Somehow another paean to the god presidents Washington and Lincoln did not speak to me. As I was casting about, a friend suggested that my Presidents’ Day blog focus on those who rise to the office because of the death of the president. There are seven, which is too big a crowd, so I picked three in the 20th century—Teddy Roosevelt, Truman, and LBJ. Two succeeded an assassinated president, and one a followed a president who was known to be at death’s door when he was inaugurated. All three had some remarkable accomplishments. The “rejects?” Presidents John Tyler, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur, and Calvin Coolidge. After his one incomplete term, Tyler (a slave owner) served in the Confederate legislature. Andrew Johnson was a Confederate sympathizer who barely survived impeachment and did not seek re-election. Serving a single term president, Chester Arthur’’s main legacy was civil service reform after Garfield was shot by a disappointed federal job seeker.
My three choices were all sufficiently successful to be elected on their own after their predecessor’s term expired. (Also true of Calvin Coolidge, but he wasn’t particularly memorable otherwise).
Teddy Roosevelt (for whom the teddy bear is named) succeeded William McKinley shortly after he had begun his second term. McKinley was shot by an anarchist. Roosevelt, at age 42 the youngest person to ever serve as president, was best known for his love of the outdoors that led to National parks and conservation measures, and for a strong anti-monopoly policy after the excessive accumulation and concentration of power and wealth in the Gilded Age.
Harry Truman, a little-known Senator from Missouri, shocked the world in 1945 by dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to hasten the end of the war. He played a major world role in the postwar period that included the Marshall plan for European recovery, NATO as a shield against Russia, the creation of the World Bank and the international Monetary Fund. A southerner, he is celebrated for integrating the U.S. military. Truman was a determined and energetic campaigner in 1948, earning the nickname “Give ‘em hell, Harry” on his whistlestop campaign, castigating that “do nothing 88th Congress” or not passing any of his legislative proposals.
Lyndon Johnson was at heart a legislator, and is remembered for his great legislative successes—the Voting Rights Act, the civil Rights Act, Medicare and Medicaid., and food stamps These were truly giant steps in addressing racism and poverty.
Abe and George will not mind sharing the limelight. So I will be toasting Teddy, Harry, and Lyndon on President’s Day. I invite you to pick your own, check him out (only males at this point) and sing his praises. It’s a tough job. It deserves a day of thanks.
PurpleSage41 