Historic Videos of Past Inaugurations & A POLL of Great Presidents For You All
By SusanUnPC on January 19, 2009 at 11:35 PM in African Americans, Bill Clinton, Civil Rights, Current Affairs, Inauguration Day
No matter how dubious we are about the outcome of tomorrow’s inauguration — and with our eagle eyes fixed firmly on how Obama performs — it is fascinating to find these clips of past inauguration speeches, even Franklin Roosevelt’s and Harry Truman’s. AND BELOW THE FOLD IS A POLL FOR YOU TO TAKE: Rank the best presidents of the 20th and 21st century. EXCEPT FOR THIS: We already know that Barack Obama wins hands down as the greatest president evah!!!! Now you pick the 2nd and 3rd best presidents EVAH!!!! (That’s below the fold.)
From Franklin Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan
to Bill Clinton
Video Title: “Bad Times, Big Government”
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NEXT UP:
From Harry Truman to John F. Kennedy
to Lyndon Johnson to Jimmy Carter
to George H. W. Bush to Bill Clinton
to George W. Bush:
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NOW, BELOW, THAT POLL FOR THE 2nd and 3rd BESTEST PRESIDENTS of the 20th and 21st centuries EVAH!
Who Are The 2nd and 3rd Greatest Presidents of the 20th & 21st Centuries? ('bama be da top!)
- Bill Clinton (64%, 89 Votes)
- Franklin D. Roosevelt (55%, 76 Votes)
- Ronald Reagan (12%, 17 Votes)
- Theodore Roosevelt (10%, 14 Votes)
- Dwight D. Eisenhower (9%, 13 Votes)
- Harry S. Truman (9%, 12 Votes)
- John F. Kennedy (9%, 12 Votes)
- George W. Bush (7%, 10 Votes)
- Richard Nixon (3%, 4 Votes)
- Jimmy Carter (1%, 2 Votes)
- Lyndon B. Johnson (1%, 2 Votes)
- Herbert Hoover (1%, 1 Votes)
- Gerald Ford (1%, 1 Votes)
- George H. W. Bush (1%, 1 Votes)
- Woodrow Wilson (0%, 0 Votes)
- Warren G. Harding (0%, 0 Votes)
- Calvin Coolidge (0%, 0 Votes)
- William McKinley (0%, 0 Votes)
- William Howard Taft (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 139
Loading ...Here’s the one speech I wish we had on video. (Although I do remember a hot post that went ’round the Internet about five to six years ago. Someone claimed to have audio of Lincoln giving a speech. Some of us were very skeptical, and looked up the history. I forget now, but the very first audio recordings didn’t get made until at least 20+ years after his death [or thereabouts]. As I recall, this one ended up being officially debunked at Snopes.com.).
But at least this video shows drawings of that great day (and the speech is below):
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Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Speech
Fellow-Countrymen:
AT this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.
One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest.
All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other.
It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. “Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.” If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time,
He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.
Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
Abraham Lincoln would have looked favorably
on these great presidents, both Republicans and Democrats,
and their great progress
towards civil rights for all
(albeit with those of women yet to come)
From Harry Truman to Dwight D. Eisenhower
to John F. Kennedy (notice his complaint) to
Lyndon Baines Johnson to Jimmy Carter to
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HERE you will find
many more historic videos.
Perhaps someday a president will emphasize women’s right.
(Release: November 13)
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1. FDR
2. Clinton
3. Eisenhower
4. Truman
Sorry! I meant:
1. OBAMA!!!!!!!
2. FDR
3. Clinton
4. Eisenhower
5. Truman
Glad you corrected that. It was hard. I picked Clinton and Roosevelt. I wanted to pick both Roosevelts. Teddy did great things too.
It’s curious how many of our presidents have been inaugurated in the midst of war. History never seems to get it completely right, but if you take war out of the equation there are only a handful which were successful. Social Security may be the most beautiful and lasting benefit any government has ever devised. If only FDR had made it impossible for future presidents to mess with it, beginning with Eisenhower and interstate highways. However, I voted for Bill Clinton. I think his approval rating when he left the White House proves a large majority of Americans felt the country had been in good hands while he was president. I’m not sure about Reagan. I was out of the country during his entire administration and though I voted, I didn’t keep up with things as much. I commented on another thread about the Civil War and I don’t think Lincoln’s speech was entirely up front about slavery since the Emancipation Proclamation did not free slaves in states controlled by the Union or those on the border of the Confederacy. Some Union soldiers took them as contraband.
