Presidents’ Day 2012: Who is the most underrated president?
UPDATE II (Feb. 20): We have a winner! Commenter acmiller24’s nomination of George H.W. Bush garnered 43 “Recommends” as of 1:30 p.m. ET Monday. This commenter now has the chance to write a guest post about Bush 41 for The Fix on Tuesday. Stay tuned for more details.
UPDATE I (Feb 17): We’re offering the person whose nomination garners the most “votes” a chance to write a guest post about their choice on The Fix for Tuesday. So check out the comment thread and vote (ie., click “Recommend”) — there are solid nominees throughout the stream. We’ll announce a winner Monday afternoon.
The United States (or large parts of it) will take Monday off to honor the nation’s presidents, with the emphasis on the greats: Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson, etc.
Are you an admirer of 11th president James K. Polk? Tell us about it.
(Mathew B. Brady)
But the presidents who were near great or had a great moment or two deserve to be honored, as well. So in that spirit, we’re asking you:
Who is the most underrated president, and why?
Leave your response and reasoning in the comments, and click “Recommend” on the responses you especially like. We’ll feature the best responses as we get closer to the holiday itself.
Two rules:
1) These much-praised presidents are off-limits: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.
2) Please limit your explanation to 75 words or less.
We look forward to reading your responses — happy Presidents’ Day!
You can also share your vote on Twitter using the hashtag #underratedpresident.
Tweet #UnderratedPresidentHere’s what some of our Twitter followers said:
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@GlennThrush did u take your contacts out?
Another fan of pleading the Fifth: Dave Chapelle -- http://t.co/4G3YCo3ICF
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