Failures of the Presidents: From the Whiskey Rebellion and War of 1812 to the Bay of Pigs and War in Iraq

542 Pages·2008·10.11 MB·English

by  Thomas J. Craughwell

FAILURES OF THE PRESIDENTS

FAILURES OF THE PRESIDENTS
FROM THE WHISKEY REBELLION AND WAR OF 1812 TO THE BAY
OF PIGS AND WAR IN IRAQ
THOMAS J. CRAUGHWELL
WITH M. WILLIAM PHELPS
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION: CHANGING VIEWS OF PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESS AND FAILURE
1. THE WHISKEY REBELLION: GEORGE WASHINGTON
2. THE ALIEN AND SEDITION ACTS: JOHN ADAMS
3. THE EMBARGO ACTS: THOMAS JEFFERSON
4. THE WAR OF 1812: JAMES MADISON
5. THE TRAIL OF TEARS: ANDREW JACKSON
6. REPEAL OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE: FRANKLIN PIERCE
7. THE ATTEMPT TO ANNEX SANTO DOMINGO: ULYSSES S. GRANT
8. THE PULLMAN STRIKE: GROVER CLEVELAND
9. “A SPLENDID LITTLE WAR” WITH SPAIN: WILLIAM MCKINLEY
10. THE PUNITIVE EXPEDITION INTO MEXICO: WOODROW WILSON
11. THE BONUS ARMY: HERBERT HOOVER
12. INTERNMENT OF JAPANESE-AMERICANS IN WORLD WAR II: FRANKLIN D.
ROOSEVELT
13. THE BAY OF PIGS INVASION: JOHN F. KENNEDY
14. THE TONKIN GULF RESOLUTION: LYNDON B. JOHNSON
15. THE BOMBING OF CAMBODIA: RICHARD NIXON
16. WATERGATE: RICHARD NIXON
17. THE IRANIAN HOSTAGE CRISIS: JIMMY CARTER
18. ENERGY CRISIS AND “MALAISE”: JIMMY CARTER
19. THE IRAN-CONTRA AFFAIR: RONALD REAGAN
20. WAR IN IRAQ: GEORGE W. BUSH
SUGGESTED READING
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ART CREDITS
INDEX
INTRODUCTION
CHANGING VIEWS
OF PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESS AND FAILURE
UNTIL RECENTLY, THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH WAITED FIFTY YEARS AFTER
THE death of a candidate for sainthood before beginning the investigation into
his or her life and merits. Centuries of experience had taught the Vatican that
when someone with a reputation for holiness dies, a great emotional outburst
naturally follows, as happened with the death of Pope John Paul II. But wait
fifty years, and all the hysteria as well as the hyperbole will have settled
down, and the men whose job it is to examine the lives of potential saints can
go about their business like scholars—in a judicious, methodical, and rational
manner.
Something similar happens when an American president leaves office, or
leaves this world. Washington correspondents, political pundits, and cable
news commentators vie with one another to make the most sweeping
statements—and quotable sound bites—about the success or failure of the
former president’s administration. It can’t be helped; the format of twenty-
four-hour news coverage demands on-the-spot assessments, and then
assessments of the assessments.
But as with sorting out saints, weighing the successes and failures of a
presidency takes time. History will always have its say, but many years may
pass before it speaks. Harry S. Truman is a classic case. He left the White
House in 1953 in near disgrace with an approval rating down around 22
percent. Even president-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower snubbed Truman, at first
refusing his invitation to a pre-inaugural luncheon at the White House, then
failing even to make the customary courtesy call on the outgoing president
and first lady. Instead, the general sat in his car outside the White House,
waiting for President Truman to come to him.
FOR MANY AMERICANS THE IMAGE OF THE SCORCHED WRECKAGE OF AN
AMERICAN C-130, WHICH COLLIDED WITH A U.S. HELICOPTER DURING A
FAILED MISSION TO RESCUE HOSTAGES IN IRAN IN 1980, REMAINS A BRUTAL
REMINDER OF THIS JIMMY CARTER FOREIGN POLICY FAILURE.
Twenty years later, Truman’s reputation was reborn thanks to Merle
Miller’s popular book Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S.
Truman, published in 1974, followed the next year by the one-man show Give
’em Hell, Harry! Truman, once derided as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s hapless
successor, a man entirely out of his depth in post–World War II politics, was
now hailed as a feisty, straight-talking man of the people who fought for his
principles, and perhaps was ahead of his time. He urged Congress to pass a
national health insurance program, saying, “The health of American children,
like their education, should be recognized as a definite public responsibility.”
(Sadly, Truman’s proposal was rejected, thanks in part to the American
Medical Association, which campaigned against the program, claiming it was
“socialized medicine” and calling the Truman administration “followers of the
Moscow party line.”)
Even Richard Nixon’s reputation has been refurbished a bit. At the time of
his resignation in August 1974, Nixon was one of the most intensely despised
men in America. He was airlifted by helicopter off the White House lawn into
political exile; by and large he kept out of the public spotlight, although he
was a prolific writer of memoirs and many books on foreign policy (The
Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Beyond Peace, In the Arena, etc.). In recent years,
however, historians have reminded us of Nixon’s support for environmental
protection (he founded the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970) and his
call for universal health care. It’s not enough to obliterate the stigma of the
Watergate debacle, but after the passage of decades, some of his
accomplishments mitigate the well-worn impression of Nixon as a complete
ogre.
Readers who scan this book’s table of contents may wonder what happened
to the chapter about Bill Clinton’s impeachment and his scandalous relations
with Monica Lewinsky and other women.
The Clinton sex scandals and the charges of perjury and obstruction of
justice were tawdry, they were a national embarrassment, and they were a
major distraction from the nation’s business, but my coauthors and I, along
with our editors, could not agree definitively that the Clinton scandals, for all
the “sound and fury” that came with them, actually inflicted serious damage
on the United States at the time. It could be argued that had he not been
distracted by the scandals and the impeachment, Clinton might have been able
to broker a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians that could have
prevented the Second Intifada of 2000. The suggestion makes for an
interesting discussion, but in the end, such discussions are hypothetical.
GROVER CLEVELAND’S DECISION TO SEND IN MILITARY FORCES TO QUELL
THE PULLMAN LABOR STRIKE IN 1894 SPARKED RIOTS AND ULTIMATELY
STAINED HIS LEGACY WITH AMERICAN BLOOD.