When I was born, Harry Truman was president. He didn't leave much of an impression on me at the time, although I would later look back on him as quite a character, but I do remember the 1952 presidential election when Dwight Eisenhower was elected. I was just a kid, but I went along with my parents to the polls in the evening after my Dad got home from work. My Mom voted for Stevenson, but my Dad, otherwise a life-long Democrat, voted for the General, his old World War II commander. I suspect many other veterans did the same. I can't say I liked Ike at the time, but later, when I taught a college course on 1950s American culture, I came to respect him. He was exactly right about the military-industrial complex. Too bad we ignored him.
The first president I remember well was John Kennedy. He was president while I was in high school, and was assassinated during my senior year. I also have vivid memories of the fear we all felt during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Like many of my generation, I sensed that those were historical turning points. With time my estimation of Kennedy as a president has gone steadily downward. With Lyndon Johnson, it's been the opposite. When he took over, he inherited both the good and the bad of the Kennedy presidency. Good on civil rights and social issues, bad on Vietnam. The war dominated everything for young people in the sixties. Later I came to appreciate some of the complexities of Johnson's presidency, particularly his ability to get things done politically in Washington. I'll never forget the speech he made saying he would not run for re-election. I had to ask my wife if I'd heard that right. I mistakenly thought it was a good sign for the country!
After Johnson, the American presidents have been on a distinctly downward trend. So we replaced Lyndon with Richard Nixon (now there was a paragon!), and after he resigned, we've gone from Gerald Ford (the accidental president), to Jimmy Carter (well meaning perhaps, but not up to the task), to Ronald Reagan (I mean, seriously, he was a mediocre actor who often did just the opposite of what he said he was doing: raised both the deficits and taxes), to the elder George Bush (in retrospect, we might have done worse, but he was no leader) to Bill Clinton (who squandered his opportunities, yet still managed to leave us with a bit of capital), to the younger George Bush (my least favorite president; probably a great frat brother, but made a mess of the country for all of us as well as the next poor sucker: unnecessary wars and ill-timed tax cuts), to Barack Obama (no one was likely to succeed in this time, but while he was a great candidate, he was not ready or able to govern; besides for some reason half the country hates him like poison).
Perhaps it just comes with old age, but when I look back on this rather depressing list, I find myself wondering whether things haven't been getting steadily worse since George Washington. I can't figure why anyone would want to be president, then or now, but especially now. It surely is the sign of a serious psychological defect. Anyone who wants to be president is probably ipso facto not the right person for the job. Where is our Cincinnatus? Alas, I suspect even he would have a tough time bringing order to this poor nation. I wonder if we're not on the brink of another civil war? Isn't that what happened the last time we stood on our principles and refused to compromise? Well, at least there's one bright spot. I suspect we won't have to worry any longer about immigration, legal or illegal. Soon we'll all be looking to emigrate, if we can just find somewhere to go. Not Norway, obviously.
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