Biden is now the thirteenth President in my lifetime. I have seen a lot of change and I remember when that change occurred and what that change accomplished. Today is such a different time in our country where hate seems to be the trump card over everything. When you been around as long as I have you can identify how these changes affected the county.

The first president that I remember was Eisenhower, a Republican, and one of the thoughts that sticks out in my mind, and to most, was the press talking about how he practiced his chipping on the White House lawn. What was Eisenhower’s greatest accomplishment that change our lives for generations? The Interstate Highway is what I see it as. That changed how goods and people were able to move around the country, that is still true today. Kennedy, a Democrat, was next and that was the era that brought television into the political elections. The televised debates changed how we viewed our Presidents during the election process. Though Kennedy’s term was cut short because of his assassination I like to say that his gift to us was the Moon. He helped establish a goal for America that was literally the Moon. Johnson was Kennedy’s Vice President who took over after Kennedy was shot. Johnson was a Southern Democrat in the racially divided South that helped Civil Rights. Johnson sacrificed his political career by signing The Civil Rights Bill.  He also escalated the war in Vietnam that tore our country apart. Republican, Richard Nixon came next. During his term in office we had the high unemployment and high inflation. He brought about a new meaning to big government in his control of the economy but he also ended the Vietnam War. He also left office in disgrace and is generally thought of as a crook. Gerald Ford was Nixon’s Vice President when Nixon resigned and his real claim to fame was he is the only non-elected President in the history of our nation. Gerald Ford was appointed Vice President after Spiro Agnew resigned in disgrace. Ford was the man that many said helped heal the nation after Nixon. After Ford came Jimmy Carter. Carter was a one term President but what a term. He brokered that Camp David Accord that finally brought some peace between Israel and Egypt which history will write as a great accomplishment but he also was what many people will say was very ineffective with the Iran Hostage Crisis which ultimately cost him reelection.

Republican Reagan the first President that I voted for came after Carter and helped bring an end to the Cold War though the Soviet Breakup would happen later. Reagan is most famous for what they call Trickle Down Economics and the Iran-Contra Scandal. Republican George H. W. Bush gave us victory with Dessert Storm but a recession that was probably was Reagan’s fault which made him a one term President. Democrat Bill Clinton was probably our most fiscally conservative President of all of them leavening a budget surplus but we can’t forget his impeachment for lying to Congress about his sexual relations. Republican George W. Bush will mostly be remembered with 9/11 and two unfunded wars that lasted what seemed like forever. Our war in Afghanistan was the longest lasting war in American history. Democrat Barrack Obama will always be remembered as the first Black President in the history of this great Country and the guy that got Bin Laden, the mastermind behind 9/11.

Now we come to Trump. What lasting accomplishment will he be remembered by. That is why I reviewed the Presidents in my lifetime that came before him. Can you honestly say that he accomplished anything of value for history? He did have over a million deaths because of the pandemic mismanagement that he called a hoax. I don’t care that he didn’t force people to wear masks but he didn’t even asked people to be careful and look out for their neighbor. He divided the country like no other President did before him. In fact he didn’t even try to unite us which seemed to please his supporters. His America First campaign has been a complete failure, in my opinion, not because we shouldn’t take care of Americans but because it demonized anyone that wasn’t white. There really are not good guys on both sides of the white supremacy issue. He failed to produce a healthcare plan even though he promised. He failed on infrastructure. He alienated our allies and emboldened our enemies. He wanted to build a wall that was actually a tall fence that would have only been good if it was manned which it wouldn’t have been. He cut taxes for the rich which increased the deficit more than any other President. There is a comments section at the end of this, go ahead and tell me what great accomplishments Trump had that compares with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson or GHW Bush.

We now have Biden. Being an independent I wasn’t able to vote in any primary but if I had Biden would not have been my first choice. That being said he has done a good job in a very difficult situation. His infrastructure bill was badly needed, so badly needed that even Republicans that voted against it are bragging about the good the money is doing. Of course Republicans like DeSantis are pretending that it’s coming from them but it is the infrastructure plan that has made it happen. His anti-inflation plan has also recently been passed but I don’t know how successful that will be because inflation seems to be caused by supply chain issues that have cause inflation worldwide. What would the Republicans do? They would give tax breaks to corporations and the rich and then make cuts to Social Security and Medicare. Isn’t tax breaks that got us this huge deficit in the first place?

To write about the actual accomplishments of all the Presidents would have taken much longer than I have here. What I wrote is just a brief summary and history as I remember them.