Who the hell voted for George W. Bush? Are you trying to mess up this poll?
I cannot and will not say that Obama is the best.
That being said, we could put a qualifier on Obama as the number 1 most corrupt candidate to become president. Obama is in a class of his own.
Best presidents:
1) Roosevelt, F D
2) Clinton
3) Truman
4) Eisenhower
5) Roosevelt, T
The world became more globally interconnected after Teddy Roosevelt’s time. The twentieth century presidents had much to contend with as opposed to Ulysses S. Grant who used to go have a drink in a hotel lobby by himself.
If Obama’s team can kept us out of global conflict it will be due to their expertise and experience and absolutely nothing to do with Obama. Obama has debased the presidency to an american idol contest.
umm, was this meant to be funny or something, cause Obama doesn’t even rank with any of those,,,,yet. If being elected president is such a huge achievement, then everyone one of those should be top of the list.
We were joking. I was telling Larry about the poll on the phone, and the devil suggested I type that. Just for the hell of it. We most certainly do NOT mean it seriously. Good god no. Nor, do I anticipate, will we after four years. (Although … well, I think I’ll let Ani’s post tomorrow afternoon speak about her views on all these “crises” and how they’re falsely bringing people together. She says it really well. Check it out around 13:40 p.m. ET.)
I got the joke! Thanks for lightening the place up a bit after that controversial thread. I might even forgive Larry for calling Obama a “decent man.”
OMG…is this serious? Obama hasn’t even set foot in office and NQ is voting him the “Best President Ever?” Wow, this is really freaky. Did I miss something? Seriously, WTF is going on around here? First Larry’s thread and now this? Did I accidentally log into Kos?
Right you are……Excuse me while I change my IV with another bottle of JD and we can all sing this song I stole from Hot Air.
Who can take an election win, sprinkle it with dew
Cover it with choc’late and a trillion bucks or two
The Obama Man, oh the Obama Man can
The Obama Man can ’cause he mixes it with hope and change and makes the whole thing taste good
Who can get in step with Congress, wrap it all in a sigh
Soak it in the sun and make a groovy economic pie
The Obama Man, the Obama Man can
The Obama Man can ’cause he mixes it with hope and change and makes the whole thing taste good
The Obama Man makes everything he does satisfying and delicious
Now you talk about your childhood wishes, you can even eat his best wishes
Oh, who can take tomorrow, dip it in a dream
Separate the sorrow and collect up all the cream
The Obama Man, oh the Obama Man can
The Obama Man can ’cause he mixes it with hope and change and makes the whole thing taste good
The Obama Man makes everything he does satisfying and delicious
Talk about your childhood wishes, you can even eat his best wishes
Yeah, yeah, yeah
ROFL Harp…I need to join you in that JD drip. It’s getting close to D-Day.
WE ARE JOKING!!!!!!!
blame Larry! He put me up to it! but when he mentioned it on the phone, I was laughing, and he said, “SEE? It’s funny”
We hoped everyone would be in on the joke. If we were really serious, we would have put him in the poll, but he hasn’t served a single day yet. Just put a bunch of smart people, mostly from the Clinton era, in charge of the departments that get the real work done!
Now you are in on our silliness! Enjoy!
(I’m rooting for Bill Clinton or FDR to get the top spot.)
We know Susan. We are just giddy that Obama finally will have to start answering for the first time in his life.
I’m learning Larry has an ODD sense of humor ya’ll
lol sorry Agent Johnson
LOL Harp, I wasn’t so sure. Thanks for clearing it up. My guess is that his name will never appear on that poll.
HOLD THE PRESSES OBAMA….YOU ARE LYING AGAIN:
The REAL BLACK First President
George Washington was not the first President of the United States. The first President, John Hanson, was Maryland’s representative at the Continental Congress. On November 5, 1781, Hanson, who is considered a black man because of his Moorish background, was elected by the Constitutional Congress to the office of “President of the United States in Congress Assembled.” He served for one year and was followed by 6 other Presidents before Washington was elected.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/582763/posts
Free Republic; Atlas Shrugs. As “history” sources. Some of you haters really are showing your true colours now.
