Originally Posted by NW Ponderer
I suspected I would get virulently partisan and historically dubious responses, and you did not disappoint, my friend. Thanks for that.

Your responses are as virulently partisan as mine are. However I don't hide my partisanship by claiming to be an "unbiased educated voice of reason" as you do. Your pretense of being an "unbiased educated voice of reason" is extremely obnoxious!
Originally Posted by NW Ponderer
1) Harding gets a pass because he only appointed the crooks to his cabinet. That's unique. I suppose it's because he didn't personally profit, like Trump does.

I wasn't giving Harding a pass just saying why the scandal happened. He did pay a price for for the scandal, he died of heart attack.
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The 29th U.S. president, Warren Harding (1865-1923) served in office from 1921 to 1923 before dying of an apparent heart attack. Harding’s presidency was overshadowed by the criminal activities of some of his cabinet members and other government officials, although he himself was not involved in any wrongdoing.

History
Originally Posted by NW Ponderer
2) Your ignorance of Coolidge and his policies does not surprise me. March 1929 (left office)-October 1929 (stock market crash) does not 2 years make, even using "conservative" math. Even Coolidge admitted he bore partial responsibility for the crash.
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Although Coolidge had received a great deal of credit for the prosperity of the 1920s, he recognized that he bore some responsibility for the severe economic downturn. He admitted to friends that he had spent his presidency “avoiding the big problems,” as William Allen White quoted him as saying in his biography, “A Puritan in Babylon.” Coolidge died of a heart attack at the age of 60 at his Northampton home on January 5, 1933.
History Had he not died during the depth of the Depression, he might have taken more blame. But, it was his laissez faire policies from 1923-1929, love of tariffs, and cheerleading for reckless stock speculation that created the conditions that led to the failures. Hoover actually saw it coming and tried to warn him. (It seems funny/typical to excuse Republican presidents who serve multiple terms from responsibility for their policies, but blame Democrats for conditions before they even assume office...)
While the crash of 1929 was the start of Great Depression at that time it was still believed to be a recession. Coolidge did avoid problems. He did so because he realized and accepted the fact that there were many he could not solve and it is best to let those who can do so. He knew that our country's economy was not something he could fix. No, President can fix the economic problems our country will have. Did some of things he did and did not do help create the Great Depression? Yes, they did. But it is only with hindsight that that knowledge is obtained. Coolidge did what he thought was best at the time. But like everyone else he made mistakes. Trying to pin all, or even most, of the blame for the Great Depression on Coolidge is a biased partisan view, not an educated one.
Originally Posted by NW Ponderer
3) I actually give Hoover credit for trying to do something, if way too late. But all three, Harding, Coolidge and Hoover, had a marked disdain for the downtrodden and an overweening belief in the goodness of business.

What Hoover tried, and FDR continued to do, only made the Great Depression worse. Hoover's and FDR's policies also extended the length of the Great Depression. (Just in case you don't notice it I am blaming both a Republican and a Democrat for the Great Depression.) If you think Coolidge had a "marked disdain" for the downtrodden you don't know much about his life. That you think so makes your quote from William Allen White's biography of Coolidge, “A Puritan in Babylon" dubious.
Originally Posted by NW Ponderer
4) Then, deflect, defame, obfuscate and misrepresent (why am I not surprised?) to avoid the reality of FDR's success, despite Republican intransigence and interference. (And you have the temerity to make accusations about claims of racism you know I never made. Dishonest, much?)
FDR's success? His policies made the Great Depression worse! Deflect? To say how the New Deal was created is an important part of the history of it. To ignore how it was created is partisan. An educated person looks at all of the contributing factors to a historical event. A partisan person ignores the factors that make his or her side look bad. The New Deal was a success in extended the depth and lengthening duration of the Great Depression. What FDR was doing was bad for our country and Republican opposition to it was the right thing to do.
Originally Posted by NW Ponderer
5) Eisenhower (not Nixon) created both the Vietnam crisis and the Bay of Pigs plan (in March 1960 he allocated $13.1 million to the CIA to plan Castro's overthrow. The CIA proceeded to organize the operation with the aid of various Cuban counter-revolutionary forces, training Brigade 2506 in Guatemala. Eisenhower's successor), or did you forget that part of history for convenience sake? It's true that John F. Kennedy approved the final invasion plan on 4 April 1961, only 2 1/2 months after taking office. He was snowed by the CIA about its likelihood of success, and was badly hurt by its failure.
Eisenhower ordered the creation of the plans for the Bay of Pigs invasion. As a general and President he ordered the creation of plans for a lot of things. He was wise enough to know which plans to implement and which ones should sit on the shelf. Eisenhower knew that the invasion would not be successful, he was great military strategist knew a bad plan when he saw one. The failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion is Kennedy's fault not Eisenhower's. It is because Kennedy put Eisenhower's plan into action. Kennedy was hurt because he foolishly believed the CIA. He also did not completely follow Eisenhower's plan which was why the invasion failed.

Originally Posted by NW Ponderer
"And the rest," as they say, "is fantasy..." You do make it hard to catalog all your mischaracterizations, but it keeps me occupied.
Only according to your virulently partisan biased opinions.

The state can never straighten the crooked timber of humanity.
I'm a conservative because I question authority.
Conservative Revolutionary