Iconic leadership moments in presidential history

The best and the worst leadership moments of recent U.S. presidents.

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President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his first radio "Fireside Chat" in Washington in March 1933. Eight years later, Roosevelt would deliver his most historic speech to Congress a day after the Pearl Harbor attack, which he then described as "a date which will live in infamy."

/ AP

In April 1961, a U.S.-backed group of anti-Castro fighters landed at the Bay of Pigs on Cuba's southern coast. Within days, the invasion force was defeated. Of the Bay of Pigs invasion, President John F. Kennedy has said "five minutes after it began to fall in, we all looked at each other and asked, 'How could we have been so stupid?'"

President John F. Kennedy delivers his famous speech "I am a Berliner" ("ich bin ein Berliner") in front of the city hall in West Berlin concerning the Berlin Wall, June 26, 1963.

/ AP

Vice President Lyndon Johnson is sworn in aboard Air Force One, Nov. 22, 1963, following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Cecil Stoughton / AP

Lyndon Johnson and Martin Luther King Jr. meet at the White House in March 1966. King referred to Johnson's election as president in 1964 as "one of America's finest hours" and supported Johnson as he worked on civil rights legislation. President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Acts in August 1965.

Yoichi R. Okamoto / LBJ Library

President Johnson and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu talk in 1968 at Pacific Command Headquarters in Honolulu at the start of two days of meetings on the Vietnam War. His leadership suffered the backlash of widespread antiwar sentiment across the United States.

/ AP

President Nixon welcomes the Apollo 11 astronauts aboard the U.S.S. Hornet in the Pacific Ocean, following America's first moon landing.

NASA / Reuters

In 1972, President Richard Nixon visited China to meet with Mao Zedong — marking the first U.S. presidential visit to the country.

Andy Wong / AP

On Aug. 9, 1974, Richard Nixon waves to members of his staff outside the White House in Washington as he boards a helicopter for Andrews Air Force Base after resigning the presidency.

/ AP

President Gerald Ford grants a pardon to Richard Nixon, stating to Congress, "My conscience tells me that only I, as president, have the constitutional power to firmly shut and seal this book."

/ AP

U.S. President Ronald Reagan speaks in front of the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, Germany, Friday June 12, 1987, two years before the Berlin Wall would fall.

Roberto Pfeil / AP

U.S. President Bill Clinton with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, left, and Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat after the signing of the Israeli-PLO peace accord at the White House on Sept. 13, 1993.

Gary Hershorn / Reuters

President George W. Bush stands at the site of the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 14 2001.

Win McNamee / Reuters

President Obama sits with Vice President Biden, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton along with members of the national security team, as they receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House on May 1, 2011.

Pete Souza / AFP Photo/White House

FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES

James Gandolfini stars as Tony Soprano in the critically acclaimed HBO series 'The Sopranos.' The show received 16 Emmy nominations Thursday, July 22, 1999, including best dramatic series and best actor for Gandolfini. It is the first cable show ever recognized in the dramatic series category. (AP Photo/HO, HBO, Anthony Nesta) Original Filename: EMMY NOMINATIONS.jpg ORG XMIT: LA109

James Gandolfini dies at 51

James Gandolfini, whose portrayal of a brutal, emotionally delicate mob boss in HBO’s “The Sopranos” helped create one of TV’s greatest drama series and turned...

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 19: Vice President Joe Biden speaks before the Frederick Douglass statue now permanently placed in the US Capitol's Emancipation Hall in Washington, DC on June 19, 2013. The statue of the abolition leader was chosen by District residents to represent them in the Capitol because of his stance on self governance according to Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC). The statue by artist Steven Weitzman, was blocked from it's placement in the Capitol for years, a victim of rules that stated that only the 50 states can display statues of their favored sons and daughters in the Capitol. The House and Senate passed a resolution last month allowing DC to be represented in Emancipation Hall which features statues of notable leaders nominated by each state. (Photo by Linda Davidson / The Washington Post)

Frederick Douglass statue unveiled in the Capitol

The carving of the famed abolitionist and District advocate finds its place inside the halls of Congress.

TV presenter and conservationist Anneka Tanaka-Svenska wears a hat designed by Louis Mariette during the first day of Royal Ascot, in Berkshire, west of London, on June 18, 2013. The five-day meeting is one of the highlights of the horse racing calendar. Horse racing has been held at the famous Berkshire course since 1711 and tradition is a hallmark of the meeting. Top hats and tails remain compulsory in parts of the course while a daily procession of horse-drawn carriages brings the Queen to the course. AFP PHOTO / ADRIAN DENNISADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images

Photos of the day

Royal Ascot, protests in Brazil, Lego exhibition, flooding in India, Cheetah-Cub robot and more.

Two-year old male rat named Dyatlik wears a costume during a rodent exhibition in Minsk, Belarus, Saturday, June 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Animal views

Rodent exhibition, swimming with elephants, Mexico’s feline mayoral candidate and more.

NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 18: Madonna attends the Dolce & Gabbana and The Cinema Society screening of the Epix World premiere of 'Madonna: The MDNA Tour' at The Paris Theatre on June 18, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

Eye on entertainment

Madonna, Michael Buble, Barbara Streisand, Jackie Chan, Jerry Seinfeld, Estelle and other celebrities.

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 14: Johnathon Carrington, valedictorian at Dunbar High School, laughs with family and friends after his school's graduation ceremony at Howard University on Friday, June 14, 2013, in Washington, DC. Carrington, who grew up in Tyler House public-housing apartments and is graduating from one of DC's low-performing high schoolsy, where academic expectations are high. (Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

Johnathon’s journey

Johnathon Carrington graduated Friday as the valedictorian of his neighborhood school, Dunbar High, and is headed to Georgetown University. But Carrington, 17, is nervous, and so are...

In this June 8, 2013 photo, youth compete in the Sao Carlos slum local soccer tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The pitch is just dirt and the incandescent lights aren't so bright. But when the boys' feet strike the football in the Sao Carlos slum as night falls every Saturday, big league dreams glow, inflated by the hope of escaping the shantytown with sporting skills. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Brazil’s other soccer fields

With the Confederations Cup opening this week and the World Cup one year away, all eyes are on Brazil, where soccer is arguably played with more passion and art than anywhere else....

Inmates walk at a high-security male prison camp outside Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk May 14, 2013. High-security male prison camp number 17 is intended to house male inmates who are serving a sentence for the first time, and have been convicted for serious crimes. Prisoners at the facility work in wood and metal processing shops, manufacture furniture, sew clothes and do other kinds of work. They can also take part in educational, sport and cultural programs. Picture taken May 14, 2013. REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin (RUSSIA - Tags: CRIME LAW SOCIETY) ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 4 OF 29 FOR PACKAGE 'INSIDE SIBERIA'S PRISONS' SEARCH 'ILYA PRISON' FOR ALL IMAGES

Life in a Siberian prison

A look inside a high-security prison camp outside Krasnoyarsk, Russia

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