69 million voters are celebrating their victory.
UKTroll…we’re not stopping you. Why don’t you go out and join the crack crowd in the festivities? Really, if you’re so thrilled, WTF are you doing with us?
American hater, when in a few hours there is a real President and not a shrub, I will be celebrating. What will you be doing?
Even your Freeper colleagues have just dismissed the rubbish you have just posted.
UK, party hearty because you are going to have one hell of a hangover for four years. One definition of hater is to feel contempt or disdain for someone or something so I would say that is a more accurate noun to describe those who oppose Obama than the one you have used so often in the past, racist. Party on!
A change in lower management?
ROTFLMAO
Me, though?
I will be opening a bottle of champagne, glad to see that stinking kook Cheney GONE, BABY, GONE!
Along with all his little kooks acolytes.
BTW, do you think Obama will be prosecuting him, and the rest, for treason?
Did you read the reference Larry made to David Rose’s article in the April Vanity Fair?
Somehow, I think a real American would, yet, I get hte feeling Obama won’t.
Nice he made a special effort to keep Brennan on, wasn’t it?
As an aside, I was listening to “In Another Life,” by XTC, a line about Chippendale dancers:
I remarked to a friend not every man with a small penis is insecure, and we can thank the British for that, really, given the Freudian implications, I’m grateful…
But I digress, all apologies.
No need to apologize. You look at Obama, and you think about his penis, not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Give ‘Em Hell Harry and I Like Ike!
History has a funny way of changing peoples minds.
Greatest Presidents…
FDR
Clinton
Truman
Ask me in 20 years my decision may be different.
“bama be da top”? You’re not even trying to hide it anymore, are you?
Oh I could so say something here about Obama being the top! LOL
Who else voted for Nixon? I rank Tricky just behind FDR. If I can forgive FDR for the Japanese internment, I can forgive Tricky for Watergate. I don’t take it for granted that we never went to war with the Soviet Union. I give Nixon’s wicked Cold War scheming the most credit for avoiding the war that would have destroyed our world.
When I was a kid, we had nuclear war drills in school. In ‘68, LBJ played on the very real fears of nuclear war to smear Goldwater. But by the time Tricky left, those fears were gone. Tricky seized the chance to break apart the Sino-Soviet bloc — a monumental diplomatic move that imho avoided a third World War. Removing the threat of nuclear holocaust from over the head of humanity — hard to top that. If ever the ends justified the means. Right on, Tricky Dick!
“We will negotiate, but we will negotiate from strength.” Sounds like a plan.
Obama’s speech will be more vapid than all of those save for maybe George H.W. Bush. It will also contain more “I”s and “me”s than all the others.
One more tic Obama uses that bugs me, even scares me, is he says soon we can “finally perfect this union”. He’s done this more than once.
His predecessors always said we’ll seek and become “more perfect” which is much different - the phrase never dares to say we’ll become perfect.
Please, I want to scream enough already. It is just over the top. I get that its historic but please 170Million Dollars for this, when my best friend is losing her apartment because her husband lost his job and we have to pay for this. I think his presidency will be a diaster, the man likes to give speeches and that’s it. I rented movies so I won’t have to watch it. I think Clinton (HRC) should be taking the oath and if the system worked she would be, yes I am a 40 yr old “bitter” white woman. I do not respect this man one bit Sorry he never earned it, I was brought up not to judge anyone by their race, gender, religous beliefs so this guy wins because of his race and that’s ok..
. . .let reality begin (after ofrauda’s party ends)!
Susan writes: No matter how dubious we are about the outcome of tomorrow’s inauguration
Dubious? About the outcome?
I think it’s safe to say that the outcome is that he’ll be President.
Good for you, and here we thought you were stupid.
I guess a little pretension goes a long way when one isn’t blessed with originality, or true intellect.
Chloe writes: Please, I want to scream enough already. It is just over the top. I get that its historic but please 170Million Dollars for this…
You’re already screaming, hysterically.
