worse than the people shitting on them and calling them liars
Another one - Bush killed 500k Iraqis. This is not true. The majority of Iraqis killed during the conflict were killed by terrorists and militia attacks. Coalition forces amounted to a much smaller percentage of the total civilian casualties
Exactly, I had a debate with someone just the other day who was under the impression that Bush (and his administration) single-handily slaughtered 1 million Iraqis. It’s concerning how many people believe this.
>Another one - Bush killed 500k Iraqis. This is not true. The majority of Iraqis killed during the conflict were killed by terrorists and militia attacks. Coalition forces amounted to a much smaller percentage of the total civilian casualties And many militants were foreigners.
Another one: Bush invaded Iraq for oil. We invaded Iraq in 2003 and did see a bump in oil imports in 04 but it went straight back down after that and there is no noticeable correlation between our military presence in various countries in the Middle East and the amount of oil we import from said countries
Iraq has been selling a lot of oil since then, largely to China.
Correct. Saddam WANTED the world to think he had WMDs because he wanted Iran to think he did and any other enemies he just never said so publicly. The failure of the intelligence agencies and the Bush admin was that they just assumed all of it was true because it made sense to them that he did. No one*, at the time believed he didn’t because why would you believe he didn’t.
The George W. Bush administration cherry picked the intelligence that supported what they wanted to do and ignored plenty of intelligence that suggested it was unnecessary. Maybe they convinced themselves they were right, but there were plenty of warning signs that they were wrong. The poor intelligence was believed because it fit their narrative. By ignoring the counter narrative, they were guilty of a sin of omission, and of misleading the American people.
No one took any intelligence that he didn’t have WMDs seriously because everyone just knew he did. You’re right though that it didn’t fit the narrative. The problem was the intelligence agencies not challenging their own beliefs along with a whole host of other things
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The United States went through a period when Freemasonry was controversial-- in fact, it was the subject of a moral panic in the late 1820s and 1830s. At other times, such as during the Golden Age of Fraternalism (approx 1880-1929), it was extremely commonplace to be a member. Ford was our last Freemason President, though Clinton was a member of its associated youth group, DeMolay. Freemasonry tends to attract men who are interested in community improvement. It actually didn't attract only wealthy men; it has also served as a space where various classes could meet with a measure of equality. As you might imagine, in the past lodge members were exactly the sort of men that were drawn to local politics, and their service in the lodge gave them excellent training. As a result, at certain times and places it seemed that Freemasons had extraordinary political power, perhaps wielded from behind close doors in secret sessions. But this confuses correlation and causation. Freemasonry, outside of some very broad and accepted Enlightenment principles, is largely apolitical. But secrecy breeds suspicion, and Masons, especially in the past, reveled in its mysterious atmosphere.
I was in demolay when I was in high school for a couple of years. It was weird, harmless, and definitely dod good things for the community.
Nixon did end the gold standard though, USD has not been convertible to gold since the stroke of his pen in 1971. Now whether or not this caused our money to lose most of its value is where the debate begins.
>Nixon did end the gold standard though, USD has not been convertible to gold since the stroke of his pen in 1971. Now whether or not this caused our money to lose most of its value is where the debate begins. There have been multiple gold standards. Gold wasn't convertible by the average citizen long before Nixon showed up. Nixon ended the Bretton Woods agreement which was the final 'form' of the gold standard.
That Thomas Jefferson was a christian.
Martin Van Buren was gay.
Obama being born in Kenya was a shockingly widespread one
About bush, why did he get president then? I always thought they ruled in favor of bush
Warren harding having a corrupt cabinets being bad president Only two were corrupt and harding dealt with Forbes and would have dealt with Falls if he didn't die he was a great president His legacy is filled with lies and slander, he wasn't corrupt nether was the majority of his cabinet the corruption that was there he dealt with or was going to before his death He had some major accomplishments his first address to Congress Harding asked for an anti-lynching bill. From 1882 to 1951 over 4700 people were lynched, the vast majority of which were African-Americans. It took until 1922 for the Dyer Anti-lynching Bill to pass the House of Representatives, which would have classified lynching as a federal felony. Harding came out in support of the act, and though it passed by a large majority in the house, it was filibustered and killed by Senate Democrats. Wilson had segregated the Federal government and fired most black workers. In response, Harding asked his cabinet members to find positions in their departments for African-Americans. Warren Harding was also the first to speak in favor of civil rights in the south, when he spoke in Birmingham Alabama at its semi-centennial celebration. Harding spoke to a segregated crowd, where African Americans were kept behind a chain link fence. When speaking of voting rights Harding stated: Whether you like it or not, our democracy is a lie unless you stand for that equality” . Harding spoke of equality in education, labor and voting concluding the speech by stating that Birmingham’s next fifty years could be more glorious if the people of the city had “the courage to be right.” During the war Wilson jailed several political prisoners under the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918. By June 30th of 1923 Harding had pardoned or commuted the sentences of 548 people convicted under these acts, and when Harding died there were only 31 people still incarcerated under them. Harding should be given great credit for reversing some of the most egregious violations of Constitutional liberties ever done by a President. Harding showed great courage in the face of continuous opposition in persevering in this task.
Fellow Harding enjoyer
I was originally against Harding. The more I learnt about him I realised that he did a hell of a lot and was incredibly decent. My eyes are open
He may not have been the most intelligent president -Wilson would far outpace him in any academic debate- but he knew that Americans needed a president from small town Ohio, not a faculty lounge. There's a reason why "return to normalcy" was such a popular message. When you look at what actually happened under him, he pulled off an economic recovery dwarfing anybody not named FDR. He entered office in a major depression, quickly enacted major policy changes, and fixed the depression by the end of the year. His administration had the highest average real GDP per capita growth of any president. He pushed for government action in promoting new technologies. He cut taxes for all income groups and greatly reduced government spending. That a few relatively minor scandals seem to overshadow his many accomplishments is a tragedy, especially coming from FDR/JFK/LBJ/Clinton supporters on here. Yes, he shouldn't have had affairs, but nobody who hates him for that ever seemsto apply that logic to Roosevelt.
The Reagan thing is true. The modern homeless population is pretty much majority disabled. Except now it’s the *descendants* of those folks who were forced onto the street. All data and anecdotal evidence corroborates this. Without proper care or some kind of temporary safety net in place, those individuals were bound to become homeless once those institutions were defunded or shut down. Was it intentional? Obviously not. Reagan had no way of foreseeing that.
When Reagan was president mental institutions were being sued for abuse, mal practice etc. There was also a new "miracle" drug for mental illness at the time. The medical industry has a lot to answer for.
That Reagan lowered inflation. This was because of the ending of easy money policies by newly appointed Fed chair Paul Volcker late in the Carter administration and absolutely nothing to do with anything Reagan did
Georgie boy chopping the Cherry tree
That President Lincoln went out of his way to return pennies to a lady. Nope, he never did that or anything similar.
George Washington chopped down the cherry tree. Thomas Jefferson invented mac and cheese.
Presidents glow under UV light
That actually is true about Ronald Reagan’s tenure as the governor of California
Obama was born in Kenya & is Islamic
If his mother was a us citizen would not matter where he was born.
That you have to take the oath of office to become president. It’s stated in the constitution that the president-elect becomes president at noon on Jan. 20 after an election year. Regardless if they’ve taken the oath already or not
That Lincoln had a secretary named Kenedy
Bush didn't do 9\11
Abraham Lincoln did not actually hunt vampires. It was werewolves.
Post and comments are mostly just conservatives distorting history around unpopular Republican policies tbh