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Post by tubman13 on Apr 1, 2015 14:29:49 GMT -6
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Post by tubman13 on Apr 1, 2015 15:04:02 GMT -6
I guess it is un fair to pick out one, but anyone worth spit, following Nixon, should have served two terms.
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Post by Beth on Apr 1, 2015 15:33:21 GMT -6
Being smart doesn't mean that you have leadership qualities.. Beth |
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Post by quincannon on Apr 1, 2015 15:45:25 GMT -6
Agreed. All of them were/are smart. They would not have been there otherwise. Leadership, setting the tone for the country to follow, is the essential ingredient.
As time goes on Eisenhower will rise. Of course I was only a teenager during his presidency, and as it waned and Kennedy appeared on the horizon I was more attracted to young and Camelot. Thinking back on it though, I now see the wisdom, of slow and steady over whiz bang.
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Post by dave on Apr 1, 2015 15:54:51 GMT -6
If Harry Truman did not qualify with a high IQ he certainly had a high amount of common sense. He handled many difficult problems/people with wisdom and honesty.
The classic Harry Truman is his letter to music critic Paul Hume, who panned his daughter's singing, telling him he would basically whip his ass.
Now that is a real Daddy!
Regards
Dave
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Post by tubman13 on Apr 1, 2015 16:18:26 GMT -6
If Harry Truman did not qualify with a high IQ he certainly had a high amount of common sense. He handled many difficult problems/people with wisdom and honesty. The classic Harry Truman is his letter to music critic Paul Hume, who panned his daughter's singing, telling him he would basically whip his ass. Now that is a real Daddy! Regards Dave I would trade 1948 for 1976 anytime! |
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Post by dave on Apr 1, 2015 18:41:48 GMT -6
Tom
I agree completely. Can you imagine Truman being around the crooks/liars/cheats/prima donnas we have today. I swear he would run their a$$e$ off into the Potomac.
The American presence in the world would be different for sure.
Regards
Dave
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Post by quincannon on Apr 1, 2015 19:00:01 GMT -6
The Truman administration was not all lollypops and roses, but he made some vital strategic decisions that stand up well with time. Plus he got rid of MacArthur.
His worst choice was Johnson as Sec Def. Marshall as Sec State then Sec Def., Berlin, recognition of Israel, defying his own Truman doctrine and stopping the southward march in Korea, saving Greek independence, and not losing any sleep over the two A Bombs, were on the plus side of the ledger. Playing the piano with Lauren Bacall draped all over it was not bad either.
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Post by welshofficer on Apr 2, 2015 5:44:58 GMT -6
Having gone through that list, perhaps it is best that many of the better US Presidents were clearly not so bright....
How Jimmy Carter can appear in anything positive is beyond me.
WO
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Post by Colt45 on Apr 2, 2015 7:32:53 GMT -6
IQ is one thing. Common sense is another. When given a choice, I will choose common sense over IQ almost every time.
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Post by Beth on Apr 2, 2015 15:36:55 GMT -6
IQ is one thing. Common sense is another. When given a choice, I will choose common sense over IQ almost every time. First IQ as defined by IQ testing is really is just about your ability process and use certain types of information. IQ tests basically measure your ability to handle math and language as well as speed you do it. So to say someone has a high IQ so they should be able to do 'anything' is wrong. Someone who's IQ is more slanted towards math for example could totally challenged to learn and understand history. However chances are very good that he might be very musical. Frankly there are a lot of really really smart people out there who would be challeged with a lot of simple problems and at times get lost looking for the smart way to do something and don't see the easy or practical way. Also IQ tests can't measure someone who is perhaps a genius at art, music, or athletics. Common sense is pretty much the ablitity to use what you know and then apply it. A person can have a lot of common sense about what they know, but they can't apply common sense to things they don't know. Like a plumber who has all sorts of common sense ways to fix broken pipes and leaky faucets. You can't take that person and put him in an operating room and say fix this persons aorta, it leaks. Ideally for a leader one wants someone who can take in information, process it and then communicate it to others in such a way everyone views it as common sense. I'll get off my soapbox now.... Beth |
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Post by Dark Cloud on Apr 3, 2015 15:56:35 GMT -6
Not even a crapshoot: utter nonsense. In any case, John Quincy Adams strikes me as easily the brightest and he's not even mentioned. Guy could speak a ton of languages, like Jefferson, and write very well and a lot. After losing the Presidency, he became a Congressman. Noblesse oblige in spades, high intellect.
There is nothing to suggest high intellect for Kennedy, and I'm a marginal fan but solely for the pain he endured daily. We don't know what he wrote or didn't, but his schools were not blown away by him. The Adams clan intimidated by intellect for two generations after JQA.
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