Panz

I heard about this on the news this morning and I looked it up on the net.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/12/04/state1947EST0147.DTL

I will not get into a debate between republicans and democrats because I honestly think that has no bearing on this issue. I will however say that overall Ronald Reagan does not even begin to come close to the President that FDR was. I think its shameful and an insult to an incredible president who did volumes for this country and for the world to even suggest removing him from the dime to put Ronald Reagan on it.

As I said, it isnt an issue with the political parties that upsets me, its the mere assumption that Ronald Reagan should be considered a worthy replacement on any US currancy as a formidable president.

I think there are many other candidates for this honor that have earned the right. Many others in the past have accomplished greater feats, bigger tasks and have changed history and the lives of the ppl in this nation and world on a much larger scale than Reagan could ever even hope to have done.

This really lights a fire under my arse... PFFT!!!

HSantal

As a Canadian I would have to agree with Panz.

FDR was far and away a more important president that Ronald Regan can ever dream to be.

I have no party connections so that isn't an issue.

Spectre

Reagan was a GREAT president. He deserves a place just as much as FDR ever did. All FDR did was usher in wellfare society. Johnson cemented it down. Hell...because he was too stubborn to step down as president, FDR ceded far too much to Stalin at Yalta due to his failing health and diminished mental capacity.

FDR helped build the Soviet Union that Reagan shut down, and Truman was TWICE the man FDR was. FDR was a black streak on American history, as he was our only dictator.

dragon

You beat me to it URG

__________________
WARNING: DO NOT LET DR. MARIO TOUCH YOUR GENITALS. HE IS NOT A REAL DOCTOR.

Wolfie

Yeah, people forget that he tried to pack the Supreme Court when they wouldn't rule the way he wanted them to....

Spectre

And the educated have arrived...

Panz

If you ask me, neither of them were faultless. Both have pros and cons. My point was, is Reagan worthy US currency? If you read the news article that I linked, they even stated themselves that this is just their attempt to slavage his reputation after the movie fiasco. So really? If there were a new coin coming in and they were looking for a past president to put on that coin would Reagan REALLY be the first person to leap to your mind? No, I dont think many can honestly say that he would. Would he make a top 20 list, yes, more than likely.

but to do this simply to save his reputation... thats foolish.


FDR:

1932 Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected President for 1st time, becoming the 32nd US President

1933 US President-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt survives assassination attempt

1933 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt inaugurated as 32nd President, pledges to pull America out of Depression & says "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself"

1933 Roosevelt establishes diplomatic relations with USSR

1933 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt announces US will leave the gold standard

1933 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt conducts his 1st "fireside chat"

1933 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt creates Federal Alcohol Control Administration

1933 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt creates the Civil Works Administration

1934 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs Federal Credit Union Act establishing credit unions

1935 The US Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was created through executive order by President F. D. Roosevelt which offered loans to cooperatives and power districts in order to finance supply of power to rural areas

1935 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaims the Philippine Islands a free commonwealth

1935 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs an act prohibiting export of US arms to belligerents

1936 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs 2nd neutrality act

1936 Franklin Delano is re-elected for his second term as US President.

1937 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proposes enlarging Supreme Court, "court packing" plan failed

1937 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs act of neutrality

1939 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declares "limited national emergency" due to war in Europe

1939 Albert Einstein - Teller and Szilard send a letter to President Roosevelt informing him of German atomic research and the potential for a bomb which prompts Roosevelt to form a special committee to investigate the military implications of atomic research.

1940 Franklin Delano is re-elected for his third term as US President.

1941 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issues Executive Order 8802 forbidding discrimination

1941 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimes an "unlimited national emergency" due to Germany's sinking of Robin Moor

1941 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "4 Freedoms" speech (speech, worship, from want & from fear)

1942 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt orders detention & internment of all west-coast Japanese-Americans

1943 Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin met at Tehran to map out strategy.

1943 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appoints General Eisenhower supreme commander of Allied forces

1943 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt becomes 1st US pres to visit a foreign country during wartime

1943 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dedicates Jefferson Memorial

1943 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs withholding tax bill into law

1943 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, French General de Gaulle and US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt meet in Casablanca concerning WWII

1944 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs "GI Bill of Rights" (Servicemen's Readjustment Act)

1944 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt wins 4th term in office, defeating Thomas E Dewey

12 Apr 1945 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies at Warm Springs, Georgia, of a cerebral hemorrhage

1945 World War II ended in Europe less than a month after the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

In hindsight, perhaps the most controversial decision Roosevelt made was Executive Order 9066 which resulted in the internment in concentration camps of 110,000 Japanese nationals and American citizens of Japanese descent on the West Coast. Considered a major violation of civil liberties, it was even opposed at the time by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover as well as Eleanor Roosevelt as well as many other groups. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Executive Order.

Some have said of all the American Presidents of the 20th century, that he was the most loved and most hated.



