chapter 12

1.)    I believe that it takes many qualities to make a good President.  They must be honest and should have a firm stance in their beliefs and not be wishy-washy in their political views whether they be economic or social issues.  I also believe that the President should not let his or her religion affect the decisions made or their beliefs while in office.  The President should strive for equality of all citizens in the United States and make sure he does everything within his power to ensure that equality for all is instituted.  He should also be gracious and humble; no one likes an arrogant leader.  They should try to implement fair policies and tactics that would better our nation as whole and not just certain groups within it.  The President should also have firm beliefs in national security, not necessarily aggressive ones, but more of a take-no-crap approach but have the skills to negotiate and be diplomatic with other countries to prevent as many national security threats as possible.

2.)    I believe that two of our greatest presidents have been Jimmy Carter and Thomas Jefferson. Jimmy Carter, the thirty-ninth president of the United States was a soft spoken man with strong political beliefs and stood firm in those beliefs throughout his presidency.  He also believed in equality for all American citizens and once said, “Human rights is the soul of our foreign policy, because human rights is the very soul of our sense of nationhood.". He accomplished a great amount during his Presidency, including the SALT II treaty which sought to reduce strategic nuclear weapon manufacturing by the Soviet Union and the United States. Considering that he served during the era of the Cold War this was a very big accomplishment and eased the minds of our worried nation.  He also played a large role for peace in the Middle East when he signed the Camp David Accords. These negotiations directly resulted in the Egypt-Israel peace treaty and he was hailed for being able to negotiate peace between these two countries which were known for their shaky relations.  He also had a huge part to play in Iran Hostage Crisis. This crisis was between Iran and the United States where 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days.  Just minutes after the inauguration of President Reagan these Hostages were released and Reagan got most of the credit for the release even though Carter was the President in office during this crisis.  Many believe that this crisis not being resolved at the time of the election was why Carter was not re-elected for a second term.  Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, is still considered today to be one the brightest and most intellectual people of his time.  He was a very well educated man in many fields of study.  He could read and speak Greek, Latin, French and English.  He is known as one of the framers and founders of the United States and was at the forefront of the revolution in Virginia.  He also drafted the United States Constitution. Without Thomas Jefferson and his influence on the United States during the Revolution it is safe to say that things may have turned out very differently and America would not be the great nation that it is today.

3.)    I was very unfamiliar with our tenth president, John Tyler, member of the Whig party. I learned some very interesting facts about him while doing some research. He had the most children out of any other president, 15 children, and the last when he was 70 years old. He also held many other political offices; he was a U.S. Representative, a Senator, The Governor of Virginia, and also the Vice President to President William Henry Harrison. President Harrison caught a cold after standing in the rain during his inauguration and died one month after being sworn in as president leaving the Presidency to Tyler. I do not believe he was a very affective President as many of his views were not progressive but instead regressive to the state of our nation at the time.  Tyler was very pro-slavery which angered many slavery abolitionists. As President, he vetoed many of the Whig parties proposals which made many of his cabinet members resign and resulted in him being expelled from the Whig party.  The Civil War began 16 years after Tyler’s term as President and to no surprise he sided with the confederates and served in the Confederate House of Representatives shortly before his death. Despite his shortcomings in domestic policy while he was President, he did have a few foreign policy achievements. The possibly biggest achievement was the annexation of Texas, which he devoted his last two years of office to accomplish.

I commented on the following blogs for this chapter:

Tinisha Key:  http://keytd.blogspot.com

Robert Cook:  http://rcookclassblog.blogspot.com

Cheyenne Canter:  http://canterc.blogspot.com