™ The Politically Incorrect Guide to THE PRESIDENTS from WILSON to OBAMA ™ The Politically Incorrect Guide to THE PRESIDENTS from WILSON to OBAMA Steven F. Hayward Copyright © 2012 by Steven F. Hayward All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, website, or broadcast. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hayward, Steven F. The politically incorrect guide to the presidents / by Steven F. Hayward. p. cm. ISBN 978-1-59698-776-0 1. Presidents--United States--Biography. 2. United States--Politics and government--20th century. 3. United States--Politics and government--21st century. I. Title. E743.H36 2012 973.09’9––dc23 [B] 2011051029 Published in the United States by Regnery Publishing, Inc. One Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington, DC 20001 www.Regnery.com Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Books are available in quantity for promotional or premium use. Write to Director of Special Sales, Regnery Publishing, Inc., One Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20001, for information on discounts and terms, or call (202) 216-0600. Distributed to the trade by Perseus Distribution 387 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10016 To Natalie and Pete, for the obvious reason CONTENTS Chapter 1 Not What the Founders Had in Mind The Presidency Has Grown—and the Citizens Have Shrunk What Makes a Truly Great President? Measuring Presidents—the Forgotten Yardstick The Constitution Ignored Chapter 2 The Presidency the Founders Created The Electoral College and the Creation of “Deliberative Majorities” The Founders on the Character of the Executive Office George Washington’s Republican Modesty Our Early Presidents: Defenders of the Constitution The Birth of the Modern Presidency Grading the Presidents Chapter 3 Woodrow Wilson, 1913–1921 Wilson the Conservative? The Revolutionary President Wilsonian “Progress,” on a Collision Course with the Constitution Wilson’s “Mature Freedom” versus the Founders’ “Liberty” Wilson on the President: Visionary Leader, Voice of the People, and Crusher of the Opposition Wilson, Enthusiast for Bureaucracy Arrogance in Office Chapter 4 Warren G. Harding, 1921–1923 The Most Underrated Modern President An Unlikely Nomination, a Landslide Election Harding, the Anti-Wilson Solid Achievements in Foreign Affairs Harding on the Constitution Harding’s Posthumous Reputation The Scandals Chapter 5 Calvin Coolidge, 1923–1929 A Classical American Education Rising Political Star Coolidge in the White House Coolidge’s One Supreme Court (Dis)Appointment Chapter 6 Herbert Hoover, 1929–1933 Politics Is Not Engineering Hoover Tries to Fix the Depression, Inadvertently Makes It Great Out of Office, Hoover Moves Right Chapter 7 Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933–1945 The Modern Left Is Far Left of FDR The Paradox of FDR FDR’s Living Constitutionalism FDR’s Assault on the Judicial Branch FDR’s Lasting Legacy: A Supreme Court Unconstrained by the Constitution Chapter 8 Harry Truman, 1945–1953 The Self-Taught Statesman Truman’s Last Great Achievement: Cold War Strategy Abuse of Executive Power Chapter 9 Dwight David (“Ike”) Eisenhower, 1953–1961 A Master Manager Not an Ideological Conservative Chapter 10 John F. Kennedy, 1961–1963 Kennedy’s Recklessness Character and Performance in Office Botching the Cuban Missile Crisis JFK, Supply-Sider Kennedy’s Political Legacy JFK’s Constitutional Legacy Chapter 11 Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1963–1969 The “Great Society” and the “War on Poverty”: Johnson Fails at Home The Vietnam War: Johnson Fails Abroad A Low Point in Judicial History Chapter 12 Richard M. Nixon, 1969–1974 Nixon’s Complicated Character and Forgotten Magnanimity The Embattled President The Folly of Détente Nixon’s Liberalism on Domestic Policy Getting Watergate Wrong Nixon’s Constitutional Legacy Chapter 13 Gerald Ford, 1974–1977 Stagflation at Home Weakness Abroad A Mixed Record on the Constitution Chapter 14 James Earl Carter, 1977–1981 Carter’s Character Domestic Policy Disasters President Malaise Foreign Policy Disasters President Carter’s Constitutional Grade Chapter 15 Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981–1989 Reagan the Restorer Reagan’s Unfinished Agenda The Pro-Life President The President’s Prerogative Power One Bull’s Eye and Two Close Shots Chapter 16 George H. W. Bush, 1989–1993 Squandering the Reagan Legacy Bush Abroad A Split Decision Chapter 17 William Jefferson Clinton, 1993–2001 By Order of the President Clinton’s Monument Valley I Beg Your Pardon From Odometers to Anteaters Things Go Better with Coke Close Enough for Government Work Family Values Rich and Pinky Descent to the Murky Bottom The High Cost of Bad Character Radicals in Black Robes Chapter 18 George Walker Bush, 2001–2009 “Events, Dear Boy” More Compassionate Than Conservative? Defending America, Enraging the Left Bush and the Constitution Chapter 19 Barack Hussein Obama, 2009–? Obama’s “Fourth Wave” Ambitions The Nature of Obama’s Radicalism Obama’s Contempt for the Middle Class A Citizen of the World Holding the Constitution in Contempt Conclusion: Taking the Oath Seriously Selected Bibliography Index Chapter 1 NOT WHAT THE FOUNDERS HAD IN MIND “Before he enter on the Execution of his Office he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation: ‘I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.’” —U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 1, Paragraph 8 T he Founding Fathers would be appalled by the modern presidency. Of all the things that would horrify them about the scope and reach of government today, the one that might alarm them most is the character of the modern office of president. The scale of the presidential office and the conduct of modern presidents are very different from what the Founders envisioned. In fact, the modern presidency is the exact opposite of what the Founders intended. The behavior of most modern presidents—personally ambitious politicians (or demagogues, in the Founders’ eighteenth-century vocabulary) making populist appeals, offering lavish promises, often impossible to fulfill, of what they will do for the people—is precisely what the Founders wanted to avoid when they created the institution. The modern presidency has become one of the chief ingredients in the recipe for endlessly expanding the government beyond the limits the Founders laid out for it in the Constitution. But this is not what you will learn from the leading textbooks and histories of the presidency, or from biographies of modern presidents. Most of the leading academic textbooks and the prominent media figures who cover presidents implicitly teach that the greatest modern presidents are those who have made the government bigger and more powerful, and expanded the reach of the presidency. Thus Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt are typically ranked very high by pundits and historians alike, despite those presidents’ obvious