[james0246]

^Most of our economic and political woes (hell, even many social) can be directly tied to Reagan's administration, so I would hold off calling him a good President. While Clinton is debatable, I would have to say that the last good president was actually...Nixon. As you, and others, finish laughing (and as I place aside his bigotry, hatred of the elite and the common man, and almost criminal record), Nixon is the last President that actually moved the entire country forward. He created the division between China and the USSR, effectively limiting the Communist alliance across the planet; he forged a détente and Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the USSR; He abolished the gold standard (which directly created the world as we know it today (for better or worse)); created the EPA and the Clean Air Act; he helped put through Title IX reforms (that truly established the role of women in the workplace beyond the "traditional" role of the secretary); and his "New Federalism" was the last great moment of the Republican Party (Reagan pissed all over the new federalism, and Gingrich killed it completely in 94'). Nixon will always be remembered for his mishandling of the Vietnam War (however you wish to analyze the triumps and failures of the war) and Watergate and the feeling of paranoia that effectively changed America forever, but amongst these travesties he had many great ideas (or he at least backed other’s great ideas) that shaped America and the world for the better.