Presidents that were truly good people. (not that did good things)

What is your evidence that he was more of a good person than any other president? His "aw shucks" persona?

The Inquisitor wrote:

What is your evidence that he was more of a good person than any other president? His "aw shucks" persona?

There isn't any dirt on him.

nothing bad wrote:

The Inquisitor wrote:

What is your evidence that he was more of a good person than any other president? His "aw shucks" persona?

There isn't any dirt on him.

And no resident has put the time and effort into humanitarian work once he's out of office like Carter has.

Ronald Reagan

Barack Obama

JFK

Gerald Ford

Eisenhower

Just looking at 1950s onward wrote:

Ronald Reagan

Barack Obama

JFK

Gerald Ford

Eisenhower

Ronald "AIDS is the wrath of God upon homosexuals" Regan and drug addict adulterer JFK. Nice. Try again.

Except for Trump, I think most presidents are good people, even the ones I didn't like politically.

HRE wrote:

nothing bad wrote:

There isn't any dirt on him.

And no resident has put the time and effort into humanitarian work once he's out of office like Carter has.

I have actually met Jimmy Carter on more than one occasion. He made it a point to visit the university I attended on an annual basis (at least). In person he was an extremely open and friendly man. If there weren't secret service, you would have thought he was just an ordinary guy.

My girlfriend spent over an hour with him and his wife when he visited her genetics lab. Again, he was gracious, kind and forthcoming. A truly decent human being. Just had a shitty presidency.

Carter was truly a nice guy and acted on his conscience. Ultimately many of his programs had extremely adverse impacts. His WIC program, while well intended, probably did more to damage the institution of marriage in this country than any other political act. He meant well, but he did more harm than good.

The Inquisitor wrote:

What is your evidence that he was more of a good person than any other president? His "aw shucks" persona?

The evidence abounds, brother. If you weren't alive during the Carter administration, feel free to educate yourself.

try again wrote:

Just looking at 1950s onward wrote:

Ronald Reagan

Barack Obama

JFK

Gerald Ford

Eisenhower

Ronald "AIDS is the wrath of God upon homosexuals" Regan and drug addict adulterer JFK. Nice. Try again.

Jerry Falwell said that not Reagan. Under Reagan spending on AIDS research increased every year. Yes he was pretty silent on the matter, but he increased funding as well.

Did Bush 43 cheat on his wife? He had a problem with drugs, but then I do not think that necessarily makes you a bad person. If AIDS is important to you then Bush 43 has to be a hero in that area for his stance toward AIDS in Africa.

JFK's drug addiction seemed to stem from the life long back pain and medical conditions, but the adultery would disqualify him.

Eisenhower may have had an affair with his driver. Seems like that is still in question.

Obama won the Senate seat with some pretty dirty tricks--getting the sealed divorce papers of his opponent unsealed. But on the whole while I do not like his policies (with a couple of exceptions) he seems like a politician that would pull whatever he could to win but also seems like a good father. Just a little too arrogant for my taste.

Gerald Ford--what was the worst thing he did? Pardon Nixon? I think that was something that was smart to do in the long-term.

Herbert Hoover did so many great things. Not sure anything he did led to the Depression since he in office only 8 months before the crash.

good wrote:

We know there were lots of presidents who did great things, but also supported slavery or cheated on their wives. I was just trying to think if there were any presidents that were really good people, even if they weren't the greatest presidents. So far my list has one name:

Jimmy Carter

Leaving aside his presidency was largely a disaster, the biggest gripe I have has been his fandom of Palestinian terrorists and dictators in general.

Ummmm....ever heard of George Herbert Walker Bush?

Modern Era:

Random Order

Ford

Carter

Obama

Reagan

GWB

GHWB

Truman

Eisenhower (probably?)

Not so good, modern era only

Clinton

JFK

Trump

try again wrote:

Just looking at 1950s onward wrote:

Ronald Reagan

Barack Obama

JFK

Gerald Ford

Eisenhower

Ronald "AIDS is the wrath of God upon homosexuals" Regan and drug addict adulterer JFK. Nice. Try again.

The AIDS quote is from Jerry Falwell, not Ronald Reagan. In any case, I interpret the point of the thread as being not about political and social views but how a person was on a purely personal level. On a personal level, Reagan was, by all accounts, a decent, likable person who behaved well in his personal life. The famous quote by Jack Warner when Reagan ran for governor of California was "Jimmy Stewart for governor. Ronald Reagan for best friend," which addresses the point of the thread.

JFK was very capable and personally impressive. He was generally well-thought of by people who knew him on a personal level. The drug addict claim is unfair, given his real health issues and the state of medical knowledge at the time. He was also a genuine war hero in his personal life, which is not true of many presidents. However, he was certainly a bad husband and was too personally flawed to belong on this list.

John Utah wrote:

Not so good, modern era only

Clinton

JFK

Trump

I think most presidents have been pretty decent people on a personal level. These three above, probably not so much.

Hillary, had she been elected, would have been hands down the worst. Trump is a braggart (to state the obvious) and a bit of a jackass, but Hillary is evil. You may have not like having dinner with Trump, listening to his BS, but you can probably feel confident your food is not poisoned or that someone won't shoot you in the back of the head as you're walking to your car after your meal.

Whether Bush or Eisenhower cheated on their wives is not well established, and in Eisenhower's case, it was, at worst what would now called an "emotional affair" with Kay Summersby by someone away from his family and under extreme stress at the time, so I would give him a pass. In general, Eisenhower was a very decent person on a personal level which was a large part of his effectiveness as a leader.

Ford had a spotless personal life by all accounts and pardoning Nixon was a political decision (and a wise one, most people would now say) and not relevant to this list.

Hoover was very capable and had a clean personal life, but was also arrogant and full of himself so perhaps it depends on what the standard is for getting on the list. For that matter, Nixon was a good family man, even if he was otherwise a creep and crooked as a politician.

As for Obama, the press got Jack Ryan's divorce records unsealed and most people would say it was relevant to voters if Ryan had pressured his wife to perform public sex acts at a sex club - that's the sort of issue in someone's personal life that many people would consider disqualifying for a prospective senator.

joho wrote:

Except for Trump, I think most presidents are good people, even the ones I didn't like politically.

If you are going to turn this thread on its head and make it a "presidents that were truly bad people" thread, you have to add Nixon to the list.

Do you mean you can be a good person without doing good things? Just thinking nice thoughts, maybe?

And of all groups, you look for a good person among politicians?