Ronald Reagan:

He portrayed himself as being:


Anti-communist
in favor of tax cuts
in favor of smaller non-military government
in favor of removing regulations on corporations
supportive of business interests, both small and large
supportive of some individual liberties
tough on crime


He is credited with:


building up the military
lowering taxes
greatly escalating the "war on drugs"
ending the high inflation that damaged the economy under his predecessor, Jimmy Carter.
firing the air traffic controllers when they illegally striked
Reagan's policies and successes or failures remain controversial in many areas including:


Many of Reagan's supporters credit him with winning the Cold War. Others believe that the collapse of communism in 1989 was a result of internal failures much more than American policy.

There is disagreement over how much Reagan's policies contributed both to the severe recession that took place in 1982, and the strong expansion that began late in his first term and ran throughout his second term.

The combined tax cuts and military spending increases of his first term led to enormous deficit spending and a dramatic increase in the national debt. The debt increased by approximately 450% between when Reagan took office and when his successor, George Bush, left office.

It is generally agreed that Reagan substantially weakened environmental protection.

Reagan's tactics in the "war on drugs" emphasized imprisonment while slashing funding for addiction treatment. This resulted in a dramatic increase in the USA's prison population. Critics charged that the policies did little to actually reduce the availability of drugs or crime on the street while resulting in a great financial and human cost for American society.

Reagan supported missile defense, hoping to make the US invulnerable to attack by the Soviet Union. Many of his critics felt that the goal was unattainable in practical terms, and that the attempt would be likely to increase the Arms Race, as well as being extremely expensive.

Despite his frequent pronouncements that he advocated smaller and less intrusive government, Federal spending and bureaucracy increased in size during his administration; his increases in military and "drug war" spending were far larger than his cuts in social spending.

Probably Reagan's most controversial foreign policy was supporting a civil war of the Contra guerrillas against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Reagan's determination to continue support for the Contras despite opposition in Congress led to the worst scandal of his presidency - the Iran-Contra Affair.

Reagan was regarded by some critics as indifferent to the needs of poor and minority citizens.

Although considered personally honest by most Americans, there were multiple scandals of bribery, corruption, and influence peddling involving Reagan's aides and subordinates, resulting in some 30 members of his administration spending time in prison.

Wyzcrak

Good thing I spent all morning paying these guys' salaries so they could ignore education, the DCMA, and countless other law categories whose very existance and enforcement impact my daily life.

Gee whiz, lawmakers. It's a dime. Get a hobby or something. Put Apophis on the damn coin and move on to something that really matters.

Wyzcrak

Wolfie

but does FDR really deserve a place of honor on the dime compared to Reagan?

Abe Lincoln on the penny? Yes he was a deserving candidate for the penny (fight against slavery, keeping the US together instead of fragmenting into smaller nation states, etc).

Washington on the quarter? Yes, founding father, General of the American forces during the War of Independence.

These 2 are definitely deserving individuals to have their portraits on currency. But why should FDR get a place on the dime instead of Reagan and vice versa.

What about other historic people that have contributed significantly to America? Albert Einstein, the Wright Brothers, Henry Ford, Ben Franklin, Martin Luther King Jr., are just a small drop in the bucket of those deserving a place of honor on American currency.

It shouldn't be a debate on who is better, FDR or Reagan. It should be a debate on who deserves to be immortialized on the US currency.

dragon

I nominate me

__________________
WARNING: DO NOT LET DR. MARIO TOUCH YOUR GENITALS. HE IS NOT A REAL DOCTOR.

Wolfie

I said deserving Americans, not Americans that were dicks

If I said that, I would have put my face up for nomination

dragon

Hey there have been a lot of presedints and stuff that were di<ks

__________________
WARNING: DO NOT LET DR. MARIO TOUCH YOUR GENITALS. HE IS NOT A REAL DOCTOR.

Panz

I agree 100% Wolfie... I too believe that there are far more deserving than FDR and Reagan... this is my point its not that FDR is better, its that Reagan isnt any better, not neccessarily worse but he isnt better and there are so many more deserving.

What makes me angry is WHY they are doing this... to slavage a reputation. This doesnt seem like a just cause to me.

__________________
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Wolfie

One way to get rid of politics in this mess is to remove all political parties, even Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson, from the currency. Maybe do something like put Einstein on the penny, King on the nickel, maybe Henry Ford on the dime, and some other notable people on the rest of the currancy.

I like what they are doing with the quarters, issuing state quarters for each state in the union.

Panz

I was thinking that same thing, I loved what they did with the gold dollar, they let ppl vote on it. I think that would be the way to go, put noteworthy ppl on a list, let ppl vote at the post office or something. non-political figures.

In this day and age, I think although there are many good politicians out there, far too many become involved in highly publicized scandals either after they are honored or right before they are honored when its too late to change plans. having such ppl on our currancy is a constant reminder.

Granted even non-political figures do bad things, but politicians are supposed to be the leaders of this great country. Leaders set examples, not make examples of themselves.

Im all for wiping the coins clean and adding all new faces like you said. I say everyone should write in their their state elected officials and demand it, send your letters to the president as well :P Im sure they will love all of the fan mail.