An AP article suggested a figure as high as 150 million, which wingnut morons, as they do, added 10 million to, bringing it to 160 million. You’ve gone one better: raising it to 170 million.
Before you backpedal to the 150 million figure, and of course you will because you have nowhere else to go, consider that the cost of Obama’s inauguration is estimated to be about 40-odd million dollars, all of it exclusive of feddle gummint revenue.
So, what’s the remainder of this 150 million figure? Security costs, which the AP has no choice but to speculate on, as the gov does not release the figures. The 40-odd million dollars quoted for the Bush inauguration does not include these figures either, for the same reason.
What, Larry didn’t tell you this?
Trite, and wholly inaccurate, but par for the course from such an uncreative, unoriginal troll, exhibiting the limits of his boxcar mind every time he communicates.
But, really, we’re all impressed, and remember, NONE OF THIS IS REAL.
Trite, and wholly inaccurate,
Identify the inaccurate portion, please.
In other words, put up or shut up, Dick.
Yeah, that’s what I thought, coward.
In the real world, it would be:
1) FDR
2) Clinton
3) Truman
But, since it’s bizarro world (and it must be if Obama is #1:
1) Obama
2) Bush (W)
3) Hoover
America RIP writes: Why don’t you go out and join the crack crowd in the festivities?
Ah, I see. Black President, ergo crack addict constitutuency, very good.
As you’ve discovered, you’re in the right place, RIP. Unbridled racism is welcomed by the proprietors here, although they may claim otherwise.
Aren’t you going to be late for the cheeto party?
SusanUnPC write: WE ARE JOKING!!!!!!!
Jesus, I’d think you’d know by now that your reader base isn’t savvy enough to understand irony or satire. Having to explain it kind of takes all the funny out of it, as you know.
Oh well, doesn’t make them bad people, I guess, just–
Well, pretty grim bunch, I’ll say that for them.
BWHA!
Said by someone who can’t write, or think, fer shit.
Thanks, Jan, a clever riposte. While you savor the sting I must be feeling as a result, consider the following:
While the remainder of the world rejoices at the prospect of a presidency which shows every sign of undoing the damage of the Bush administration, and wishes him well in pursuit of that goal–
The reader base of No Quarter has evolved into a small pocket of people who actually desire that his efforts fail.
Considering what’s at stake, this is not only unproductive and pathological behavior, proverbially known as “cutting off your nose to spite your face,” it’s actually harmful to whatever you may feel is the greater good.
Give it some thought, and sorry about my writing being so fer shit.
Actually, I feel much the same as I did when shrub was (s)elected — hopeful that his administration wouldn’t be the total disaster that I saw coming (and we know how that turned out). As for “no quarter readers”, I’m sure in many cases, as my own, the people who read this blog read many, many others (including sometimes the crazies over on DKos), as well as MSM. And I might ask, if you find this site so offensive, why are you here commenting?
And I might ask, if you find this site so offensive, why are you here commenting?
To demonstrate that an opinion which cannot withstand argument is not worth holding.
Duh.
Consider: The hallmark of the Bush administration was systematic exclusion of and disregard of argument they did not agree with.
Why are you here? To say “me too” and “boy, I’ll say” to everything that is posted?
V
I am here perhaps for the same reason you are - this is one of a number of sources I like to use to keep up with events and opinions of others. You’re not going to get any argument from me over the big F-up the Bush Administration was, I just haven’t seen anything Obama has done (except get elected?) to justify the hero-worship heaped on him by his fans (MSM is his #1 fan). I will be more than happy to praise him if he can produce even 1/2 of what is expected of him - but I prefer to give praise after something is accomplished, not before. That is why I find it so annoying when he is continually compared to MLK, JFK, RFK, FDR, Lincoln, and so many other great leaders. They were admired for what they did, and I think it lessens them to compare them to Obama. Perhaps some day - we’ll see.
Oh, I almost forgot.
Duh.
Feel sorry for V. V obviously didn’t get invited to the party.
Poor V. The Obama brownshirts are out with the suppression tactics already.
What is it you can’t stand V? Free Speech? Or the recognition that you have been unwittingly duped into being an accomplice in one of the biggest frauds in history?
1.FDR
2.Clinton